What did you do while sitting on reserve?

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Drchaser

New Member
Hi all,

I’m currently sitting on reserve and there is barely any flights to be done. Looking to get some ideas on how to be more productive with all of this time. What did you do to make more money or things to build your resume for the next job? My company has airport standby and two hours callous.
 
jmc4 said:
Curious. What is an aggressive bid? To add, does your company use PBS?
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We do use PBS. I bid what I can and even call them sometimes asking to be called first if something comes up. The problem is we are a bit over staffed on the FO side at the moment.
 
I finished up my bachelors while I was on reserve. Spent a lot of time in DTW sitting in the corner by B20.
 
Still working on my degree, so that. Other than that. Mindless internet browsing/Reddit/Netflix. If it's airport reserve I'll usually try to walk the entire airport and get some exercise. Rare that I get much time when I'm not called on short call, but check out a coffee shop or something nearby or talk a long walk if it's nice out. Reserve can suck but it doesn't necessarily have to suck AS much, it just gets old after a while.
 
Work on finishing my degree, and go for a run once my reserve window expires for the day. I'm lucky, even though I commute to SFO I have an aunt and uncle that live in Palo Alto that I stay with when I'm on reserve so I get to enjoy the bay area sans crash pad.
 
It really depends on the callout time. Obviously you are pretty limited if you are on airport reserve (I used to sleep, read, watch DVDs (this was before Netflix had much online content), walk around, chat with other crews, and, if the weather was nice, hit golf balls at the range across the street from the airport.

On regular reserve at the regional level I had 90 minutes, to get there (with a 30 minute drive). That meant I was on a 30 minute leash from my apartment (giving me 30 minutes at home to shower and get dressed and pack last minute stuff). With that in mind I could run errands, go to the gym, meet friends for coffee or meals (if i didn't mind having to leave in the middle) and, if it looked likely I wouldn't get used, go to (cheap... I was a poor starving regional FO) sporting events. I had a roommate at the time and we played lots (and lots) of MarioKart. By the time I sat reserve as a captain, XBox and Call Of Duty were a thing (and I didn't have a roommate anymore) so that replaced Mario.

To try to not feel like I wasted a bunch of time, but not spend money, I used to read free white papers. I started off with aviation related stuff, but moved on to other topics.

On reserve where I'm at now I have a 3 or 4 hour call out, which let's me do pretty much whatever I want during the day as long as I can keep my phone near me while I'm doing it. YouTube has replaced white paper reading, but you've got to fight the rabbit holes. There are also tons of great free online certificate programs if you want to study but not in an official capacity.
 
BobDDuck said:
It really depends on the callout time. Obviously you are pretty limited if you are on airport reserve (I used to sleep, read, watch DVDs (this was before Netflix had much online content), walk around, chat with other crews, and, if the weather was nice, hit golf balls at the range across the street from the airport.

On regular reserve at the regional level I had 90 minutes, to get there (with a 30 minute drive). That meant I was on a 30 minute leash from my apartment (giving me 30 minutes at home to shower and get dressed and pack last minute stuff). With that in mind I could run errands, go to the gym, meet friends for coffee or meals (if i didn't mind having to leave in the middle) and, if it looked likely I wouldn't get used, go to (cheap... I was a poor starving regional FO) sporting events. I had a roommate at the time and we played lots (and lots) of MarioKart. By the time I sat reserve as a captain, XBox and Call Of Duty were a thing (and I didn't have a roommate anymore) so that replaced Mario.

To try to not feel like I wasted a bunch of time, but not spend money, I used to read free white papers. I started off with aviation related stuff, but moved on to other topics.

On reserve where I'm at now I have a 3 or 4 hour call out, which let's me do pretty much whatever I want during the day as long as I can keep my phone near me while I'm doing it. YouTube has replaced white paper reading, but you've got to fight the rabbit holes. There are also tons of great free online certificate programs if you want to study but not in an official capacity.
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It looks like most people do the same variation of stuff to kill time. I like the free online certificate idea. Do you have any particular website recommendation?
 
A few of my classmates drove for Uber. I signed up for Uber with the intent of doing it but I did not sit reserve enough to actually do it. There seem to be more flex style jobs becoming available (Uber, Lyft, Grubhub, Amazon, etc). I never could get any of the online jobs to make sense.

Alex.
 
What is this sitting on reserve you speak of? In the 8 and a half months since I finished my upgrade line check and have been on reserve I think I have maybe 10 or 11 days I wasn’t used. I was a pretty lazy in base FO bidding just enough to pay the bills but even before they adjust my days to min guarantee I am crediting more hours on reserve than I ever did as a lineholder. Granted I proffer for as many trips as I can and try to fill my schedule as far in advance as possible.

But for the days I am stuck sitting around, I bought a Nintendo Switch which I bring with me since I commute to reserve. If the weather is warm enough though I’m usually out for a long walk or hike somewhere close by. If crew support doesn’t have anything on my schedule I try to talk them into sending me to another domicile to sit out of base reserve for the free hotel and per diem. Then it’s usually binging Netflix or Hulu.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
Well, one satisfied customer...
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I wouldn’t quite go that far, contented maybe, but it ain’t going away so I might as well use it. Plus now being in a more senior base where there’s less of a “cooperative attitude” I have less competition and outside of the poorly implemented rules on who gets assigned what by the computer and asinine rules about work blocks, I can generally get the better of the available trips simply because I’m one of the few who tries.

Now, if I could fill my schedule with company posted open time that fit my reserve days as soon as the schedule posted, then I’d be one happy camper.
 
I spent many days on my road bike/mountain bike when I was based in COS/DEN. When I was based in MSP, I did a lot of walking around the St Paul area. It was fun, made the time go by, and kept me in shape.
 
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