"Reserve Days"

Gone are those reserve days!

Airport reserve days are days when we have to be on call, show up in the crew room for our designated time of assignment either very early in the morning or stay late at night until the last flight of the night leaves.  Home reserve days are days when we need to be at the airport an hour prior to the departure flight when crew scheduling calls and assigns a trip.

I was on reserve for almost a year, which is the usual case in New York.  I didn't mind being on reserve.  It was sort of a downtime.  I had my books and magazines to read.  I had a favorite spot to sit where I could see planes taking off, which was a fun thing to do.

It's not necessary to stay in the crew room when you are on airport reserve. We could roam around JFK, as long as we are reachable.  Most of the time when we got tired sitting, we walk around, window shop, and take photos. I spend a lot of time eating with friends, and coffee, by the way (not just one cup) is a necessity.

One not so good thing about being on reserve is the feeling of surprise getting a call from crew scheduling. You are paranoid of checking your phone all the time making sure that you don't miss a call from them, otherwise you will be in trouble. There were times when you didn't want to get a call from them because you wanted to go home early or have something planned to do. But you have to be ready, prepared and be on time for your scheduled flight.

I was sick one night and made a wrong decision to silent my phone because I didn't want to be disturbed.  The following day, I forgot that I did that and unknowingly, crew scheduling called me a couple of times to give me a trip. It was the only time that I almost got a miss trip. It was a stressful time rushing myself to the airport to show up for my flight. I will never forget that.

There were times that I was stuck in JFK because of bad weather.  And there were fun times hanging around with classmates and friends, chatting and do silly things.

I miss those days. Not everything was great. But those were the early days of my FA life, with some great memories!