But we haven't had the second standby crew availability (except on an opportunity basis) for a few years now and the serviceability at many flights has been patchy to say the least. In the last 12 years I have done less than a handful of seconds call-ins - it is not the same as it was in the 80s and 90s.
But even in the last few months (floods, tornado crash at Lossiemouth etc) we've got second crews in even though we do not formally hold seconds! Partly because we are paid 24/7/365 and also because we don't have a union that would demand overtime pay.
I can't help feeling that our lack of pushing seconds is less to do with our manning crisis and more to do with easing the transition to the takeover where they will not provide a surge capability, that way they can say we haven't provided one for years when in actual fact we still can and do!