So true. I bid conflicts May-August. I'm around 40% in seat in base (so I do have some seniority, which helps), and am averaging 18 days off, 50-60 hours of block and 90+ hours of credit June-Aug. I do NOT call scheduling to 'work a deal' - contract compliance is very important to me, as is not flying fatigued. No red-eye turns and no exceeding 12.5 hours either. As you can see, I average 5+ hours of flying when I do work, so I'm not bidding lots of soft time trips here.

Transition conflicts work, but you've got to devote your entire bid to it, and you have to set it up one month prior too. You won't be getting a conflict in Sept. if you needed a particular day off in August. Weekends off or commutable trips (or ANYTHING besides bidding 100% for conflicts, honestly) will also torpedo any chance at using this bidding strategy.

It takes a couple hours to do your bid each month too - this stuff isn't easy to set-up, especially the 29/7 conflicts.

Obviously, I'm not a fan of PBS. I'd probably give up transition stuff for things like: 1.5 credit for voluntary pick-up, no more trip averaging, and/or a better trip rig (4.5/day for multi-day pairings is too low, let alone 4.0 for day trips). I'm willing to work hard for the company, I just want to make sure that when I go to work, I work, not sit around. Rigs like Southwest (min day of 5.25 hours, .6 duty rig) would incentive the company to build trips like Southwest has.