Spirit & Airtran reserve

[767..street]

How long are the current new hires stuck on reserve at Spirit and Airtran ?

Thanks

 

[DonVerita]

About 3 months for AirTran. The days off situation here is great. For example...October B-717 Reserve F/O lines all have between 14 and 16 days off with a 70 hr. min. guarantee. No red-eye flying (we had a short stint with that, but it's gone now), most trips are commutable on the front and back end, efficient flying with very little time wasted sitting around the airport.

 

[-9Capt]

While 3 months may be correct, reserve at AT is no better than at a crappy regional. Ready reserve, removal of reserve days (along with 3.5 hrs), schedulers will try to screw you every chance they get. If that 3 month guess is correct, at least it won't last too long.

 

[Newjetjockey]

I agree. Scheduling does screw with you. With that said the good news is that they do use you or you will get a bunch of days off. If you want to work it wont be hard to get 85-95 hours a month while on reserve. The union is trying to fix the problems. Who knows how long that will take.

 

[meanstreak]

I have to agree reserve here is terrible. The good thing is the winter months are coming up and most or some of the reserve lines will have 17-20 days off. If you don't get one of those lines you can drop as many days off (if there's ample coverage) as you want if you don't mind getting paid less than guarantee. Reserve wouldn't be so bad if they let you sit at home most of the time, but if you don't have a trip scheduled you will most likely sit ready reserve. We seem to always be short staffed due to training and receiving new airplanes, so if you like to work you will most likely will.

 

[DonVerita]

Reserve at any airline sucks when compared to holding a line. I think the majority of AirTran pilots will be demanding vast improvements in Reserve rules in the upcoming Contract 2005.

 

[enigma]

Spirit recently cancelled all newhire classes for the remainder of 2004. I think that they will resume after the first of next year, but this doesn't bode well for the junior FO's. They will most likely sit reserve for quite a long time. I'd guess that most everyone on reserve at the moment will still be there next summer.

In general, reserve at Spirit is an open question. The company figured out last year that they can interpret the contract any way they want and that we the pilots can't do much to stop it. Of course, we can (and do) file grievances, but the fluidity of the rules continues. The company is desperately searching for a way to return to 24 hour reserve. I guess that they've forgotten that the present rules (duty time limited reserve blocks) were Federally mandated. Someone in management seems to believe that they have a legal way around the FAA, and we're in a fight about this at the present.

Our MEC is attempting to work a deal, which is in itself could be a potential conflict of the FAR interpretation; but at present we don't have a clear policy that details reserve duty blocks. As someone else said, reserve always sux.

regards,
enigma

 

[FLB717]

yeah Reserve sucks, but it beats not having a job period. If I had my choice i would rather sit Reserve than nothing. That being said I sat Reserve at Comair and in comparison AirTran is a good wet dream. What other airline gets paid the way we do? 3.5 hours of credit is you are not even used, there by giving you 14 or more days off a month. One of my old buds is on reserve at Minny Delta, and he worked 20 days with 70 Credit hours. They have a min day, but it uses a monthly average. But I guess if you came from one of the Traditionals it would seem bad.

 

[767..street]

Ready reserve

Ready reserve sucks, I thought it was a thing of the past. I know some F/A's have to do ready reserve but I did not know pilots were still doing it !
How are the lines at AT for commuting ?

I guess I'll stay where I'm at for now and see how things go over the next few months.

Thanks

p.s. I thought Spirit only delayed some classes because of the storms. I did not know they put off hiring until next year.

 

[enigma]

p.s. I thought Spirit only delayed some classes because of the storms. I did not know they put off hiring until next year.

I could be wrong. But I heard that everything was put off. My guess is that some bean counter wants to cut expenses for this year. Also, the Airbus program has hit a few snags, snags that are not for me to disclose here (sorry), but the delay in hiring could be related to said snag. If I hear correctly, the snag is not Spirit's fault, but it is directly affecting our progression.

Again, I do believe that the hiring slowdown is temporary, and not indicative of any underlying financial problems. Fuel costs hurt, but I don't see us remaining stagnant in the market. Now that we finally got the new airplane seed money (Oaktree Capital), and the competition is flying newer more efficient equipment, we WILL get the busses and we WILL continue a conservative expansion.

Most everyone on this forum knows that I am a SWA wannabee; but if that never happens, Spirit's not a bad alternative.

enigma