canopener

We're being balloted between an updated Bidline process and a Jeppesen preferential bidding system (strict seniority).
In europe all airlines have to conform to EASA scheduling regs now so our previous bid system has been made redundant.

The union (Balpa) and the company are pushing for JSS , and some modest inducements are being offered.

Does anyone have any experience / thoughts / advice?

Thanks

zippinbye

Relatively early in my tenure with Northwest (now Delta via merger), we converted to a computerized preferential bid system. Our current system is Navtech PBS. Including previous air carriers, I have about ten years of experience with classic line-bid methods and 16 years in the PBS environment. I have been in the bottom 10 percent and upper ten percent of seniority for particular positions, and in between. Everything ranging from six to eight short haul legs per day, up to 12 day-plus international flying. PBS has been good to me, and I would never go back, given a choice.

Decoupling individual trip pairings from company-envisioned combinations allows tremendous flexibility to pilots. I am very confident that satisfactory monthly schedules trickle much further down the seniority list with PBS. I could go into some detail as to why, but that would subvert my intended brevity. Ask for more, and I'll produce such in a later post.

Here's the downside, at least for some carriers here in the U.S. that have "vacation conflict drops." That's what I'll call it - terms vary. Simply put, previously awarded vacations are prepopulated on a monthly schedule. When pilots are awarded a line, trips that touch the vacation are automatically dropped, and pay-protected. In some cases, it's allowable to retain those pay guarantees and pick up additional flying on the same days. Needless to say, maximum conflict is the goal for pilots. It's quite conceivable to have a week of vacation that touches a trip on both ends, netting the better part, if not all, of the month off. Or the month becomes extremely lucrative, or a bit of both. It's possible to plan an actual vacation with your family, and pick up bonus flying. All adding up to a month with less work days than normal, and a ton (or tonne if you will!) of extra pay. Extrapolate that to four, five or six weeks of vacation all in separate months, and the impact is enormous.

In my estimation, that issue alone is why pilot groups without PBS staunchly resist it. An inevitable condition of PBS introduction is a dismissal of the vacation conflict rule. The computer is programmed to award trips that will not encroach on the vacation, or pilots can choose to "slide" the vacation in a fashion that allows their most preferred trips to be awarded. But I must say they are sacrificing significant quality of life enhancements during non-vacation months. A number of carriers have a liberal swap, add and trade system that can offset that consideration quite nicely.

PBS certainly makes a company more efficient and allows a particular amount of annual block hour flying to be covered with fewer pilots. In the most simplistic sense, it's a 100% win for the air carriers. And it's a double edge sword for the pilots, depending on work/vacation rules that exist when a conversion to PBS is considered. If BA does not have vacation conflict drops, the main negative is a smaller seniority list to do the same amount of flying. At least temporarily a downside for the very junior and yet-to-be hired. But I'd venture a guess that the monthly pleasures of PBS schedule-enhancement would filter down to rather junior line holders. And there are even some niceties for reserve pilots as well.

Ponder it carefully. There are pros and cons to PBS. Typically there is no going back to line bidding, although most agreements contain an escape clause (at least temporary) if bad things happen during integration. Best of luck in securing a a bid system that improves the quality of life for your pilot group.

Justdoinmyjob

To add to this excellent synopsis, PBS is made better or worse by the union control of the results and work rules than govern trip awarding. At Delta, the union has final say as to the run end product. Before the awards are allowed to be posted, the union QCs the run for QOL issues and any errors. Some shops don't have this, and management can just set a global effecientcy solution and be done. That leads to less than desirable awards and why some places dislike PBS. Union control is paramount to a successful system.

canopener

Thanks for the explanations. Much food for thought.

At BA on long haul we work to 900 hours per year; and all full time pilots are butting up against that constantly. Also, long range flts require 2 local nights off downroute. The net result is that to achieve a month's work (which we call monthly CAP) there aren't many spare days off other than those legally / industrially for rest.

We have various "inhibitors" currently in place to spread the work more evenly than a strict seniority system might . My colleagues and I are obviously worried about.

How the company determines the level of work and the number of pilots reqd - which has been contentious recently.
The number of reserve pilots reqd, and how that is allocated.

The amount of "optimisation" of pilots lines, and the level of satisfaction across the status list.

Also, as the amount of work can never be divided equally, how do the systems account for pilots working more, or less, from month to month? Is there a bank, and is extra work paid?

We dont have a "vacation clash" credit / pay benefit unfortunately.

I'm too embarrassed to admit what we get paid!!

usmc-sgt

Nothing to add but it's nice to see a pilot from over the pond here. Always fascinating to hear about the industry and how it differs outside the US.

Justdoinmyjob

Most airlines have a flight hour guarantee. At Delta, reserve guarantee fluctuates between 72-82 hours a month, based on a formula which doesn't really matter. Line holders have a guarantee which trails by a few hours. The trick is to maximize credit hours while minimizing actual hours.

Nothing to be embarrassed about. We all make less than we should.

ShyGuy

+1 on PBS.

Vacation conflict stuff sounds great, but at the end of the day vacation isn't every month. But every month, I do need specific things (days off, kinds of trips, etc) and there is no guarantee that any one published hard line will have all the things I want. With PBS, even mid-level to somewhat junior, you can still "build" a schedule that works good.

Just a word of warning though, any airline that has paper line bidding that switches to PBS will instantly be overstaffed. An example would be Spirit that has ~1300 pilots for 80ish airplanes with paper line bidding.

MusicPilot

I like Crew Solution's SmartPref. It's sort of like having live PBS bidding. So you basically see what you're getting instantly. But just like others have said, your CBA is still going to govern how the company utilizes the software. SmartPref uses globalization, instead of unstacking, and if your CBA language for the bidding process is weak, then at the end of the day it doesn't really matter what PBS or SmartPref system you use.

NuGuy

This.

I've absorbed enough from PPRUNE to know that "rostering rules" are completely different for US carriers than for Euro-types.

That said, the important thing to realize about PBS is "all that glitters is not gold".

Sure, PBS CAN provide an improved bid result, and that those further down the list can benefit from it. But a company, any company, is not going to employ PBS simply because it provides a better quality of life to its pilots.

PBS systems are VERY expensive for companies to subscribe/contract. They do it for one reason only...it provides a HUGE productivity benefit. Just the month-to-month interface alone is worth 5-7% productivity increase.

No matter what rules you negotiate with the PBS system, and rock solid rules are a MUST, you definitely have to have a "kill switch". You need language that gives the pilots the unconditional right to revert back to the previous bidding system.

If you get 8-10 months down the road, and the result is not what you wanted or expected, you're going to need the Sword of Damocles to hold over their heads to get the system to work the way it should.

Otherwise, you'll get a never ending parade of excuses as to why the messed up system can't be fixed.

Nu

Flyby1206

As others have said, union involvement in the PBS process is key. One thing I've noticed is the importance of pairing construction. You can have the best PBS system, but if your company is creating crappy trips then your PBS award will suck. Garbage in = garbage out.