Reserve Preferencing vs. Ready Reserve Preferencing

MEC Reserve Committee

Over the course of the past week, we have received questions from Flight Attendants requesting information about the difference between Reserve Preferencing and Ready Reserve Preferencing, and when each set of preferences is considered for Reserve assignments.

First, it is important to recognize that each type of these two types of preferencing are completely separate and distinct from each other. The preferences that are considered depend on when the Reserve assignment is made.

1.     The Reserve Preferencing assignment process occurs each evening at approximately 1700 HDT for open positions that check-in the following day between 0500 and 2359 HDT. During this process, preferences that are submitted using the Reserve Preferencing system are considered. This system may be accessed under the Reserve tab in CCS.  This preferencing system is easily distinguished by the fact that the Flight Attendant user is redirected from CCS to a page that opens in a separate tab or browser window (as shown in the image below).

The deadline to submit Reserve Preferencing requests for the following day is 1600 HDT. More information on inputting Reserve Preferencing requests may be found in the Appendix of the JCBA Reserve Guide.

2.     Ready Reserve preferences are considered when assignments are made to Flight Attendants who have been assigned to Ready Reserve status for the day during the 1930 HDT assignment process. Ready Reserve Preferencing may be accessed under the Reserve tab in CCS (see image below).

The Ready Reserve Preferencing screen is distinguished by the fact that it will open within CCS. On this screen, Ready Reserve preferences may be indicated for the following options only:

1.     Maximum Flying,

2.      Minimum Flying,

3.     Standby or

4.     No Preference.

This is also the area where Flight Attendants may volunteer to be assigned into days off. There is no deadline to submit Ready Reserve preferences. More information on Ready Reserve Preferencing may be found in Chapter 6 of the JCBA Reserve Guide.

The most important thing to remember is that the two types of preferencing are completely separate from one another:

• Reserve Preferencing requests are only considered when the Reserve Preference system runs at 1700 HDT each evening.
• Ready Reserve preferences are only considered after 1930 HDT for those who have been assigned to Ready Reserve status for the assignment day when assignments are being made to open pairings.