APC225

The problem isn't with the program itself, it's with the workrules that were agreed to apart from PBS. By loading all the absences into the schedule before they run the bid, all the absences whether it be vacation, jury duty, military, or even training, are essentially on your days off.

The next contract needs to change that so absences are loaded after the bid is run. If those absences are on trips, then those trips are dropped--with pay--as they were under pre-constructed.

forgot to bid

It'd be great to re-game the system and be able to double dip but I think I'd take an across the board pay raise over the long term consequences of being able to game the system.

Denny Crane

Ranger,

My suggestion would be to get some bidding software. I use Easybid 6 by Flightline. It allows you to see exactly what trips you are bidding with each entry. You can then modify the entry if you need to fine tune your bid. (Not trying to hawk a product. I'm in no way affliated with them.)

The good news is the program is a free download, the bad news is you have to subscribe to the service to download the bid packages. I think it's 5-10 dollars a month. It also lets you send in your bids and not have to go online and submit them line by line again. Works great if you have a lot of PBS bid lines. Well worth it in my book.

Denny

APC225

It's not a double dip. Not even close. At this level of our profession I expect to get a paid vacation, not a one-week furlough, which is essentially what we've got now. I don't expect to have to squeeze FAA and company required training into my days off.

They "regamed" it against us on the last contract--and got pay concessions to boot. They're making money hand over fist. There's no reason it can't go right back to where it was, and pay restoration as well.

forgot to bid

APC where do you work? They're not giving you credit or pay for vacation?

Eck4Life

Yeah, it sucks when you use a 'week' of vacation and you only have 2 or 3 more days off in the month than the guys next to you on the bid list.

APC225

Before the last concessions, vacation was loaded after trips were awarded. Conflicting trips were dropped and paid. The result was more pay and more days off. That was the status quo, that was our negotiated benefit and pay. We lost both the pay and time off benefit as a concession. To restore the concession is simply to get both the extra pay and the extra time back.

pipe

I saw the thread title and what popped to mind was:

PBS for dummies-

"Yes, it is".

Anyone who has or does let this thing in the door at their airline is making a grave error.

PIPE

OscartheGrouch

Was the question "is PBS for Dummies?" I hope and pray that it never comes to SWA! This dummy thinks it was too advantageous for management with nothing for us dummies. I know you have to work with the system in place and wish all well. Never say never though.

cactusmike

I have used PBS for a long time now under the AWA (West US Airways) contract. I have been both mid seniority and junior bidder on the 757 and senior bidder as 320 captain, as well as reserve captain on the 757. I have found PBS to be very helpful in creating a good line for me, much better than line bidding.

Your standing bid should be the core of what you desire in a line of flying. We build around 460 lines of Airbus flying in PHX, with over 100 pairings each month to build those lines from. I bid for days of the week off with a value placed on each day of the week that I want; i.e. FRI off has desire 200 points. I prefer 2 and three day trips so I will have desire days < = 3 at 200 points. From there I bid on layover cities I want. For instance I want Socal and West Coast layovers, so I will have desire SNA layover > 12 hours 150 points, SEA layover > 150 points and so on. At the same time I will avoid certain cities like MEX and GDL and SAT so I have avoid those cites with layovers > 8 hours 500 points. I like Canada so I have desire Canada 100 points.

At this point with my standing bid I will run the analyzer once the bid opens. It will award points to pairings based on my criteria and the highest scoring trips will appear first. Since I bid around 100 out of 500 bus captains I cannot always get my choice of pairings but at least I can choose which ones I could theoretically fly. I will look at the results from the analyzer and if there is a trip I do not wish to fly then I will put avoid points on those specific pairings. Likewise, if I take the time to go through the pairing packet I will put desire points on pairings I would like to fly, about 50 points each.

The trick with PBS is to balance out the points. If I have a bunch of points on a layover city like BOS and we have a BOS BOS BOS 4 day that may overwhelm my desire for 2 day trips. Same with days off. If I have too few points on days off a trip with a bunch of layovers that I like can trump my days off selection.

I have had quirky day off needs in the past, certain days I had to be home. PBS gives me the power to bid those days off and still have a good line. And that was as a junior 757 captain.

One more thing, unless you are in the bottom percentile as a lineholder (and don't bid reserve), you can bid for minimum flying if you are a lifestyle kind of guy.