Originally Posted by
RgrMurdock
I know I'm thread drifting a bit here. I asked a question previously about smart pref which is the PBS system being entertained by expressjet. Anyone that has any experience with this... does the real time bidding give an incentive for people to try to change / modify their bids at the last minute? Or are people generally happy with what they see? I know this is a small percentage of pilots because you currently utilize the program for build up / composite line holders.
For the record, relief/composite/buildup lines as well as all reserve lines are currently being built with SmartPref. So currently 20-25% of L-XJT pilots are using SmartPref.
The only incentive I can deduce for bidding late is for the guys that just want to be a dikc. If your seniority will hold it, it can hold it, whether you bid the minute after SmartPref opens or the minute before it closes. There's no gamesmanship to be had, near as I can tell. Now, if you're the kind of guy that gets a hard-on from blowing up other people's bids at the last minute...well then...maybe you need to evaluate what's going on in your life and your mind that makes you want to act that way.
When I weigh the pros and cons, I keep trying to relate SmartPref to line bidding and traditional PBS bidding. With line bidding, it doesn't matter when you or people senior to you bid because if your seniority will hold it, it will hold it. Same with SmartPref. Difference is sometimes with line bidding you get surprised if people senior to you "bid down" or forget to bid. No surprises with SmartPref as it's a "live bidding environment" (company shenanigans aside). The advantage with SmartPref is that if someone senior to you does come in and blow up your entire bid, you will see it and have the opportunity to tweak your bid and hopefully salvage something that will work for you. Not so with traditional PBS, or even normal line bidding, when you think about it.