Basically all the pilots who dont learn how to bid in pbs end up with the holiday flying.

 

Foodstamps,

The Anglers will NEVER let the Union have ANY input in the PBS. People who have worked there awhile understand their mentality. That's why they're against it.

 

100% agree! If we think our schedules are bad now, can you imagine what they would be like the company got that last drop of blood from us via PBS?
J.W. in screw scheds has been licking his chops for PBS like a rabid dog for years. What they want from us is PBS and then they want to get ride of vacation trading.
It's just business, suck it up and do your part! We promise to give you less than industry average wages and benefits if you help us out! You don't need to see your wife and kids, just send the money home and they will be just fine...

 

My understanding of PBS is that it just looks at open trips as well as reserve coverage for set days, not that it considers that a given pilot has to work in a specific date range.

Basically what it considers is what trips are left and what day's they are on (IE it can't leave all the holiday days to the bottom of the list because they can't work more than one trip on the same day) and how many of the reserves it needs on given days.

 

Another thread hijacked by PBS proponents but I'll bite. As others have said, PBS in itself is not evil just as a gun by itself cannot kill. Angle Lake will never agree to a PBS software that is favorable to the pilot group. And even if they do and get all the language this pilot group desires, management will find loopholes to benefit them and screw us, BIG time. Just ask our mid to junior FAs. Alaska boys and girls lived it all along. Many of you need to remedy your short term memory loss and Stockholm Syndrome. For those who haven't been around Alaska long enough, remember the TPA and JCBA debacle? That's Angle Lake's SOP. Remember, everything that Angle Lake puts their hands on relating to our QOL turns to turd.
We need to better enforce the contract and improve upon our current scheduling/bidding system. PBS here at Alaska is not the answer.

 

How do you currently line bid if there is no dropping of conflicts/overlaps? If you have a trip that flies into the next month are you automatically excluded from every line that would have a trip that conflicts with current schedule?

 

You can always request drops but will rarely get approved, especially weekend trips, since management runs the airline very thin. If you can't drop the overlapping trip, you need to make your line legal through step trading (1st & 2nd step), which is seniority based. If you are unsuccessful, then crew planning will drop the conflicting trip in the new bid month. Depending on the minimum credit for the month, you will be assigned a trip to bring your line up to the minimum credit. Crew planning has been known to work with pilots with this matter. There are other provisions if the new bid month is your vacation and/or training month.
You are never excluded from bidding any line, period. You bid what you want and hold what you can.

 

One more thing to ponder for you PBS proponents. Angle Lake is masters of bait and switch, among other slimy tactics. Ask yourself why management decided to "relax" trip trading? It's not out of the goodness of their heart. Their metrics and pockets are starting to hurt. During my time here, management has routinely thrown us a bone to only take it back, EVERY single time. And, it's the same bone that was ours to begin with. You following me? They manipulate MOUs and contractual language on a whim to get what they want. They push this pilot group to its limits and throttle back when it hurts them, the management. The Trip Trade Inquiry desk is/was a negotiated benefit and what did management do with it? They did away with it when Crew Access replaced emaestro and denied every single inquiry. Now, all of a sudden they want to make it right?!?! Why do you think? And why do we have over 300 outstanding grievances that they want to all of a sudden address? Bait and switch, remember!

 

And who's fault is that let's them get away with it?

 

That is stupid easy to answer....It is our fault. Plain and simple. We vote for contracts that require honesty and integrity to implement. We get screwed every time but for the simple majority, SEA/PDX/ANC bases are worth the screwing. For the rest of us it is beaten-dog syndrome....Out on another 4-day marathon saw lots of hats and company lanyards. Very few blue (we are sorry we made you mad) ALPA lanyards and only a handful of Orange lanyards...Mostly worn by Virgin Eskimoes.....The end