Turbosina

I just flew with a CA who is in the top 4 bidders in my base.

He got four CN trips for November. Needless to say he is hopping mad.

The guy's been here 19 years and bids very simply.

Turbosina

On a related topic...

Anyone at OO have an idea of how many Platinum Days one can use before one starts getting in hot water?

I have a CN 4-day trip next month that has Platinum written all over it. I've heard of guys with 30 occurrences...anyone have factual info on how many PD's you took before the CP called?

WesternSkies

I too have my pbs knowledge faults, But screwing up your bid implies you bid for stuff that your seniority couldnt hold and PBS intern did what it wanted. A CN arrives in your schedule I believe when PBS sees a trip that you bid and can hold in a layer but for globalization it needs a way to give it to someone junior. Voila...CN. Since this is all seniority based It can't skip a trip in layer "X" and move to the next layer, the program needs a way to move on and CN is how the program does it.

You can be CN'd while bidding 100% of the pairings (Christmas treeing from layer 1 to 100% in layer 7) and no restrictions. PBS can still globalize you and instead of saying the pairing was from layer "X" it will say CN.

Complex bidding strategy or not, if the pairing shows in that layers pairing set it is yours if your seniority holds it, unless you get CN'd.

Is offline

This is the problem. Everyone is getting replaced/not awarded and that should not even be allowed. It should not even be a pbs reason. If I can hold it it is mine not the guy 20 spots below me.

Crazy Canuck

Again, that's just not how life works. The company is not going to short staff themselves just so you ban have "your" trips. Sorry that that's the way it goes.

Crazy Canuck

Again, that's just not how life works. The company is not going to short staff themselves just so you can have "your" trips. Sorry that that's the way it goes.

FlyingFox

I just like flying at night; calm and alone. There is less traffic, both ground and air. You don't waste your life waiting for it. I want to fly for SkyWest and live in somewhere doesn't have high taxes and have a lot of rain. Hot chicks are a plus in cold wx.

Any recommendations?

disillusioned

Fixed it for you. This is the overall crux of the entire problem. If you have coverage dates at 23% seniority, something is f'ed up. The system should have a way to start filling those gaps at 60-70% and the other trips that are not covered should be dropped into open time. If you really need the 1st of the month off and the 1st and 2nd are coverage dates (like the CA who posted on the internal forums) and you are bidding 41% seniority, you should not have your entire month flushed down the toilet to cover the 1st and the 2nd where they are not holidays. How in the hell are you supposed to know when you are bidding your trips that you need to base your month around some arbitrary dates that are not determined until the bid starts processing??

Say what you will, but PBS has always been crappy but if you took the time to learn it, it would help increase your QOL. But anyone who has taken a computer programming class knows one of the first things your learn is "crap in, crap out" You can't force 90 hours on 75% of your pilot group with no way to improve their line. Top 25% guy trying to bid locals and standups and getting 95 hours worth of 4 days? Totally unacceptable.

Where PBS has so much control of our lives, we should have a bigger stake in the parameters. And I am not talking about having a SAPA PBS "expert" who bids 7% in their base and has no desire to help other than helping KH make up reasons you screwed your bid up. We have some smart pilots here that could make PBS more user friendly, but as it stands AOS is doing exactly what the company needs and it doesn't care how many trips are awarded outside of seniority because it allows SW to run lean.

disillusioned

Check out the disciplinary committee report RJ posted a couple days ago. CP's are starting to question pilots with "excessive" occurrences, but nobody will give any guidance or put anything in writing as to what would constitute a phone call or meeting. Quite honestly, the only thing that is stopping me from using more is I don't want to have to explain them as I interview. But I feel confident that if I was to get a call, I wouldn't have an issue justifying any absence or call in over the past 12 months (after I called SAPA and had them present for any phone call or meeting) My highest has been 12 for a 12 month period because I had a couple 4 days I had to call in for with a sick kid. I didn't hear anything.

velosnow

I've been above average and have never heard a peep. When I was a rep guys would occasionally get a call over 20 days but it was more of 'how are things going, any thing we can do?' type call.

I've also had a number of EMER days this year (deaths in the family, haven't seen my wife in weeks, etc.) and still no calls.

So usually not a huge deal, I think you need to really have a lot of days/issues with a repeatable pattern to get on the radar.