Originally Posted by
Jughead135
I've heard that. I'm looking to benefit from others' attempts, though...!
If others are bidding to fly, fly, fly early in the month in order to try to get T-G off (I misused the term "fill-up," I was referring to lineholders attempting to get all their credit early in the month, i.e., not during the Holiday), my logic (and what I took from Roadkill's post) is that it "should" be easier for me to get those early-in-the-month days off.
Same logic on the Reserve side, I suppose--if "everyone" is bidding for days off around the Holiday and trying to work early in the month (whether to fill up, or just to get the days' credit), it should make it easier for someone who wants the days off early on and who expects to be working over the Holiday.
I figure this applies to both Nov & Dec.
Yes/no?
First, WELCOME ABOARD!
What you wrote is logical, so no.
Read about
coverage awards , or as we used to call it; unstacking.
Originally Posted by ALPA PBS Bidding Gouge, ALPA MEC Library, PBS Committee, right side header... page 66
PBS builds lines in seniority order. If PBS reaches a point where it estimates that it will end the run with too many open duty periods over a time period, it starts assigning trips from the stacked or
uncovered period. Everybody from this point on is vulnerable from the stack. As PBS continues to build, progressively junior pilots will be susceptible to even more stacks of uncovered pairings.
If PBS reaches the bottom of the run and the junior pilots are escaping Coverage awards, it erases the awards from the point that it started coverage and processes the bids again, but starts the coverage from a lower point. If PBS reaches the bottom and there are too many duty periods on a given date, then it goes up to a higher seniority point, erases all of the awards, and starts Coverage from a higher point. This is an internally iterative process.
As PBS builds the lines, secondary stacks build and junior pilots will be susceptible to more Coverage awards. the PBS MOU requires mutual agreement with the scheduling committee to allow Coverage awards higher than the 50th percentile of regular line holders in a holiday month or above the 70th percentile of regular line holder from the top in a non-holiday month. It is important to realize that this is not percentile of the category, but the percentile of regular lines. Thus, if a category had 100 pilots and 30 reserves, the top 35, not the top 50, pilots would be normally not be affected by Coverage awards.
There is no "filling up" to escape coverage awards because trips for coverage are awarded BEFORE your preferences are awarded, as follows:
Coverage is a completely independent process that precedes the normal award process as PBS builds each line. When PBS reaches an individual pilot, it first assigns the coverage pairings and then builds the line around the coverage pairing(s) as if it were a pre-awarded event such as vacation, training, etc....
Regular Processing
After PBS has assigned the Coverage pairings or combination of pairings, it processes your bids using the normal processing logic in the same bid group that it covered from except that it starts with the covered pairings on your line.
So after coverage is stuck on your line, THEN you bid preferences and "Else Start Next" commands are processed.
I made the same mistake you are starting to make (and ironically it worked quite by accident, convincing me I was right). If you try to "fill up" all you will do is fly more with whatever you bid the rest of the month also.
Going into the fall we are still short on all the narrow body categories I've looked at. Best to bid only what you want and try to "fill up" with greenslips
Often I bid partial days on days I know I'm going to get stuck with ... red eyes back into base and late duty in's are one way to make the games, performances and family events that you do not want to miss.
You can also use your Authorized Personal Drop if the day you so badly need is NOT on, or adjacent to, a Holiday.
Perhaps someone can school me, but assignment of coverage awards appears to be damn near random. As a 75%'r I see better coverage trips going to places I want to go awarded to junior pilots. Maybe a real guru can help us understand why we can not bid within coverage ... a kind of "If awarded trips for coverage, prefer overnights in BOG, and CCS" ... it would seem that could work and still get the Company's flying covered. Lord knows I love me some $65 pizzas while wearing deet and hiding from kidnappers.