IrishNJ

disagree. If I’m going to training, or changing bases, I want to know as long as possible so I can plan vacations, time off etc.

and the bid IS a quarterly bid, just bid the dates.

nuball5

The once a year Annual Bid would probably be looked upon more favorably if the past couple years weren’t so tumultuous. The first annual bid was posted in 2019, which got canceled in April the following year. Things really haven’t gotten much better since. Parking planes and then taking them back. Too little demand and now too much. NEA flying etc….

Cockpit997

Like button.

AYLflyer

This is a yearly bid, based on the fact that we can only bid ONCE a year. You can do what you described with a quarterly bid, just like we did before the contract. If you can hold a seat, you can bid it when the window opens.

Instead, we have 1 chance once a year to bid (supplementals aren't guaranteed) and if you screw the pooch, or there are life changes, then you're stuck. I don't know any other airline that does it our way. You can still plan your life out as long as possible with our old system.

There's a reason we get a million emails from the union and from management during the system bid window saying "Make SURE you know what you're bidding because mistakes aren't hardships". At my old shop we could bid a new base every month. Hell, there were guys that would decide on the fly "I think I'm gonna go to the West Coast for a couple months and then see how that goes", or if someone made a mistake, they weren't stuck for a full year, they could fix it the following month.

That's not something we can do here.

panpanpan

chucknorris

It’s not as easy as dismissing the annual bid. The annual bid came about because of the quarterly bid’s incompatibility with vacation bidding. If you lose vacation moving to the quarterly system you’re bidding after upgrade whatever scraps are left…. Which is October or September. If you let people keep vacation, then you leave the fleet without coverage and you somewhat subvert seniority.

Its not as easy as just switching to a new system. The supplemental bids are for ad hoc adds and thus the vacation impact isn’t as great.

Bluedriver

This is true, but people don't seem to know or care about the vacation issue. Maybe some would rather lose their vacation when changing bases and upgrading in exchange for bidding more often?

Maybe there just needs to be a better system for base trading? Seems like guys more than anything want more base trading opportunities? But you're going to lose your vacation if you do that.

I much preferred quarterly bids, but we also lost our vacation periods with that system.

I do think outside of the annual bid, there should be monthly bids for the vacancies that would otherwise go to new hires, but with the understanding that you give up your vacation period to take advantage of it. Then it's your choice, pick your poison.

Especially as the fleet/airline become more complex and larger, I would think at least one supplemental bid per year is a reasonable expectation, and has happened the last couple of years.

BeatNavy

Just spitballing here, but what about semi-annual bids with semi-annual vacation bids, Jan-Jun, and Jul-Dec. Still not as good as quarterly imo, but far better than once a year.

Bluedriver

Was thinking about that as well. Hard part might be choosing to use it not use your allotted weeks in the first period, and saving them until the second period. If too many people did that the system would fall apart.

Bgood

How many times a year can you take a stab at it? If your answer is once (outside supplemental bid) then it's not a quarterly bid. Your reason for it being a quarterly bid sounds more like a politician answering the question.