Jiggawatt

Am I correct that there is not a way to see how many pilots senior to you have bid a category via MD? In iCrew, the “count pilots holding a preference for a specific category” option seems to show only AE bids. So if a very junior pilot is looking at that number and thinking “maybe I could get LAX320B”, they will not be aware that some/many of the 95 LAX717B pilots will be MDing to the 320... correct?

Denny Crane

You are correct. There is no way to see MD bids or VD’s for that matter. The tool you are looking at is semi-worthless too in that it doesn’t show if pilots are bidding percentages either.

Denny

tunes

in my opinion i'd take semi worthless it make it absolutely worthless. Granted doesn't matter for a new category, but every other category it counts people still under seat locks that have bids in too.

Jiggawatt

Thanks Denny and Tunes. Is there another tool to see any data regarding everyone’s submitted bids?

Denny Crane

Nope......

Hence the oft said phrase: Bid what you want, want what you bid. ‘Cause you don’t know Jack about what everyone else is bidding.

Denny

FL370esq

The Award Results? About 2 weeks after bid closing....😁

sailingfun

Even the AE portion does not provide great information. Many pilots carry their own category as a stop loss bid that shows up to other pilots as a 1st choice AE. The solution is to simply decide what you want and what seniority level you want and bid it that way.

Jiggawatt

Thanks all. I’ve seen some posts that seemed to indicate people had insight into how AE bidding was looking, but it was probably just best guesses from the iCrew data.

Gunfighter

Some guesses include analysis of previous AEs and seniority of similar categories. Parts are also just WAGS that can be referenced post award for internet bragging rights should they be remotely close. Make lots of predictions in multiple threads, then cherry pick the closest ones, so you can quote your own post and prove analytical dominance on the interwebs.

For example:

Lots of vacancies in an existing category like SEA 330 will drive the category junior. The current plug will probably end up near 75% as the category doubles in size. That is what happened to the LAX 777 B a couple years ago when it went from 50 to 100.

LAX 320 is a new category that pays more than the 717, logic would suggest the new category will be senior to the 717. Further analysis of bases with 717, 73N and 320 could further refine predictions of just how the 320/73N will stack up in LAX. Add in the fact that the LAX 320 is a new category, which can be bid by anyone and it seems to reason it would end up on par or senior to the 73N.

The overall uplift created by WB As across the system can't be underestimated either.

Hillbilly

Additionally, the numbers showing how many pilots preference a position as their second or third choice or beyond is completely useless without the knowledge of what the preceding preferences are.

2 ATLM88B pilots in the 10,000 seniority range have ATL320B as their second choice.

Pilot one's first choice is ATL717B. He would likely get his first choice, so the second isn't a player.

Pilot two's first choice is ATL777A. He can't touch that with a 10 foot pole, so his second choice might as well be his first.

As others have said, ignore that stuff. It's irrelevant. Decide what you want and bid that with any necessary restrictions to meet your needs and let the chips fall where they may. When it hits, it hits and you will have gotten something you wanted. If it doesn't hit, it either wasn't available to you or it wasn't what you wanted yet.