Else start next vs. Clear sched and restart
 

Can someone in english explain the difference?

I have a few dates in JUNE I MUST be off for.

I have:

Prefer off X,x,x else start next
award xyz
award xyz
award xyz
clear schedule and restart

Does this look right for my first bid group?
Also who is the best person to call for this type of question?
Thanks. Usually my bid is super simple but I have to be off these days.

Else start next vs. Clear sched and restart
 

Else Start Next will move to the next bid group immediately if it can’t honor the bid line. Clear Schedule will move to the next bid group if you get to that line and don’t have a schedule with a credit value inside the LCW. The purpose of Clear Schedule is to prevent getting a line that has trips from the Award Pairings line.

If all you want is those days off, do the Else Start Next with your Prefer Off. If you also want only certain pairings awarded with those off days, i.e. you don’t want any pairings from the Award Pairings line, then put in the Clear Schedule line after the last trip you’re willing to be awarded. Make sure you have a subsequent bid group (or groups) after those requests of course.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What Gucci said. Essentially you're telling PBS that you MUST have those days of and only be awarded those trips...if not you want it to go to the next bid group.

Clear schedule and start next also stops PBS from going into denial mode. If you got rid of the CSSN, and you go into denial mode, your else start next will be honored. However, it may kick out your other award lines in an attempt to award you a line.

If you wish to allow PBS to go into denial mode to allow it to build you a line AND you want to avoid any crap trips that may be awarded during the "award pairings" bid line. Then I would add avoids to the top of your bid group so it kicks out any trips you don't like. This way, when PBS gets to the award line those trips are no longer in the pool of trips available.

If the dates are that important, consider a reserve bid group as the last resort.

If you want those days off and that's the most important thing.

Do it like this:


Prefer off X,x,x else start next
award xyz
award xyz
award xyz
Start Reserve
Prefer off X,x,x else start next
Prefer off Y,x,x
Start Pairings
Prefer off X,x,x
award xyz
award xyzzy

The reason I put the Prefer off X,x,x on (italicized) the third group is that PBS will try and get as many off as it can, so at least it's getting some of them.

Clear Sked is WAY more restrictive than else start next. Be careful. Call the PBS Call center on the 8th. David