Originally Posted by
crewdawg
You're better off asking for prefer of days or even specific times on various days. It specifically says NOT to try to bid trips around the holidays in the PBS gouge. Page 92 if you're interested.
Ask for Prefer Off in order of importance
During Coverage, PBS will attempt to honor Prefer Off dates in order from left to right. Thus, if your most important date is Dec 25, ask for it first and then ask for less important dates. For example: Prefer Off Dec 25, Dec 24, Dec 26, etc. This is applicable to both Pairings and Reserve bid groups.
Warning: Asking for Pairings around the holiday will not work
A common mistake is for pilots to bid for pairings around a holiday with the assumption that if they get one of the specified pairings, it will preclude them from getting a trip that works over the holiday because their line will be complete or because they will be illegal for a holiday pairing.
The above in red is exactly what I did. I asked for days off else start
next bid group.
In my 3rd bid group, the first non-conditional one, I started asking for partial days off with staggered times every 2 hours apart. One of these was actually honored pretty far down the list.
After all of this I listed a whole bunch of trips in priority order and did not get a single one - even though guys junior to me got them. If they received them via coverage why couldn't I get it as a coverage award?
I reviewed the PBS gouge and even called PBS bid assist ( only 45 minutes on hold
)
Like I said the W.O.P.R. probably has a reason for dishing out the trips like it did and plenty of guys senior to me got multiple coverage awards also but it is frustrating to see guys below me get forced into trips that I specifically asked for - all the while knowing and expecting to fly over the Holiday.
Oh well, I knew what I was getting into when jumped on the fast 17 year upgrade to Captain.
Scoop