I haven't actually flown in August

So it's August 10th and I haven't flown yet. I've gotten as close as the cockpit door.

As normal I have airport standby this month. I had my 2PM-10PM shift Wednesday last week thru Saturday. Yesterday I was on at home reserve. On Thursday I would have flown, but I called in sick. I made it all the way to the airport, signed in and then realized my sinus pain wasn't going away. After about 10 minutes I realized I am in no condition to fly and made the call. On that day I was the only First Officer available. The flight I was supposed to fly was flown by two Captains instead. In fact I have seen at least 5 Captains fly as First Officers due to a lack of First Officers over the last few days.

Friday I had another chance to fly. There was a long overnight open. I had plans on Saturday to meet up with a friend who was flying out of my base at 4PM. The long overnight got back at 4PM. No bueno. I called a buddy of mine who was already flying a trip on overtime and asked if he wanted another overnight and more overtime. He did. Awesome. So I went home without flying.

Saturday I spent a good 2 hours catching up with my best friend from high school. I haven't seen her in over 10 years. While perusing Facebook a few months ago I came across her name. Yadda yadda yadda we planned to meet up and thankfully it all worked out. After she left I did get a call for an overnight. I was given 2 1/2 hours notice which is kind of annoying as I could have just as easily been at home. Again I was the only First Officer available.

When I looked up the flight info I noticed the plane was currently down for maintenance and has been down for hours. Hmmm. I kept an eye on it. The ETA for the repair was pushed back to 10 minutes prior to departure. Yeah. I made my way over to the plane 40 minutes prior to departure. The plane had power and PCA (nice), but there wasn't a mechanic in sight. I chatted with the Captain for a few minutes before heading back up to the gate area. Sure enough the repair ETA was pushed back again. I helped a few passengers with questions (the gate agent was very busy with answering questions about the new delay) while keeping an eye on the repair and flight status. The flight was to leave at 7:10PM. New time was 7:25PM. Another First Officer walked up with his wife and kid. He was flying out to an overnight and trying to non-rev his family home. He had hoped to get them on my flight instead of the later flight. I then let him in on the news. Not good news mind you.

A few minutes before 7PM I noticed the flight had cancelled. I quietly showed the gate agent the bad news on the computer I was using. She sighed and went back to her desk. I felt bad for her as she had to rebook 70 passengers who most likely ended up staying in a hotel for the night. There was one more flight that night, but it was already full. The First Officers family had to either fly to a nearby city and drive or stay the night in the hub. The joys of non-rev travel.

Sunday I had a 2 hour reserve call out. Never got called. Good times. Off for 3 days. Still waiting on the final displacement results.