A FLIGHT ATTENDANT STORY PAGE 4: BEING ON RESERVE
As you are contemplating entering a new realm of employment, it is important for you to know exactly what the lifestyle of a flight attendant entails, and reserve is a big part of the initial flight attendant life. It is totally unlike any other job environment you may encounter, and you need to know just what is looming ahead.
Most airlines require that you begin and remain on reserve until your seniority status will allow you to “hold a line”, or bid for scheduled trips. Reserve simply means that you are being held “on reserve” for the needs of the airline crew schedulers. You will you’re your days off for an entire month rather than your specific monthly trips, and you will usually be scheduled for 10 – 14 days off per month, depending on the airline. On your reserve days you will cover vacancies in the schedule that result from sick calls, vacations, medical or maternity leaves and emergency situations.
These days can be moved around at the discretion of the crew scheduler, but many airlines have now incorporated some immovable days into the junior flight attendant’s schedule. This means that there are some of your days off that cannot be moved, regardless of crew scheduling’s needs. These are the days you should plan things like weddings, important events, and anything that is extremely significant and would cause a huge hassle to change. Many a bride will schedule her wedding day on what she is counting on being her days off, only to have crew scheduling change them at the last minute! This usually either wrecks the wedding plans or terminates that person’s flight attendant career.
Reserve days usually go from midnight of the first day to midnight of the last day, and you will be on reserve for several days in a row. It will be necessary for you to be available on an on-call basis for crew scheduling 24 hours a day, with as little as one hour’s notice. It is usually necessary for you to live within 2 hours of the airport where you are based, so you must be packed and ready at all times while you are on your reserve days. You will need to maintain a permanent residence and phone number in the base city to which you have been assigned. Pagers and cell phones are usually permitted as secondary contact numbers for crew scheduling, at the flight attendant’s own expense.
Do not count on having weekends off in the beginning, or holidays either. You may not get a Christmas off for 2 or 3 years, or even more, depending on what your seniority is within your base domicile. But there are advantages to being off on days when most people are not – stores are not as crowded, you can get business such as doctor’s and dental appointments without having to take off from work, and it is easier to ride standby on your airline passes if you choose to travel on your days off.
Some airlines alternating their reserve with scheduled flying, that is, you may be on reserve for one month and then have scheduled trips the next month, then back to reserve, rotating from month to month. Other airlines integrate one reserve day per month into ALL their flight attendant’s schedules, so that everyone shares the responsibility of reserve briefly each month, regardless of seniority.
When on reserve, a flight attendant receives a guaranteed salary, based on anywhere from 65 to 85 flight hours per month, with a higher rate of pay if the flight attendant exceeds the minimum hours. This amount varies depending on which airline you are with. Major carriers can pay from $18.00 up to $22.00 per flight hour, with regional and commuter airlines usually making somewhat less.
Some airlines pay by the trip or a flat monthly fee, no matter how many hours you fly. One positive feature of reserve is that you can fly a lot of good trips even if you don’t have a lot of seniority. And every day is different - no more 9 to 5 routine. And you can find the trips you may later want to bid for - reserve allows you to read the menu before you order, so to speak.
Reserve can be demanding, and your flexibility is of the essence. But if you are up for the challenge and want a fabulously exciting career, reserve can be the spark that will set off this wonderful and rewarding job.
Page 5. Flight Attendant Training
