Originally Posted by MikeF16

Both these responses are correct, it just depends on staffing.

If there are a few blue days in strategically good spots then JB is correct. You can break the sequencing rules in PBS when you use a PD or PB day which makes you just about unusable to scheduling. If you have 4 days on in a row, put a PB day in the middle and now the company can only give you a 1 or 2 day trip at very specific times. You really can't make much more money unless you happen to GS over the PB days. Yes, the value of a PB day over reserve is greater than vacation but unless you GS you don't make more money, you just work less for the same money.

If it's blue days for all my friends then Contrails is correct. Ideally you drop high value trips and GS over the top of them. If that doesn't work, find a high avg daily value trip and drop/pick it back up until you hit the pickup limit. This can work for senior pilots, but from what I've seen junior pilots have very little chance of securing the bang-for-the-buck trips.

My observation is if you're in a category where you can earn PB days you're probably in a category where it will be hard to use them. I was hoping that by switching categories I'd be able to put them to good use (I didn't swap for this reason, it was just a happy coincidence). Here's another tidbit, the scheduling reference handbook says you have to use the PB days by 1 Jan or they become supplemental vacation. That's not true. Between 1 Jan and 31 March you can use a PD and then call CS to put PB days on top of the PD and get paid for the trip/reserve days.