Originally Posted by
wrxpilot
I also have a kickass schedule next month, and have both Thanksgiving and Christmas off. There's no question some of the senior people don't know how to bid... "But I bid Christmas off in every layer, and got a crap schedule!". How much you want to bet this was uttered by many that have been here for 5+ years?
Yes, a lot of people who ***** don't know how best to bid, but... coverage dates can be the ruin of even the most strategically placed bid. They run unfairly from senior to junior, and really seem to hammer between 50 and 75% seniority bidders. I've had better luck bidding holidays off at 75 % than at fifty, just sometimes it would come as a composite line. No problem, sweet talk whoever does transition and you're good to go.
One new wrinkle is in the really understaffed bases, some pilots are getting upwards of fifteen coverage dates that just totally wreck any bidding preferences.
Bottom line our PBS combined with our lean staffing model is a broken system that's going to come to a head.