Larry in TN

That's a reasonable way to think aobut it but it is not technically correct.

The system starts with everyone awarded a line that is built without regard for their bids. This is to establish the gline, line credit cap/average/floor, etc. It shows that a legal solution is possible with the current gline and system constraints.

Each pilot can have up to 20 bid groups. Each bid group is a separate bid. The solver will start with BG1. If BG1 has constraints that make a legal award impossible at his seniority then the BG will fail and the solver will move on to the next BG. If the pilot's last BG fails, the system moves on to complete mode where it systematically removes constraints from that final BG until a legal line can be awarded. This is useful because you can try to get something thta you may not be able to hold in your first BG then take a completely different approach in your subsequent bid groups.

A pilot at, or above, the gline is guaranteed a hard line as long as he does not big a reserve BG.

When the solver runs, it starts with those pre-bid lines and makes repeated passes through the list improving each line, based on the pilot's BGs. It keeps cycling through the list over and over until a point called cross-over is reached. Cross-over is a point where the bids are no longer being improved with each subsequent pass. This process runs for about two days for each bid status.

The BGs themselves are in two parts. The first part is to move the avaiable trips out of the supply pool into the seven weighted pools. A trip left in the supply pool in unavailalbe to the solver and can't be placed on your line (unless the BG ends up in completion mode). The second part modifies the constraints through a number of SET and WAIVE statements which either add contraints (SET) or loosens constraints (WAIVE). For exmaple, you can SET the work groups report or release time to the ranges you prefer or you can waive the minimum of 2 days off between work blocks, etc.

The user interface is not very intuitive but the concepts are not difficult. There is a project underway to revamp the user interface which will hopefully be a big improvement. It is worth your time to learn the system and how it works as you can produce good results at almost any seniority level if you do. Obviously, if you're very junior, you're going to get the trips that nobody wants and will work a lot of weekends but you'll still be able to build better lines than what you would have had left in a non-PBS system.

fostro

Great Info!! Thanks for keeping it Elementary Watson!

In Unity...

DoubleDoink

The BAT is an invaluable tool for 2 reasons:

1. It lets you know whether a legal line can be awarded based on your bid inputs

2. The line it spits out can unmask unintended consequences of what you bid.

Although both are important, and if you're well versed in bidding, you should seldom have a bid fail. But number 2 is really important! It can alert you to something really outside your intent.

C-17 Driver

I have two weeks of vacation in February. I could not get a single Reserve Bid group BAT to pass. “Award RSV” even failed.

It went into completion mode SIX times! PBS dispute was filed.

jdavk

Depending on your available days for February and the last week of your January schedule there might not have been a contractually legal solution. I’d be curious to hear the outcome of your dispute, if you don’t mind sharing it.

Larry in TN

No one is guaranteed a reserve line. The only guarantee is that those above the gline will get a line if they bid for one.

jdavk

Just to clarify, pilots above the G-Line are guaranteed a flight line as long as they don’t enter ANY reserve bid groups.

C-17 Driver

Yes, I am very aware of that and I have first hand experience effects from
that as well.

however, I’m 6 from the bottom, so a line is highly unlikely . I did have one bid group saying “AWARD WORK L- -“ which failed without surprise.

the point is that I could not get a reserve bid group to pass the BAT. I spoke with a PBS helper and he agreed that it would not pass and that my award would likely be done by hand. What I do not like is that I had zero control or visibility of what a legal Reserve bid award would look like.

jdavk

Unlikely, yes, but not unheard of.

To the real point of my reply…

Quote:

Originally Posted by C-17 Driver

What I do not like is that I had zero control or visibility of what a legal Reserve bid award would look like.

The contract spells out what a “legal” reserve bid award will look like.

If the combination of your current month’s schedule and the future (bid) month’s schedule don’t allow for a contractually legal reserve line to be built the BAT will fail every time.

(Of course, it’s possible that the BAT wasn’t working properly but, more often than not, failures like what you’ve described are caused by the schedule incompatibility between months.)