Big E 757

I'm trying to get Thanksgiving off (along with everyone else) but I'd rather a line working Tday vs. reserve. There used to be a forget and redo for PBS but now there is only a forget instruction. When PBS sees the forget instruction, does it automatically rerun from the top or do I need to find the redo command?

My bid looks something like this...
1. Award trips
2. Vac slide....
3. Prefer off TDay
4. Award....
5. Award.....
6-13. Award....
14. Forget 3
15. Clear schedule start next bid group
16 Reserve bid.

Is that correct or does line 15 need to be redo from 4?

Thanks, E

hammer189

There is no more redo. It just keeps going down so put more awards below the forget. Get rid of the clear sked.

zippinbye

Sorry to not give a direct answer to your query. One concise response would be "Forget exists, but Redo does not and is no longer necessary." There were some changes to how shuffle and denial modes work about two years ago. I believe "redo" went away at that time. Check out PBS Notepad 14-06 (easy to find on the bottom of the Navtech Info page). Pages 3 & 4 explain shuffle and denial and include some tips. The same Notepad mentions pitfalls with the use of CCSN, which when carefully utilized still has its place. Page 162 of PBS Gouge has some explanation of pitfalls associated with Forget. Somewhere in those two documents there's a general recommendation to place negative bids higher up in the bid group, followed by awards.

Rather than try to explain my interpretation of the above, I'll leave you to face the peril of of ingesting the Gouge and Notepad yourself. In my experience, placing what you want to do, i.e. desired awards, after the forget works. It's also possible to "layer" the Pref Off and Forget commands in order to sacrifice the desired days off one-by-one (Think being home for leftovers and football if you cannot hold Thanksgiving Day off).

Herkflyr

What you really need to do is contact the PBS Help desk, a great resource. For starters even your example posted is inaccurate. Vacation Slide will always be the very first bid. You cannot have it below any "Award" bid. Even that order is important in understanding all the PBS logic.

Rather than give a detailed breakdown or recommendation, I just recommend that you call the Help Desk, and read the Gouge!

Big E 757

Thanks guys!

Jughead135

If you'd rather have a line, any line, over res, then definitely get rid of CSSN (line 15). Remember, if you have an AWARD PAIRINGS bid group, the only way it will fail is if PBS cannot build you a line, period--or if you use a conditional (CSSN or ESN). If it gets to the system-generated AWARD PAIRINGS, by definition it's already denied any PREFER OFF, AVOID, etc. that you have. In that sense, it will sort-of "redo" your bid, via denial mode.

For what you're trying to do, you don't really need the FORGET option. Something along these lines will accomplish the same thing:

1 PREFER OFF <TDay>
2 AWARD PAIRING NUMBERS 1234, 3456, 2468, 3579 [<--- all pairings that you like, except they happen to be over Thanksgiving]
3 AVOID <bad stuff>
4 AWARD <good stuff>

That will start your bid by "deleting" anything working over Thanksgiving, and attempt to build you a line with what's left. If it can't get there (i.e., you're not senior enough to hold that day off along with your other negative bids), it will start denying your AVOIDs, etc., from the bottom up (my example assumes TDay is your #1 priority) and trying to complete a schedule with what fills in as each set of "deleted" trips is added back for consideration. If it can't do any of that, then, finally, it will deny your #1 priority....

The first time through (while your PREFER OFF hasn't been denied), it doesn't "see" the rotations you've listed, so they can't be awarded. If you get a line without denying line 1, its as if line 2 were never there. Once line 1 is denied, however, the rotations in line 2 are suddenly "visible" and can be awarded to you (subject to all the normal caveats about someone senior getting them, FAR limits, etc.)--so, you're working Thanksgiving, but at least you're working a "good" trip. Line 2 needn't be specific pairings, you could list, say, layovers at Grandma's house. (That's how I spent TG with family a couple of years ago....)

This has the added advantage of also working if you're affected by coverage. In your list (which I realize is only a loose outline), the only positive bids you have for coverage to consider are your generally-desirable ones (which may or may not be true over TG). In my example, coverage will try to award a positive bid from line 2 for the days you're getting tagged with. I always think of it like this: bid to avoid what I don't want; then bid for, well, if I gotta work that day, please give me x, y, or z....