SWA commute question

[T1bubba]

Sugardaddy,

Reserve line times vary by domicile, but AM's are generally something like 0300-2000 and PM's are 1000-0100. I'm sure someone based in HOU can give you their exact times.

As for your other questions, the answer is (of course) it depends. AM's or PM's is more of a personal preference if you live in domicile- is it more painful for you to get called at 0330 for a 0600 show or to fly until 0100 in the morning?

The amount you're used on reserves can vary tremendously. I'm on PM reserve in OAK and despite having a preference to pass flew 15 of 16 days this month. Other friends of mine on AM reserve in OAK didn't fly at all on their last couple blocks. Reserves are more likely to be used on the weekends than weekdays.

You can put a preference to pass or fly in the computer, but in my limited experience it doesn't mean much. Anyone care to take a stab at explaining how the reserve callouts are made?

T1

 

[SWAnnabee]

Texas Lines

Just, curiois. What is the "Texas 2-step"?? If I am lucky enough to get hired with LUV, I will be living in the Corpus Christi area. What would my commute/reserve situation be?? Where does the line start and end and how could I limit my nights away from home?

 

[canyonblue]

Anyone care to take a stab at explaining how the reserve callouts are made? T1

Magic 8 Ball I believe. As far as how long ON reserve, that all depends NOT only on HIRING but on vacancy bids to bases. MDW has been reduced to the size it was when I finally held it 10 months ago. It is starting to grow somewhat, but I will be on reserve for a while longer. With that in mind, DO NOT believe what is the "off reserve time" now, will be that in 1 year. 16 months and that gets me reserve in MDW. I could hold a line in BWI, HOU, PHX, and OAK though. I also hit my reserve guarantee of 96 trips with 2 days of reserve left this month.

 

[Sugardaddy]

Thanks for the info bubba.

Canyon,
Did you say the reserve guarantee is 96 trips? If not, what is the "guarantee" for sitting reserve? Or does it vary from base to base?

 

[Slug]

Anyone care to take a stab at explaining how the reserve callouts are made?

From several conversations with scheduling here is what I gathered, Bubba.

1. The first criteria they look at is the days available vs. days needed. They won't use a 4-day reserve for a 1 day trip unless that is the only person they have. They will try to match up avail vs. needed until they are at the bottom of the barrell. That goes for 1-day, 2-day, 3-day, and 4-day. They would like to keep the multi-day folks around in case a full trip opens up.

2. After that they said they look at reserve guarantee, ie. how may hours are you scheduled for that month. They look at how close someone is to that guarantee. Let's say you and I are sitting reserve in OAK. I mil drop a 4-day block so my guarantee goes from 96 down to 72 hours (16 x 6 vs. 12 x 6). Because it will take more flying to get you over your guarantee, they will tend to fly you over me. As long as you don't fly over 96 credit trips. If you were at 93 trips for the month and I was at 50 they would probably fly me because I shouldn't exceed my monthly guarantee.

3. If those are the same, say at the beginning of the month, then they look at the fly vs. pass preference.

4. If those are the same then they would flip a coin?

I think the magic 8-ball has something to do with it, but who knows?


Slug

Reserve guarantee is 96 trips/month. 16 days x 6 trips/day for reserve. If your reserve carries into the next month you may see less guarantee on your schedule because those days are counted in with the next months trip total.

 

[Snoopy58]

Just, curiois. What is the "Texas 2-step"?? If I am lucky enough to get hired with LUV, I will be living in the Corpus Christi area. What would my commute/reserve situation be?? Where does the line start and end and how could I limit my nights away from home?

"Texas 2-step" is the nickname for the days spent flying around Texas. Lots of legs, each fairly short, quick turns. The sort of flying that SWA did back when they got started. A typical day might be starting in HOU at 0700, to AUS, to DAL, to HOU, to CRP, to HOU, to SAT, to LBB. Seven legs, probably just under 7 hours of flying, to the hotel maybe around 1600. Probably no plane changes. Probably in a -200 (though they are going away & you see "Texas 2-step" days in -300's & -500's regularly, and on rare occasion in a -700). Lots of legs through DAL & HOU.
There are some similar "California 2 step" schedules as well. It's a lot of work, but the days generally pay pretty well, and they go pretty quickly. When the weather is nice, it's fun. When the Texas wx is bad, well... you're in it all day!

From CRP to about anywhere on SWA goes thru HOU, iirc. So that is the obvious place you'll want to be based.

All trips start & end at the domicile where the trip originates (you can pick up trips from a base other than your own). One nice thing about being based in HOU, it seems like they get most of the CRP overnights. On those trips, you CAN spend the night at home instead of at the hotel no problem.

Your options as far as trips go would be pretty much as described above: Fly AM's & stay in a hotel/crashpad the night before & get home at the end of your last day, OR fly PM's & commute in the same day you start, & probably spend the night when you finish your last day. Driving... an option, if you want to. Sometimes, you'll luck into a trip that you can commute on both ends. One nice thing about HOU: enough people live in domicile that a good portion of the reserve lines go senior. So, if you do NOT want to sit reserve, you can hold a line with fewer people beneath you at HOU than you could at a commuter base like OAK or MDW.

I'm no fan of commuting to sit reserve, so I did it as little as I could. With a long commute, I always tried to get AM reserve, since the night before the reserve block started I would have to spend at the crashpad anyway, and on the last day I'd have a decent chance of being cut loose in time to make a flight home the same day. If I was commuting a short distance to sit reserve (like CRP to HOU), I think I'd probably use the opposite strategy: bid PM reserve, commute in the morning of (not something you can count on doing with a long commute, but possible from MSY or CRP to HOU), and hope that I get assigned a trip that returns to domicile the last day in time to make the last flight back.

Guys can explain strategies like this & more when you're sitting in the crashpad or hanging out in the pilot lounge, and you can use whatever works best for you.

Hope that helps!

P.S. Slug -- excellent explanation of the workings of the Magic 8 Ball! (The end result still looks an awful lot like smoke & mirrors to me, though!)

 

[T1bubba]

The latest vacancy bid is out today. BWI and PHX continue to be the least senior bases after OAK, with MDW not far behind.

Slug,

That sounds about right from what I've seen. Thanks for the explanation. Congrats on BWI, I guess... thought you wanted to stay in MDW?

T1

 

[Falconjet]

JA

Another question for the SWA guys. As far as the JA stuff that was going on, how do they assign those? Are there certain days that you have to answer the phone when not on duty or on reserve? If you are off for a 4 day stretch and schedules calls do you have to answer the phone? I'm just curious how that works. Thanks.

 

[MLBWINGBORN]

Magic 8 Ball..

 

[Boeing4Me]

Re: JA

As far as the JA stuff that was going on, how do they assign those? Are there certain days that you have to answer the phone when not on duty or on reserve? If you are off for a 4 day stretch and schedules calls do you have to answer the phone?

FJet,
The only time you MUST answer the phone is when you are on reserve. ...and that means only during your RAP (reserve availablility period). Many guys will answer the day before a reserve block starts, as many assignments are given more than 12 hours out. Also, during a reserve month you are not eligible for JA (according to the contract).

B4Me