Originally Posted by BusCapt

Symbian, if you are not being sarcastic, go ahead and PM me. I've done line bidding and also PBS bidding for the past 17 years. Would be happy to discuss my experience with both.

But as a gross simplification, even if the pairings are sub-standard.. it's better to choose which substandard pairings you'll fly and what days of the week you will fly them on. This is HUGE when you need certain days off for family events.

In my case, I actually like red-eyes. I pick them up and always get the days off that I want. I win, and the AM flyers win because they can choose what type of pairing that they want.

Fellow PBS-ers please chime in here. I am not the foremost expert on this, just someone who's been tremendously pleased with my schedule for the past 17 years using PBS at two different airlines. For the readers of this who think that I'm letting the cat out of the bag and ruining bargaining leverage by admitting that some pilots want PBS, I respectfully disagree. Management already knows that a lot of pilots prefer to build their schedules than have pre-build, canned lines. A retired airline management exec who is a family friend actually laughed at me when I suggested PBS was some powerful bargaining chip in future negotiations. Anecdotal, I know... but it really changed my opinion on the matter.

And there are some things in life that are not zero-sum. Sometimes something that is good for a work group is also good for management and vice-versa. I believe EFB's would fall into that category.

I remember when EFB's first came out, pilots were actually COMPLAINING that they couldn't highlight things on their charts anymore.

My point is, pilots can be brilliant in working against their best interests (forgive me for the directness of that statement/opinion).

I truly write this with respect to all pilots. My wish is that we all educate ourselves, fight for, and DEMAND a decent work/life balance.

Life is short. Days off are precious. Let's get together and fight for a system that allows everyone to win (aka, pilots that want to fly 90 hours win, and pilots that want to fly 70 hours win. Pilots that want to fly PM's win, and the AM flyers win as well). Bidding systems such as this already exist.