All those relief lines you saw in the bid package? That's where your opentime went throughout the month. The transition language puts the vices on during the first few days of every month, but after that they are covering most (all) of the flying by building it into the relief schedules. That transition language is also why you see a dump of new time into the pot around mid-month for the last few days of that month- they're getting smarter and are exercising their ability to remove pilots with conflicts on their awards from the END of the month.

The transition hurts I would summize- but it's hurting a little less as they are figuring out ways to overcome this "handicap".