Backup Reservations

Overview

In most scheduling systems, when a time slot is taken, it's simply taken. You check availability, find it blocked, and either give up or keep manually refreshing to see if it opens up. That approach wastes your time and still isn't fair — whoever happens to check at the right moment gets the slot, regardless of how long they've been waiting.

Centerline's backup reservation system takes a different approach. When a time slot you want is already claimed, you can still express your intent to fly it by making a backup reservation. Your backup is queued in chronological order behind any existing reservations. If the blocking reservation is canceled, modified, or the conflict otherwise clears, your backup is automatically promoted to a confirmed reservation — and you're notified immediately. No refreshing. No racing. No luck involved. The member who wanted it longest gets it first.

This makes the backup system fundamentally fairer than pure first-come-first-served scheduling. It's the difference between a waiting room with a number system and one where everyone rushes the door at once.

How Backups Work

1. You make a reservation that overlaps with an existing confirmed reservation or a maintenance block.
2. Your reservation becomes a backup — it's saved in the system with backup status and shown in orange on the calendar. You're notified that the booking was accepted as a backup.
3. You wait — Centerline monitors the conflict automatically. You don't need to do anything.
4. If the conflict clears — the existing reservation is canceled, edited to a non-overlapping time, or the maintenance block is removed — Centerline immediately evaluates the backup queue.
5. Your backup is promoted — if you're the earliest backup with no remaining conflicts, your reservation becomes confirmed and turns cyan on the calendar.
6. You receive a notification — email and/or SMS, depending on your preferences. This notification is important; see Reservation Notifications to make sure it's enabled.

What "Conflict Clears" Actually Means

A backup can be promoted when:

• The active reservation it was blocked by is canceled entirely
• The active reservation is edited to a shorter or different time window that no longer overlaps with your backup
• The maintenance block blocking you is removed or rescheduled
• A combination of changes eliminates all overlapping conflicts

When the system promotes a backup, it re-checks every backup in the queue for that time window. Multiple backups can be promoted in a single pass if multiple conflicts clear at once.

Multiple Backups for the Same Slot

Several members can hold backup reservations for the same time slot simultaneously. They all appear on the calendar in orange. When a conflict clears, backups are promoted strictly in the order they were created — the earliest request goes first.

This ordering is the core of the fairness guarantee. It means the right thing to do when you want a blocked slot is to make a backup reservation immediately, not to wait and watch. The earlier you're in the queue, the better your position.

Viewing Your Backups

Backup reservations appear in orange on the calendar alongside everyone else's backups. You can click on any backup (including your own) to see its details. Your dashboard also reflects your upcoming reservations including any backup-status ones.

Canceling a Backup

If your plans change and you no longer want the slot even if it opens up, cancel your backup reservation just as you would a regular one. This removes you from the queue and may shift priority to the next backup holder. See Editing & Canceling Reservations for the steps.

Tips

• Make a backup as soon as you want a slot — every minute you wait is a minute you're further back in the queue if someone else also makes a backup.
• Don't rely on a backup for a critical flight — promotion is automatic, but not guaranteed. If the blocking reservation never clears, your backup stays a backup. Plan accordingly for time-sensitive trips.
• Enable the "Backup Promoted" notification — this is the most time-sensitive notification Centerline sends. If your backup is promoted the morning of a flight, you want to know immediately. See Reservation Notifications to verify this is turned on.
• Cancel backups you no longer want — leaving stale backup reservations in the system is unfair to other members who might want that queue position. If your plans have changed, clean up your backups.
• Check for nearby open slots — before making a backup, it's worth scanning the calendar for times that are close to your ideal window. A small adjustment might get you a confirmed reservation immediately instead of waiting in a queue.