Just interested to know what the proportions are for the various Airlines across the industry for the above. I understand that the "standby" definition can take many forms; i.e 'reserve', etc. and can be rostered in one block, or spread throughout the year's rosters - but they all result, ultimately, in period(s) of inherently unstable working patterns - aka roster disruption.
The Airline that I work for has traditionally rostered a full week of standby per month, with the understanding that the odd extra day of standby can appear elsewhere in that month's roster. This seems to be getting out of hand now, with up to a week's worth of "extra" standby days being scattered around the remainder of the month's roster, rendering any element of planning a life outside work almost impossible.
Is this 'mission creep' to allow the crewing departments
even more flexibility happening throughout the industry, or is it just my Airline that doesn't have the competence to make up its mind where it wants me to fly in advance?
(because 95% of the 'standby' duties published in the roster inevitably turn into flying - usually the day before)
Rgds. skip.rat