Pros
There aren't many pros for part time Ready Reserve employees. It is sold as flexible hours, great flight benefits, ability to have another job (for insurance & living wage). It is none of these now, though it used to be. If you are aiming for a full time Delta career, then working as a ready reserve will start you down the path to full time. But be aware- it could take YEARS (10 plus, at my station). If you are willing to relocate, it might take less time. Delta is good to their full time employees. They get decent benefits, pay and vacations - time off to enjoy their flight benefits. Unfortunately, much of the full time benefits are paid for by denying a huge part of the workforce any benefits at all.
Cons
Ready reserves, Delta's part time un-benefited workers, are the Cinderella's of Delta. They work more days a year than the full time employees who have all the benefits. They get 1 week of unpaid vacation a year, while full time employees get paid vacations starting at 2 weeks, after 1 year of employment, 3 weeks after 5 years, etc,.... A ready reserve with 15 years of service still only gets 1 week of un- paid vacation. It is almost impossible to use the benefits. Trading shifts is allowed, but it's difficult to cobble enough time to travel very far and stand-by flights are risky. You have to be able to get back in time for work. Planning a family vacation is impossible, because trading is only approved 30 days in advance at most, so you can't pay for a cruise, co-ordinate family members vacations, get a deal on a resort, because you won't know if you will get the time off until 30, or usually less days, before. Full time employees don't have this problem. Their generous paid vacation weeks allow them to plan up to a year in advance. Ready reserves work the same schedule as full time 40 hours a week employees. Their shifts are shorter. But they work 5 days a week, with no flexibility. Ready reserves used work 3 or 4 days a week and have some flexibility, which is why workers stayed with the job. The flexibility made up for the lack of benefits and allowed people to have a second job or time for school or family. Now that is impossible and most quit within the first year. Delta has a very low retention rate for ready reserves, which is a disservice to the customers, because there are constantly high numbers of inexperienced employees training. If you want a part time job and plan to use the flight benefits, go to Southwest or American. You will get some benefits and be be treated more fairly. For those wondering why I am still currently employed at Delta; all airlines are seniority based, for scheduling shift times, etc... I kept hoping things would get better, but the opposite has happened, except for a pay scale change. I have 8 years with Delta and don't want to start all over at the bottom again. Hindsight is always better than foresight.
