I do the bidding for the missus. The best way I've found is instead of creating these intricate bid groups that I always lose track of what they're actually doing, is just to simplify them but make more of them.
I don't even bother with pools. I just create a new bid group. The only downside I can see is I've told her is it eliminates the 'if I get this trip, I don't want that trip' requests. That mean the 'I only want to end up with one intratrip red eye' trip (or the like) the entire month goes away. Or 'I only want to work this 2nd weekend if I get the first weekend off'. There may be a way to do that kind of request without creating the bunches of pools, but I haven't taken the time to figure it out.
Eliminating the 'if I get this, I don't want that' makes bidding easier.
So, try creating something like this as the first bid group:
1 AVOID Work Fri 0000 - Sun 2359 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
2 AVOID Trip Report Time < 0900 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
3 AVOID Trip Report Time >= 2100 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
4 AVOID Layover Any , Length <= 12:00 h 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
5 AVOID Trip Length <= 1 day(s) 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
6 AWARD Work 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59 [L--]
Yes, it's picky as hell. So what? Gotta ask for the moon the first time right? Also, no pools. It does eliminate everything first, then with the trips left over, it attempts an award. So instead of freezing/throwing out all kinds of trips, it just dumps everything first that she doesn't want to fly.
Thus, the remaining trips to even choose from have no weekends, no early shows, no late shows, no intratrip 12 hour day layovers, and nothing less than 2 day trips. Now, this only produces a pool of maybe 15-20 total trips remaining out of all trips, and because she's senior enough on her seat/fleet/domicile, there tends to be enough of the trips left after the senior bidders that she can get her line. Sometimes.
But if not, the next bid group is identical but relaxes one criteria. The next bid group was:
1 AVOID Work Fri 0000 - Sun 2359 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
2 AVOID Trip Report Time < 0900 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
3 AVOID Trip Report Time >= 2100 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
4 AVOID Layover Any , Length <= 12:00 h 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
5 AWARD Work 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59 [L--]
She added one day trips (she lives in her domicile).
That was the only change. It increased her pool by a handful.
The next group was:
1 AVOID Work Fri 0000 - Sun 2359 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
2 AVOID Trip Report Time < 0800 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
3 AVOID Trip Report Time >= 2100 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
4 AVOID Layover Any , Length <= 12:00 h 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
5 AWARD Work 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59 [L--]
That simply relaxed the show time by an hour. That increased the pool by a few more.
We kept going giving little things up each group until we ended up with:
1 AVOID Work Sat 0000 - Sun 2359 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59
2 AWARD Work 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59 [L-]
That was bid group 14. Weekends off. That's it. But it's better than completion mode.
And if she wasn't senior to get all weekends off, it would have been only Saturday's off. Or only Sunday's. Or whatever.
Keep going letting each group get a little crappier/less desirable and eventually, you'll get an award you can live with. Is it as picky as nailing each trip you actually want? No, not at all. If you want to do that, you can try an all 'AWARD Trip Number XXXX 01Apr 00:00 - 30Apr 23:59 [H++]' bid group with only award statements. It'll work if you have enough trips (I think you can have 25 statements per bid group) and they're still there by the time PBS gets to you. More work on the front end, but allows you some measure of control of the outcome.
The way we bid with using AVOID statements of course requires your avoid statements to be realistic based on what your seniority can actually hold.
Three other VERY important things:
1. Be VERY careful with SET commands when relating to volume of work e.g. 'SET Line Credit Range to HIGH.' Since contractually, every single person below you but above the G line *must* get a line (even if it's nothing that they actually want). The system, even after it could have awarded you your desired bid group, will look to see if every single pilot 'below you but above the G line' can still get any line. If not, your group will fail and you'll be told 'Requested Award prevents solution completion.' That means 'even though you bid just fine, if UAL gives you your award, there is at least one person above the G line who won't have enough of ANY trips still available to be awarded ANY line. Your good bid group fails. Tough luck.'
To avoid that, copy the exact bid group with the SET statement as your next bid group but then eliminate the 'SET Line credit...'. Can't promise you it'll work, but you may end up with a 75 hour month rather than the 89 you want, but unexpectedly can't get. This exact thing happened to us in Jan 15.
2. Whatever the last bid group is, make sure it ends with L-, not L--. I was told by a PBS trainer that for some reason you'll still have a chance to avoid completion mode if you somehow get all the way down to your last bid group.
3. Prefbid.com is a great site to ask these questions or snoop around other's people problems to help show why your month got pooched.
Hope this helps at least a little.