How often do you get called for reserve?
Posted by monster88888888@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 30 comments
Finally made it to the airlines a few months ago after years of smaller ops and bush flying!
I now fly for Porter Airlines in Canada and I was wondering what is the usual % of day you will actually get called in for work on reserve day at different companies in Canada, US or International.
I'm less than 6 months in, and so far my class and few classes before mine usually get called around 80-90% on reserve days from what I can see from everyone's schedules. That's for FO and direct entry captain. I understand it can vary from month to month, hi/low season, but I'm just looking for average.
Just wondering how it looks like everywhere else!
Thanks
IHGrewardsking@reddit
Terminal reserve on a half widebody fleet (for pay purposes). I haven’t flown a plane since end of February. Vacation this month so probably will have to go to a recency sim in May
InvestmentGuilty8736@reddit
I fly an airplane with animals on a tail based in ATL. Last month I was used every single day of reserve. On average before that was about 75%. Really depends on the month and location here but March was exceptionally bad.
BathtubInTheSky@reddit
That's also cuz you're pretty junior at porter. They go bottom up. Jan-march I barely got called. My first couple months off of line indoc I maybe had 2-3 days a month I didn't get called.
spacecadet2399@reddit
When I was on reserve, I got called at least once basically every reserve period. If they didn't have anything that filled up my schedule, they'd usually call me again right after my first assignment was up.
There is a contractual hierarchy (which I'm not convinced they always followed) so on short call I'd usually get a day or maybe two on reserve before I'd actually get called, but not always. On long call, I'd usually just get called way in advance, so it wasn't really like being on reserve at all. The worst was when I'd be on short call and get called on minimum callout just after checking in to my hotel (I never used a crash pad). That happened a few times, but wasn't really the norm. I knew they'd always call me at some point, though.
thepilotboy@reddit
that’s the biggest thing I miss about working for that airline that I assume you work for.
We don’t get commuter hotels once you get to the mothership
Pilot0160@reddit
It’s been a couple years but when I was a junior FO at a US regional, it was probably 90% of reserve periods I got called but not always the first or sometimes even the second day.
My favorite was my first month on reserve in LGA. Called CS and asked if I could sit out of base reserve at home (I lived in another base) and it was approved. Overnight it got swapped to “out of base” reserve in PHL and a deadhead there that afternoon so now it’s on the company to get me from home to PHL and back. I sat out of base reserve for SIX DAYS in a company paid hotel in downtown Philadelphia and never got called. I had wanted to visit Philly again for a long time so I got to explore in depth
Ancient_Juice_1127@reddit
every damn time
RaidenMonster@reddit
Best run was 40 straight days utilized and 41/43.
bonat06@reddit
About 50% of standby duties, and usually 5 minutes before standby duty ends they will call.
Imaginary_Amoeba3461@reddit
Like 100% of the time, we need to hire more
oioioifuckingoi@reddit
Wrong forum. Go ask on AVCanada.
Matuteg@reddit
This changes depending on when you got hired. Behind a wave? At the beginning? When I got hired I was called every reserve day. I was crediting 100+ hours. When I got a line finally could go down to 75 lol
BagOfMoneyNoChange@reddit
This 100% depends on your country, airline, fleet, base, seat, and seniority. I usually average about 7 days of work a month on reserve.
poser765@reddit
To reiterate this point, I’m lucky if there are 3 rsv days I do not get called in a month.
ps2sunvalley@reddit
And that’s because they can’t actually work you more than 15 days
Verliererkolben@reddit
January and February combined I went to work a total of 16 days. March I went to work 16 days. It swings wildly haha.
BagOfMoneyNoChange@reddit
You're making me nervous about bidding reserve next month. I haven't bid reserve since December...
indianmcflyer@reddit
As a junior CA at a regional almost everyday for the last 16 months
Drunkenaviator@reddit
This varies WILDLY depending on a whole bunch of things. Even at the same airline/fleet/seat, it will vary between months. I flew with a guy the other day who spent the winter on reserve and flew 3x between november and march. Ended up having to go to the sim for landings. But that same guy said june-aug he worked every reserve day.
mfsp2025@reddit
I’m a captain at a regional. Our captain reserve list gets zeroed out every day. I have yet to ever sit without being used. As a commuter, I love it. We get commuter hotels and I didn’t even burn 1 last month. No need for a crashpad either.
But yeah, depends entirely on a ton of factors.
propell0r@reddit
Totally varies. I choose reserve at big red by choice. Some months (last October) I worked 5 days, of which 2 were recurrent sims. In August I worked 11. March that just ended was bad and I worked the full 16. Right after getting qualified I was put on reserve and didn’t get called for 3 weeks.
Like I said, varies.
Used_Shower3984@reddit
Somewhere between once a month and getting beat like a rented mule.
skywagonman@reddit
It depends. My company has been zeroing out the reserve list almost every single day for the past month. It was not like that at the beginning of the year.
dromzugg@reddit
Porter is almost always desperate for pilots. Just look at how many "open flying" emails come out in a day. It's a lot of seats to fill. But it also really depends on your base. Ottawa doesn't fly a ton from the guys I know who are there. One guy from my class is still getting reserve there after about 18 months. I was only Toronto based for a while and probably got called out the majority of days. On a 4 day reserve block I was probably flying at least 3 of those days. Vancouver I only spent about a month on reserve and it was about 50/50.
PleaseGreaseTheL@reddit
Not an airline pilot, still just student getting the basics done, but wanted to say congrats
TraxenT-TR@reddit
I’ve had months where I didn’t get called and almost had to go do landings in sim. And months where I get used to max of contract rules and 117 rest limits. You’re really just being paid for availability to be used, not the use itself so if you get used only 80% of the time consider that a win especially if commuting because that means less time in pad and more time building hours to move on to bigger and better things.
swakid8@reddit
Congrats on landing at your first airline gig.
Too many variables to answer your question. Depends on company, fleet, seat, base, seniority, work rules, time of the year, weather….
Cdraw51@reddit
It depends a lot on where you're based, I've found. If you're at a junior base then you tend to get used quite a bit (as a junior pilot anyway), but if you're at a base that's sort of mid-seniority or higher then it's possible to go a week or two without being called. And if you're a senior pilot in said base then you might be able to go longer without being called.
I'm at a base that's senior than others but not the most senior in the company, and I only flew 20 hours last month.
anonymous4071@reddit
Somewhere between never and every day.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Finally made it to the airlines a few months ago after years of smaller ops and bush flying!
I now fly for Porter Airlines in Canada and I was wondering what is the usual % of day you will actually get called in for work on reserve day at different companies in Canada, US or International.
I'm less than 6 months in, and so far my class and few classes before mine usually get called around 80-90% on reserve days from what I can see from everyone's schedules. That's for FO and direct entry captain. I understand it can vary from month to month, hi/low season, but I'm just looking for average.
Just wondering how it looks like everywhere else!
Thanks
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