Regularguy

So instead of a broad statement can you be more specific how the PBS needs to be improved?

One truth is this if it's based purely on seniority the jr will always get scraps and relatively no choices.

webecheck

In a given solution all bidders must receive legal solutions, all flying except specific open time limits must be covered, reserve coverage requirements must be met, and all FAR/UPA requirements must be complied with. When considering options for what you are requesting we may only look at bidders from your seniority downward as senior bidders cannot be affected. In doing so we must comply with all the aforementioned solution requirements. Unfortunately, as we have discussed, there is not a method to cover your carry in trip and still ensure a complete solution.

So I still don't quite understand the result. My bid was legal, and the bidder immediately below me had 5 trips on his line. The first trip would have conflicted with my carry in trip, but the remaining 4 could have all been placed on my line and met rest requirements and credit targets, and of course were available trips as part of my bid. The line would have been about 81hrs. My final bid had 34 trips in the pool. So I'm guessing this is a situation where PBS has to hand out a certain amount of flying to bring the open trip pool down to a required level and the solution to make that happen meant it needed to prioritize junior bidders. Not exactly excited about PBS saying my solution is more important than your seniority. I suppose my lesson learned is that if below the line, even if you're the first guy below like me, put in a reserve bid or have a final bid waiving everything if you want to be a lineholder at all costs. In my fleet, as a commuter, those last waive everything lines are really brutal from what I've seen so I don't think I'd want that. I suppose I can live with the solution without heartburn as I shouldn't be below the line next month, and I'm sure at some point I have been/will be the recipient of trips I shouldn't actually have the seniority to hold because of the PBS solution logic....but still ticked to see trips go to junior bidders that were eligible for my line and could have created a solution.

Dave Fitzgerald

This is the crux of the problem. And, why I think PBS fixing should be a high priority during the contract talks. We are after all a union. We need to act like it. Is seniority the governing rule of the day or not? Is this a priority or not? I think it should be and we need to fix it, and I have done the contract survey, and told my LEC exactly what I think. I encourage all of you to do the same.

The interface also needs a complete revamp. I'm a computer guy, and sometimes I can't figure it out.

Zenofzin

The solution to making the more jr lines better and closer to what you bid is to contractually require pbs to allow more open time to be left at the end of the run. Unfortunately this also results in a few more guys on reserve,or a few less guys getting awarded lines. If I understand it right Deltas system operates this way. PBS then isn't forced to not award lines do to overall solution constraints, but once again less lines are awarded, so pick your poison I guess.

Jaded N Cynical

PBS
Probably Be Sick

rp2pilot

You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time. The old system (line bidding) had issues too. If the none of the prebuilt lines had what you wanted, you were pretty much out of luck regardless of your seniority. At least with PBS, you can often get some of the things you're looking for (specific dates off, layover cities, departure times, etc.). Honestly, commuters (I don't commute) are probably far better off with PBS than they were with the old system. jmho

CousinEddie

From the Prefbid site, written almost 10 years ago by an L-CAL PBS instructor:


Overall Solution Constraints essentially means that you aren't senior enough for it to build the line you wanted, even though there may have been trips available that would have worked.

I'll explain how that works under PBS and then compare it to the way lines were constructed under the old system.

Under PBS, the company uses a formula to set the G-Line, above which every bidder who wants one is guaranteed a line. In order to meet that requirement, PBS looks ahead after constructing lines for each bidder to be sure there are enough trips left to complete the overall solution for the entire BES. At some point down the seniority list, bidders ask for lines that, if awarded, would not allow PBS to complete the overall solution. That seems to be what happened in your case. If PBS awarded you a line based on this bid group, it could not complete the solution for the entire BES.

Now, this isn't really much different from what we saw with preconstructed lines except that the process is visible instead of behind the scenes. When our line construction guys build lines, they can only build so many high time max day off lines before they have to start building 'less desirable' lines. There may be pairings available for them to build better lines, but if they did, there wouldn't be enough pairings to build the required number of lines to complete the solution.

One way to check this is to look at the preconstructed lines. You could cherry pick trips from several 'less desireble' lines to build a higher time line with more days off. But that line wasn't constructed because it wouldn't allow the solution to be completed.

PBS places an emphasis on seniority by allowing senior bidders to do the cherry picking until it reaches that point where solution constraints kick in. When you find that a bid group failed due to solution constraints, that's essentially the same as saying that your not senior enough to hold what you wanted. Just like what we had with preconstructed lines, only a certain number of bidders were able to hold the 'desirable' lines while less senior bidders would get lines that may not be as desirable.

Hope that makes sense. The fact that we can see the solution constraints now where we couldn't before has caused some frustrations, but the transparancy is the only real difference. The constraints were always there but handled behind the scenes.

BMEP100

As I recall at the time pbs was being foisted upon us at CAL by a certain small group within ALPA, it came out that pbs would reduce the required pilot staffing by an equivalence of around 1400 staffing hours per month.

Along with this came more restrictions on trading from what once was the most liberal trip trade system in the industry.

It was a lose- lose.

rp2pilot

The moral of the story.. regardless of the bidding system, it's great to be senior. Good news is that, over time, you will be.