To expand a little, and reply to some of the questions:
Do the reserves sit much or do they fly all the time? We don't have a traditional reserve system or program as the airlines. The nearest schedule we have like that is the 15-flex. To much to explain, but you are purely at the company's will. There are some limitations, but to wordy to write.
One other thing to remember is that with all the different schedules, their rules only affect
which days you work. Other than that, the rules are the same for each schedule: You'll be briefed by 6pm the night before your first workday, or as you're shut down on subsequent workdays. The showtime
cannot change after that point, unless you agree to it. If they set you up for a morning show, then a couple of hours later realize that they'd rather have you rest longer and do the night shift, they can't do it once you've started your rest period.
I'm on the 15-day schedule, so I'll talk a little about that. Basically, the rules are simple:
- No prearranged days off (unless you burn PTO/sick time)
- It pays 10% more than the 7/7, for approximately the same number of workdays.
- No more than 15 days per month of work, and no more than 5 at a time without days off. Minimum 3 days off after any string of workdays.
- By 6pm each day off, you'll either be told the next day is an off day, or you'll be briefed for a showtime, and the next day is one of your duty days. In either case, they're committed to that; they can't say "nevermind" and not count it as one of your workdays
- If you're "off," you can go drink beer for the next 24 hours, until the next briefing's due. You're not living on a pager all day; not at all. There will be no 2am "get to the airport now" calls. It's not reserve. The "flex" means the days you work can vary. But you'll still get a briefed rest period the night before, and a hard showtime.
What is the call out time for reserves? Do we even have one on the 15-flex? I know if duty at home and the change my brief then I have 30 min or an hour to leave the house. I'd have to look that one up in the rules of engagement book.
There is no "reserve," as I said. There's rest, and there's duty. If you're lucky enough to be given duty at home, or duty at a hotel, the agreement is for you to be ready to be ready for transport to the airport within 30 minutes. But it's still "duty," subject to a 14-hour limit, a briefed start time, etc.
Duty at home or hotel can occur on
any of our schedules. An assigned workday is a workday, no matter what schedule you're on: the rules are all the same.
Usually, if I get hotel or home duty, it's because one of two things happened: the plan wasn't quite ready (but they had to give me a show time before they put me in rest), or the plan fell apart, and they leave me in the hotel until they figure it out. This happens pretty frequently on my last days of a tour: the company will brief me for, say, a 6am show for an 8am airline flight they were looking at. When the travel department went to book it, it was full, so they put me on a noon flight instead.
When I wake up and look at my Blackberry, instead of showing at the airport at 6am, they had me stay at the hotel for the first four hours. Because the show location changed while I was in rest, I'm not required to accept that change, but that's one I'll gladly take. The duty clock still started at 6am (which means they have to get me home by 8pm), but I was in bed and then eating a hot breakfast, instead of rotting in the terminal eating a scone from Starbucks. :0 Works for me.
