Originally Posted by tennisguru (Post 3831146)

It also only works if you have positive coverage needed to drop.

A PB day used to drop a reserve day gets you ~4:30 per day. As was said in a NB category putting them in the middle of a 3 or 5 day reserve block is a very tactical use. Just remember that a TOFF day is a hard no fly day, so you cannot get a GS/IA or anything else on that day.

Unsued days earned this year fully convert to vacation days April 1 2025. Vacation days in the next vacation year will be with 4:35, so roughly the same value as a dropped reserve day.

In the end, I’d highly recommend using just picking a month to bid REG and burn them. NB categories can get 8-12 hours per PB day. WB categories kill it with 12-16+. If you don’t burn the days with a month as a REG then you just need to figure out when you want to utilize that time off. You can use it sporadically throughout reserve months tactically dropping days or use them in one big chunk when they convert to vacation and tag onto one of your awarded weeks next vacation year. Or some combination of the two depending on how many days you’ve got banked.

One last thought for people who like the thought of converting them to vacation (SUPP days) to make for a longer vacation period - this is still a very inefficient use. You’d be better off burning the PB days for 9+ hours each. Since that time is pay and credit you can bank hours over 80, up to 20 in a bid period. Then you can buy vacation days for 4:35. So you can let one PB day convert to 4:35, or if you can burn that PB day for 9:10 and bank the time, that same single PB day then buys 2 vacation days for the next vacation year.

Originally Posted by Verdell (Post 3831150)

Unless you're on the 717. 8+ hour days do not exist. I'm not even sure 7+ hour days exist.

Originally Posted by tennisguru (Post 3831153)

I had a couple that I burned for 10:30 last year on the 717. It has to be a long one day trip with high credit and a lot of EDP/SIT. Several 5 day rotations in Sept have first days worth 8 to 8:30.

Originally Posted by Verdell (Post 3831158)

I stand corrected. I wasn't considering the soft credit.

Originally Posted by tennisguru (Post 3831146)

One last thought for people who like the thought not using banked days and letting them convert to vacation (SUPP days) to make for a longer vacation period - this is still a very inefficient use. You’d be better off burning the PB days for 9+ hours each. TOFF time is pay and credit and you can bank credit hours over 80, up to 20 in a bid period. Then you can buy vacation days for 4:35. So you can let one PB day convert to 1 SUPP day worth 4:35, or if you can burn that PB day for 9:10 and bank the time, that same single PB day then buys 2 SUPP vacation days for the next vacation year.

Originally Posted by tennisguru (Post 3831146)

Originally Posted by tennisguru (Post 3831146)

Just remember that a TOFF day is a hard no fly day, so you cannot get a GS/IA or anything else on that day.

Originally Posted by Planetrain (Post 3831177)

Ive never seen EDP worth more than about 2h45m/day. Are these 12 hour days in the bid packet or are they broken up trips with a monster deadhead?

Also, EDP and SIT is kinda new. It’s my understanding it’s paid on the last day, so you have to drop the entire trip with PBs to get it, right? First day method doesn’t work (unless it’s a 1-day).

Originally Posted by tennisguru (Post 3831162)

Just to clarify, soft credit on a multi-day rotation is only paid if you use enough PB days to cover every day of the trip (specifically, it must cover the last day when soft credit is paid out). So a 1 day trip obviously pays all soft credit on the PB day. But on the 717 there are high block first days of multi day trips that pay 8+ not counting any soft credit. Maybe not every single bid period, but they do come up.

Originally Posted by tennisguru (Post 3831184)

A reserve PD is a hard no-fly day, and I believe that TOFF acts as a PD.