Originally Posted by
Regularguy
Okay I have a question for some expert out there.
I have been at UAL for over 35 years and during that time seniority meant everything. Bidding monthly, vacations, equipment, the type of trips, pass travel and more. When I bid for my monthly schedule I know I am x out of x pilots and there are a fixed number of flying lines and reserve lines. PBS has changed some of how we bid compared the old days when they published the actual lines of monthly flying (trips and reserve), but basically what number one is amongst their peers is what counts.
Now my question: I read from the ex-CAL pilots they talk over and over again about percentages, "I'm 65% on the Captain list in EWR," and similar. Why all this talk about percentages instead of real actual numbers? If I am number 50 out of 100 and there are 60 lines of flying, guess what? I get a flying line if I want one instead of reserve. And if I am number 100 out of 100, well I don't have any choice in piloting life at all. Seems a lot simpler than saying, "I'm 50% of the bid in EWR" which doesn't tell me much about the chances of what type of flying I might get.
So why the percentages? It seems a bit strange to me. BTW I'm not talking here about the ISL and the finale results, just all this percentage talk over the past couple of years of this merger process.
You'll get it once you switch over to to our PBS and speak the language. Your base percentage will attempt to determine what types of trips you can get in your seat. Realistically it gives you a baseline to ***** from once you get hosed from this inferior bidding system. Such as:
"I can't believe I'm working Christmas, I'm bidding 18% in base."
"How come I didn't get FRA, guys junior at 68% have them all month."
"Overall system constraints? Denial Mode 4? I should be able to get at least one Thursday off at 46%, right?"
My personal favorite...."Sorry you went into Denial Mode, the reason the junior pilot was awarded that FCO trip was because it was required to make the bidding solution work. If we were to award your requested trip at 20%, the pilot at 70% would not have been able to get a legal line. PBS Grievance Denied!"