Yes. If you bid min schedule it will try to put you under ALV if it awards min schedule. Problem is company can set min schedules to zero. You can still get min schedule but have to bid a different way.

This is why you’ll see avoid trips > 0 as last bid line. It’s to void the awards pairings at end of bid that you can’t get rid of. I pick the days I want to work, then prefer off all other days. Experienced bidders have a pretty good idea of what they can and can’t hold so usually aren’t surprised by bid results. Always look at the rotations. It doesn’t help to ask for layovers in specific cities if there are no layovers there. There’s at least one layover or selecting city wouldn’t be an option, but there might only be a single layover there that month. In January, there were very few 4 day rotations departing Mondays or Tuesdays that signed in after 10am. Obviously asking for rotations departing after 2pm on Mondays or Tuesdays isn’t going to work for that month.

These are just some examples of looking at big picture.

Classic. If you’re senior to me I’ll bid for you! 😉

Once you are inside of the window. It will to get you into the window.

Let’s be accurate with our terms. The threshold is that magical line that is unknowable, because the collective PBS bid run has a requirement to be within 1.5 hours of the ALV, and it can’t know that until the bid run is running.

The LCW is what it says it is, a window. Yes, the system will force you into whatever window you select that your seniority can hold, but once inside, the system cannot violate a bid request to get you to the “threshold” as stated above.

Correct, that was the point of my previous post about using avoid if credit > 0. It's certainly worth calling this out though because the threshold seems to be a very misunderstood part of PBS.

Assuming I want PBS to stop once I reach the bottom of the LCW do I need to enter avoid credit >0 only as the last line or do I need to enter it after every award line?

If I have an award line of preferred trips (example I have 4 day commutable trips filtered) and 3 of them would hypothetically get me in the LCW will it stop PBS from squeezing in a 4th?

It doesn't hurt to do it after every award line, it will just go into denial mode and deny it until it gets you in the LCW. I generally wait until I know i'm close to start adding in that avoid, but some people just do it after every line.



Yup, this is exactly what you're attempting to do. If you don't do something to stop PBS, it will continue to put trips on your line, to get you above the threshold. It will not deny you a line if it can't get above the threshold though. Sometimes the threshold could be the bottom of the lcw and it's all a mopt point. Either way, this strategy is to protect you from unwanted trips.

You could do one bid line of award 4 day limit 3, then an avoid if credit > 0, and as long as you get 3 that puts you in the window, you're good to go. I'll often and a few more lines with an avoid credit >0 after each one, just in case I end up shy some how.

Is the line avoid pairings if pairings credit >0 or is there a different selection?

Thats the one.

Thanks! Any good strategies to instruct PBS to say allow a 3, 4, and 5 as well as 3x 4 days?