Originally Posted by
iLikeMoose
Question from somebody bidding for the first time. Expecting OE for the first part of the month. I have heard conflicting theories on bidding strategies. Some say to bid for days off at the start of the month so that if an OE trip gets put on a day off, we get work removed from later in the month after OE. Some say to bid to work early in the month so that if we get assigned an OE trip that is less than the value of what was originally assigned, we get the higher value. A bit if the blind leading the blind, so I don’t even know if either of those things are true. Any recommendations? Of course I’ll obviously be very junior so it may not make much of a difference either way.
I don't think it will matter much if coverage rules your bid (i.e. weekends are forced reserve and your schedule spreads throughout the month no matter how you bid). That said, I would be in the camp of bidding reserve early in the month, simply because if there are any delays in your IOE it will become an advantage (i.e. you don't fly beginning of the month on those reserve days because you are NQ, IOE would land in your late-month XX days and you might bank PB days.) If you bid reserve late in the month, and IOE starts late in the month, your early-month days off (both from your bid and no IOE scheduled) would grant no advantage.
Be careful of advice from even the most experienced folks, because newhire bidding for IOE is different than "normal" training bid schedules. The "shadow period" does not work the same way for newhires as it does for everyone else since training pay (aka Entry-level pilot pay) is in place until completion of IOE.