DAL PBS Bidding....Questions?
 

Thought a PBS bidding question thread would be good..

Yes, calling the PBS helpline is always an option, but I've found some of the feedback I've received here over the years more helpful and applicable over the years.

When bidding to fly with a LCA does it makes sense to put it above other preference qualifiers? Or below?

I'm using EasyBid and when I place the Fly with Line Check Airman preference qualifier high up on the list, it appears as though the bid pool for most of my preference qualifiers shrinks or disappears altogether. I'm guessing it's because the Captains lines would need to be completed first before it can analyze the Fly with Line Check Airman preference. I'm further guessing that if I am not senior enough to hold that preference then it will start moving down the list to line by line attempting to honor each preference.

Just trying to prevent screwing myself and yes I am junior to you.

Can't speak for EZBid but I'm guessing you're speculation is correct. Nobody knows which trips will be "LCA" trips until the Captain bids are run.

It sounds like we're in similar situations, so my general strategy is as follows:

1. Prefer off dates I want off
2. Avoid anything I wouldn't want to do if I end up flying with the LCA, he calls in sick or I'm otherwise left flying the trip
3. AWARD trips if LCA - can make this layered, multiple lines if you want to preference trips within the LCA trips available at your seniority
4. Avoid anything else I don't want to do on a normal trip
5. Award trips in order of stuff I want - commutability, layovers, etc
6. Depending on how picky your requirements are you can clear Sked and restart another bid group but I generally do it all in one
7. If I'm sure I'll have a sked built by this point I usually finish with Avoid Trips if AVG Daily Credit > 0. This prevents PBS from tacking on some crap trip to get me to the threshold (PBS will not deny an avoid to reach the threshold, and this will leave your Sked alone as long as you've gotten at least to the bottom of the LCW)


Hope that helps someone and that you're actually junior :D Otherwise disregard the above

Domestic bid with LCA is way different than International 3 man bid with LCA. Domestic-Be careful accepting LCA trips over weekends (fri-mon etc.) On the first PCS run on the 20th they swap with the pot and you are left holding the bad trip w/o a LCA. International-PBS doesn't know who's senior if one of the F/O's come from another base, so look at the trips carefully. Also the F/O who gets the trip drop usually has to have the exact same footprint as the guy getting OE. Some international expert should chime in and give the specifics about who exactly gets bought off.
Goood Luck, summers here already!

Yeah, that's pretty close to how I bid.

I basically put in line check airman if senior and international trip, and then place it above my trips I want preference qualifiers after I've checked the pool of available trips in each line preference. I do this because the line check airman qualifier causes the trips I want qualifier to show zero rotations in pot.

I've never really used the Clear and Redo because I never really understood the concept. Figure PBS will keep filtering down each preference line until it can build me a schedule. My bid group 2 is reserve just in case.

Nice tip on the AVG daily credit.


Appreciate you helping out someone who's been the company plug for the last 9 years.

Ok, here's one for you-

If you have vacation that spans 2 bid periods/months, can the vacation days in the 2nd month be slid or moved in that month ie break up the vacation?

Yes they can, but only those days that originally fell in the second month.

ok, now on to another question about a vacation slide-

If in the second month you have the 1st 2 weeks set as vacation, can that 2 weeks be split ie slide the 2nd week to the end of the month/bid period?

Thanks

Brand new to pbs bidding. Let's say you want max credit during a specific week, how would you go about doing that. Set condition max credit, then award pairings if on May 1-7? Or award pairings if on xx-xx then set condition max credit? Or is this not how and is a better option available?
Thanks

I don't think so, but somebody will correct me if I'm wrong. I believe your vacation weeks are locked together as-bid, unless divided by two bid periods. Then as stated by another poster above, it is possible to break them apart via a slide within the month each portion resides. But there is a work-around; you can use "Vacation Anytime" with other carefully considered bid commands to achieve a desired result. Prudent placing of Prefer Days Off and Award Bids can manipulate a result that will place flying where some of your vacation presently falls, while keeping the days off you actually need. Of course a certain amount of seniority is required to have positive results, especially if your already-awarded vacation covers a holiday or other time that would be popular for senior pilots to have off. Think of Vacation Anytime as floating credit (45.5 hours for two weeks). Depending on what fleet you're on, a single five day trip could take you into the LCW, or for max pay, something like a three day and a four day. The flying you seek will be placed where it needs to be, and the vacation credit days will be distributed elsewhere (there's a logic that's been published, but I don't recall exactly how the vacation is placed). Due to the uncertainties of placement, be careful if you are trying to keep a block of days open for PCS activity and extra $$ (like the beginning/end of the month. But if you think it through, there are a lot of options.

The PBS Basics, Gouge, Notepads are worth deep reading (some on DL Net/Crew Resources tab on left, more under Info Tab in PBS). Max Credit has some tricks associated with it, but it certainly is not the tool for concentrating lots of credit in a portion of the month. It only applies to the total credit for the bid period, and then with some caveats.

For what it sounds like you are trying to accomplish, I like Average Daily Credit and a range or list of Depart On dates. Depending what fleet you're on, you may want to target trip length too. Something like:

Award Pairings if ADC >5:45 if departing on 01MAY-07MAY if pairing length >4 days.

Use the pairing search function to screen for ADC and departure dates to see what's feasible. You might find a change to ADC>5:40 vs. ADV>5:45 opens up a bunch of contenders.