I think if you're in the bottom third you probably do best to award XXXX on a trip that only slightly impacts Christmas and/or Christmas Eve. You know you'll get hit by coverage, why not have some say in how? Via what bid (award (something)) did the junior guy who had the 24th off get his coverages assigned?

 

Yep, Pretty much the last 6 1/2 pages of bid awards (out of 14) were coverage awards. Being in coverage is like being in the twilight zone. I knew I would be flying over Christmas so I prioritized a bunch of trips - all denied but a guy junior to me gets one of those trips - after being a senior FO for a while I forgot how "exciting" it is to be junior. I'm sure the HAL 9000 has a method but to me it seems like its just random once you hit coverage.

Scoop

 

I shower without my phone. I hope you do, as well.

And, no I will NEVER Skype in the shower. That is definitely TMI.

 

You're better off asking for prefer of days or even specific times on various days. It specifically says NOT to try to bid trips around the holidays in the PBS gouge. Page 92 if you're interested.

Ask for Prefer Off in order of importance

During Coverage, PBS will attempt to honor Prefer Off dates in order from left to right. Thus, if your most important date is Dec 25, ask for it first and then ask for less important dates. For example: Prefer Off Dec 25, Dec 24, Dec 26, etc. This is applicable to both Pairings and Reserve bid groups.


Warning: Asking for Pairings around the holiday will not work

A common mistake is for pilots to bid for pairings around a holiday with the assumption that if they get one of the specified pairings, it will preclude them from getting a trip that works over the holiday because their line will be complete or because they will be illegal for a holiday pairing.

 

Is it just me, or did this come out kind of late?

 

The above in red is exactly what I did. I asked for days off else start
next bid group.

In my 3rd bid group, the first non-conditional one, I started asking for partial days off with staggered times every 2 hours apart. One of these was actually honored pretty far down the list.

After all of this I listed a whole bunch of trips in priority order and did not get a single one - even though guys junior to me got them. If they received them via coverage why couldn't I get it as a coverage award?

I reviewed the PBS gouge and even called PBS bid assist ( only 45 minutes on hold )

Like I said the W.O.P.R. probably has a reason for dishing out the trips like it did and plenty of guys senior to me got multiple coverage awards also but it is frustrating to see guys below me get forced into trips that I specifically asked for - all the while knowing and expecting to fly over the Holiday.

Oh well, I knew what I was getting into when jumped on the fast 17 year upgrade to Captain.

Scoop

 

Not too bad actually for a month with 2 major holidays and lots of vaycay.

 

How soon after taking OTC medication XYZ can I legally fly?

I was expecting to find a table online with this info but cannot. Anyone have this format of info or know a good source? I recall discussions a while back that wait times extended significantly.

 

Call your AME.

 

AviationMedicine.com is a useful resource for that kind of info also.