How does one submit a programming request? I would like to see minimum days off between work blocks. Right now the preview showed me with 1 day off between a 3 day trip and a long international single departure trip.

 

InSite that request. I’ve had many prompts responses.

 

Is there a way to view a recording of the webinars?

 

How about they publish a manual with all the details as well as a clear explanation of how the inputs are processed.
Is this just an updated input method with the same "black box" process once it gets our inputs? Or is this actually an improved process/software that's building the lines?

 

It’s been active for several months now.
Have you heard of anyone complaining that someone Junior to them was awarded trip 123 that they had asked for?

Have heard the current software takes a trip availability snapshot prior to the window opening and doesn’t update for any trips that subsequently become available.
In this day and age there’s no reason the system can’t refresh other than a program limitation. If you really need to program a last update time, should be say 24 hours prior to the SWW window closing

 

That is correct. (Per the futures scheduler) A screenshot of all available open time trips is taken after the conflict window trips are awarded. Any trips that populate into open time after the point they take the screenshot are not available to be awarded via VTO. So even though you can see the trips, request the trips, they will not make it onto your schedule.

Now my sarcastic comment on that: That is written in the contract where?

And to talk programming in this day and age. How about updating the available trips the second before awarding the trips? How they are doing it now, which is five to six days before VTOs are awarded, is just plain ridiculous.

 

I haven’t but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. If that’s fixed, great. I’ve heard plenty of folks asking how to make inputs for a particular outcome. The written guide is lacking in this area, IMO. There shouldn’t be an air of mystery surrounding this process. That happened with the old system and we never fixed it. There was so much incorrect information about it that became like folklore and was perpetuated. I had knowledge that resulted from actively seeking it directly from the planners. That shouldn’t be necessary. They should publish the nuts and bolts of this new process so everyone clearly understand how it looks at and uses the inputs.

The old system did this too. Anything that changed from the morning the inputs closed to the night the secondaries were final was unaccounted for. Essentially, they built the lines that first day after the close and there was no flexibility to go back and globally adjust for BLAs performed, new open trips, etc. after that.

So, apparently this is still happening. I agree that is kind of ridiculous considering all the work that supposedly went into improving this process. But, however it’s happening right now, these kinds of details need to be published for everyone to read. Not circulated like stories around a campfire or a game of phone tag where details get blurred and changed with each iteration of... “Well, I heard.......”

 

Another thing I think we should reconsider is whether we truly want trips available to prime the pump for OT release.

I'm thinking this day and age rather than a handful of trips, assign 100% of the available trips to a VTO line holder.

 

I still maintain that in 2018 you should be able to pick from available trips at your VTO number in near real time. IDK how you would do it but I would think it could be done w/i days of the conflict window closing.

 

I think that's a slippery slope. One of the main complaints from friends who work under a true PBS system is that very issue. The efficiency of the PBS system assigns all OT and as a result flexibility for trip trading is drastically reduced.
While our fleets usually don't have an abundance of OT when trip trading opens, I think some is far, far better than none at all. It gives some the option to trade which (in addition to any drops), starts a bit of a cascade that offers even more the option to tweak their schedule. I think completely emptying the OT for secondaries would effectively block much of that flexibility and would be a big mistake.