Artifact

Hi…I’m starting at Flexjet soon. I’m a bit confused about how pilots bid there. Do we have a choice? I prefer more shorter (like 4 day) trips to 7-7 or 8-6. Is that possibly? TIA

TeamSasquatch

Check a few threads close to this one. Same thing is being talked about. IMO, in the 135/91K world, 7/7 fixed rotation is the senior schedule, PBS style 7-8 days rotations is what the next junior have, and then the new guys get 15 days in a row… 4-5 day tours are super senior.

droptrack97

You're saying Flexjet is doing 15 day rotations?

MtnFlying

Flexjet PBS bidding is not the norm as compared to other 135/91k operators. The MAX schedule you can get on a green line is 8 days on, period...end of story. If you want more than that, you can bid the yellow lines or ask to be put on longer schedules, but you will not get those unless you specifically ask for it.

Green lines, which there are a ton of them to sort through while bidding, range from 4-8 days on with 4-7 days off between rotations. When you bid, you are bidding on a line for the entire bid period. You rank order the schedules you want and then the system does its magic to assign schedules based on fleet seniority, optimization, etc. In the 6 months I've been in PBS, I've gotten a schedule in my top 5 five times and the other was my #7 choice. This month, I was given the #2 line I bid for.

More than likely, you'll get a mix of 6, 7, and 8 day schedules until you make Captain on the Red Label teams, then you set your own schedules with the two other Captain's assigned to that aircraft. Captains on the Phenom stay in the PBS system as far as I know.

Just to keep it real, 4-day trips are really rare (senior or not) because it doesn't make sense from a logistical or cost perspective to allow a lot of those short tours, but I have seen them in PBS on occasion. A lot depends on where you live as well.

Hope that helps.

TeamSasquatch

No, just that in the world of 135/91K, 15 days is a common schedule

meitnerium

You can work between 4 and 8 days on, and between 9-14 days on. I’ve worked a couple 4 day rotations and up to 8. I try to avoid 8. Also, you can have more than 7 days off in between. I currently have >7 days off. I’ve had 10-11 off before. It just depends what line you get awarded and you have to manually search for lines with greater than 7-8 days off in between.

9-14 on is offered in advance via email and a web form for what days you want. This process will be phased out with the new bidding system which is going through testing right now.

I used to do 15 days on at a 135. But after coming home recently on an 8 day it feels like an eternity. 5-7 is preferable.

UGA AV8R

Did I read somewhere that the 7/7 schedule wasn't really attainable and paid way less than the 8/6 schedule? All new hires go to PBS? Thanks.

FlyAbove

7/7 isn’t really mentioned. No one is really assigned it.

If you eventually want to make that DRL money or go ILC… bite the bullet and do the 8/6. It’s highly incentivized by the company. It’s really what the company wants you on when it comes down to it.

C340

Can you share more details on this?

meitnerium

they are making a new software from the ground up to replace the current outdated system. The new one would remember attributes and is “smart” even if you didn’t bid, it would remember what you prefer from previous bids