Sitting Reserve (Express Jet, SKYW, ASA)

[meritflyer]

Can anyone shed any light on what the time frame for the "typical" pilot for XJT, SKYW, or ASA is on reserve?

A year? 6 months?

[Doug Taylor]

Depends! Almost like the upgrade question. By the time you get there it might be longer, it might be shorter.

[Alchemy]

Over the past 2 years at XJT it has ranged from 3-8 months.

[Doug Taylor]

An example, I only sat about a month of reserve at Skyway and a month of 727C (flight engineer) reserve at Southernjets Innanashnul.

Peanuckle, being in the first wave of a new hiring boom may not sit reserve for that long.

[Texasspilot]

heard from a friend that Xjet is 6 months on reserve....But upgrade is down under 1.5 years!?!?!

[Maximillian_Jenius]

Originally Posted by meritflyer

Can anyone shed any light on what the time frame for the "typical" pilot for XJT, SKYW, or ASA is on reserve?

A year? 6 months?

Have you looked in to Comair, maybe!?

[Gonzorox]

I sat reserve 3 months ExpressJet. Some 'higher-ups' are saying 1.4 years upgrade.

[Seggy]

By the time you 'hear' about a quick upgrade, and then hired at that company, you are to late!

[Doug Taylor]

Originally Posted by Seggy

By the time you 'hear' about a quick upgrade, and then hired at that company, you are to late!

There's a lot of truth to that.

[pilot602]

I held a line my first month off IOE. It was composite so I had about two weeks worth of reserve mixed in with regular trips. That's it.


I got extremely, extremely lucky.


Right now I think it's averaging a couple months on both aircraft.

[Bumblebee]

I never spent any time on reserve until I transfered to SMF (a senior base) where I have been on a composite line. Reserve in my own house isn't too bad though. Next month I move up a spot and will be free of reserve.

[Doug Taylor]

Reserve at home when you live in the base can't be all that bad!

[kellwolf]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

Reserve at home when you live in the base can't be all that bad!

Nope, it's not.

It also depends on what base you want. For example, none of the guys in my new hire class that went to DTW sat reserve. NONE. The few that got MSP were on reserve for their first month. Those of us that went to MEM, well, the junior guys in the class are just now getting off reserve 8 months later. Right now, reserve is back down to a few months in MEM.

Another example of how quickly things can turn around is the guys in my class in DTW were holding 13-14 day off lines. Now that the flying has changed, they're down to 11-12 day off lines, and now *I* can hold the 13 day off lines.

As far as upgrade goes, I could hold DTW CA a LOT faster than I'd be able to hold MEM CA. If the rumor of the mins dropping turns out to be true, I'm gonna have a decision to make. If it's false, I'll be able to hold MEM CA by the time I hit the mins.

Essentially, it's more than just your seniority company wide. In the day-to-day aspect of things, that matters VERY little. It's about your seniority in the base. That affects your bidding, how many days off you get, and when (not if here at PCL) you get JMed or extended.

[MQAAord]

Bill went from mid-senority line holder holding weekends & Christmas off to bottom reserve after 9/11. Same base, same seat, same aircraft. He even spent a couple months on reserve after we moved! They've downsized CVG SO much, and so much flying has gone to RJs, that he's still a fairly junior lineholder in CVG, even after 8 years. If he were to go to ATL, his realative senority would take a massive leap forward, but that would mean a commute to ATL. He could hold the 76 ER out of JFK, or possibly (that's possibly) 88 CA out of LGA, but both of those mean a commute to NY.

It can change in the blink of an eye.

[DV8Pilot]

I sat reserve at SKW for three weeks, only because my IOE finished on the 6th of the month, sort of a no-man's land when it comes to awarding lines. I have held a line since then.

[mrivc211]

Originally Posted by meritflyer

Can anyone shed any light on what the time frame for the "typical" pilot for XJT, SKYW, or ASA is on reserve?

A year? 6 months?

If you get the bro for SKYW you don't sit reserve at all, the jet is 2-3 months depending on the base. But it all depends as dough said.

[WestIndian425]

Rumor has it that EWR's reserve for Express has decreased to about one month. However, it is the shortest of the three bases. CLE is lifetime reserve.

[OldTownPilot]

Originally Posted by WestIndian425

Rumor has it that EWR's reserve for Express has decreased to about one month. However, it is the shortest of the three bases. CLE is lifetime reserve.

Yeah, I talked with one crew that came in and they said that guys will be upgrading into EWR and IAH, after never getting off reserve in CLE.

I thought they were full of it at first.

[Bumblebee]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

Reserve at home when you live in the base can't be all that bad!

No complaints here . . . I am getting a lot of homework finished

[Cheechako]

I sat reserve in January and flew a total of 4 days! Some of my classmates who commute from Seattle had the same, unfortunately they were stuck in their crack-pad without wheels in the sub-zero temperatures! They went on some awfully cold hikes!

I'm holding lines now, though. Not too bad. I got in here right at the start of a pretty big expansion in Anchorage. There are already 8-10 pilots below me.

[amorris311]

i hope alaska keeps moving in the right direction. i like what i see so far. its cool that you are already holding lines.

[GaTechKid]

About 3 weeks if I hadn't screwed up my bid. Since I did, it was 2 months. The amount of reserve at SKW depends on which aircraft/base you go to.

[bike21]

I sat reserve for 10 months at SKW. My class was the last class to be hired back in 2005. Granted the last couple of months I bid reserve on purpose so I could sit reserve in DEN instead of ORD (my base). It's all timing!