Wolf424

Either way, make sure you hit “F12” to save

Abouttime2fish

Thats a whole new level of bidding mastery right there!

FangsF15

That's certainly how it reads, and what I would expect.

GogglesPisano

VACA SLIDE:

Does PBS care whether you are bidding a line vs RES when looking at VACA SLIDE. IOW, if you are unable to slide as a line holder, might you be able to slide as a RES? The PBS Handbook doesn't cover this.

Jughead135

Quite possible, since denial of SLIDE is based on only two things: coverage or inability to build a legal line.

Either way, REG and RES are different (you can be subject to coverage as a line holder but not as RES; and/or your category plus whatever pre-awards you have could make a line impossible with your proposed SLIDE (but a legal RES sched).

GogglesPisano

That's what I thought. I'm trying to slide over Christmas but I'm vulnerable to coverage so I'm including an ELSE START NEXT RES bid group.

Thanks.

So the next question is, why would PBS not slide a vacation over Christmas on a RES bid?

Jughead135

Same answer: coverage, or inability to build a legal (reserve) line.

Scoop

The following is based on experience and memory - as was pointed out previously, I failed PWA 101.

If as a reserve Pilot, if you are subject to coverage over Christmas it will not slide. I think you have it covered with a ESN bid group. FWIW - recently I have been seeing a lot of coverage awards go much more senior with reserves than with line holders. In other words Pilots could have held certain days off as a line holder but get coverage as a reserve. As long as you are trying both you will maximize your chance for success.

The PWA limit to coverage cutoff is the bottom 50% of line holders. So if you are in the top 50% of line-holders you should be safe. Hypothetically speaking if there are 130 Pilots in a category that has 100 lines any Pilot not in the top 50 in category is subject to stacking. I believe it does not matter if you bid reserve or a line - not in the top 50 Pilots keep your fingers crossed.

What is confusing is they can go right up to the 50% pilot as a reserve and have very little coverage as line holder since the trips are spread out more evenly. This is very evident for non holiday month weekends - which most reserves want off resulting in plenty of coverage awards. Christmas will probably have more even coverage since many line holders and reserve alike bid for this off.

Finally it will be interesting to see how holiday pay plays into the coverage awards.

Scoop

Snapdragon

reserve coverage does not have a 50% safe harbor in place. Very senior reserve can be bitten by coverage. ESN is everyone’s friend for back up line bids forced by weird coverage months. As Scoop stated, holiday months tend to bring them out more.

Herkflyr

EXACTLY. PBS Bidding Rule #1. Never...never...assume anything. Never "assume" that if you are senior enough to get certain days off as a Regular lineholder, then it must "naturally ensue" that you could also get those same days off as a reserve--it isn't so! ALWAYS assume that you cannot get the days off you want, both as a regular and reserve bidder, and ALWAYS have a "Prefer Off xxx Else Start Next Bid Group" preference, followed by appropriate bid groups.

I wanted Thanksgiving day off this year (Nov 23). I also wanted a reserve schedule. I tried four different reserve bid groups, and none of them worked because every reserve pilot at my seniority had Trip Coverage on Nov 23. So I was "forced" into a regular line that did have Thanksgiving off! (I did get Trip Coveraged on the 24th, but that is okay).

"Hope for the best but plan for the worst" in terms of days off, especially in holiday months, should be embedded in our "bidding DNA."