I too can see some merit in what my colleague
"Boredcounter" is saying, but that leads to another problem:
If you're relying on goodwill and a "sorry to disturb you" so that you can crew flights, then what happens when a crew member decides (Quite legally) that they're not going to play ball, and that they won't come out from Standby because of disturbed rest? Relying on luck and people's good nature is a very shaky foundation upon which to build a roster.
The chances are you'll be stuck for cover. Maybe because the management have seen that you seem to be coping okay with the numbers of SB's you've got (They won't care how you're doing it) so they'll be reluctant to allocate more SB's.
If you need to cover a wider time band then you need more SB's. They shouldn't be putting you or the crew member in the position of having to 'Stretch' SB times by disturbing rest.
My airline has a system whereby a crew member can log onto their live roster and check what they're in for in real time. If I allocate a call-out from Standby, then as soon as I hit the key the update is published. Many of our crews check on there before going to bed to see what's going on for the next morning.
Of course, this doesn't help in the case of being called out to cover for a "Sick on report" or a car breakdown, but it does provide us with a means to keep crew members informed without disturbing their rest.
Our crews are obliged to take no longer than 90 minutes from call-out to reporting point. We always take the 90 minutes as a given constant in our SB call-out plans.
They're always welcome to call us at any time anyway. I will never call them during their rest period. Okay, you may be able to 'bring them forward' but what if they refuse with disturbed rest and they're the last SB? You've lost them for that day..
And there won't be a damn thing you can do about it.
