Originally Posted by
Khantahr
PBS or not isn't going to affect garbage in. Crappy pairings are crappy pairings whether they're arranged by PBS or built into lines.
PBS allows you to get a schedule customized for your desires (subject to seniority of course). I can put 10 days off in a row wherever I want them, fly the trips that I want, and never have to worry about swapping them out or picking anything up unless I want to. I was even able to do that, for the most part, bidding 70-80%. That, of course, depends on the rules governing it.
You also need to know how to use it, but that's a whole different thing.
It all works together....if your trip credit isn't great due to lack of rigs, then you have to work more days to meet the credit threshold. If your rigs/trips are good, but the PBS rules are terrible, same thing. You can have great rigs and great PBS rules, but not know what you're doing when bidding and end up with a terrible schedule. You need good work rules, locked down PBS parameters, and the ability to understand what you're asking of the computer to get a good result. People prefer what they're used to assuming their results are generally acceptable.