The Anatomy of a Reserve

A reserve has to wake up at a moment's notice when that cell phone rings at 0400.

A reserve has their suitcase packed and ready to go, their lunchbox packed for the number of days left on reserve, and their tote bag stuffed with a book, maybe a laptop and, of course, their Flight Attendant Manual.

A reserve's uniform is ready to jump into right before they run out the door - pants, shoes, underwear, shirt, jacket and ID badges - hung by the door. A separate supply of toiletries and cosmetics are kept in the main floor bathroom so the rest of the family isn't awakened in the middle of the night.

A reserve has the pleasure of having six hours of "Airport Appreciation Time" at least one or twice during a block of duty days - during that time, a reserve can nap, read, watch movies, update their Flight Attendant Manual, catch up on Must Reads and F9 University courses, and maybe even pre-board a plane or babysit a through flight until the crew shows up. This is also a good time to visit with fellow classmates who might also be appreciating the airport!

A reserve usually doesn't know what they're going to do, when they're going to do it, and where they're going to do it until they actually start doing it! It's a very last minute kind of job. There are a couple opportunities to get a little control...reserves can bid for their days off for the following month, but what you end up with depends strongly where you are on the seniority list. And there's also aggressive bidding, which has dramatically increased a bottom-of-the-list reserve's chances of picking up a trip by being a "first-come, first-serve" kind of program. You just need to be at the computer at 1300 MDT with your fingers at the ready.

A reserve has to be ready for the unexpected - when we're done with a trip or "airport appreciation time," we have to call Crew Scheduling to get released. Sometimes we hear those magic words, "You are released to your" 10 hours rest, days off, or vacation days. Sometimes, you get told "Report to gate XX immediately - they are holding the plane for you for a turn to Cancun (or LaGuardia or Washington, DC)."

A reserve gets to listen to those not on reserve tell them about how they had it even worse than we do - 90 minute call-outs instead of the current two-hour call-out, no pay for "airport appreciation time," etc. But when you ask them how long they were actually on reserve or how many times they actually had "airport appreciation time" you usually hear anything from "I was only on reserve for a month, and I never even had 'airport appreciation time'!" to "Oh, I was on reserve for about a year..." I haven't heard anyone say that they've been on longer than the current batch of reserves (20 months for my class and 24 months for the class ahead of me).

A reserve gets to listen (and sometimes participate) in the bashing of the airline by those senior to them. Sometimes it's so obvious that the senior FA is miserably unhappy, and it comes across to the passengers. You just want to take those FAs aside and say, "If you hate your job that much, why don't you leave?" That would make the senior FA happy, and we'd be happy, too, climbing up that seniority ladder! These are also the FAs who like to make the announcements their own way, not caring that what they're saying may not be what the airline wants the passengers to hear.

A reserve gets to listen to (and sometimes participate in) the lovefest that takes place when you fly with senior FAs that absolutely LOVE their jobs and plan to keep them until the day that they die. These FAs are usually the ones that feel it's important to follow the rules, the dresscode and they make the announcements the way that the airline has asked them to. Trips like this just "click" and it's a great feeling to be a part of a team that worked well together!

A reserve stays because they KNOW that one of these days they will be able to taste that delicious fruit - a line of their very own. Where they have a say in where they go, when they go, and how long they'll be gone...it's a bright, shining light at the end of the tunnel. Well worth the wait from what I've heard!