PBS
 

The chairman of scheduling is pushing hard for passing this TA. Yet, when pressed, he doesn’t seem to have any clear understanding of PBS. Only that we have “preserved our industry leading work rules.” When asked about the unstacking of trips and the preservation of seniority he states, “trips will be unstacked at a rate of up to 50% during the holidays and 30% during normal months.”

Unfortunately, this information can’t be found in our TA. The only thing we know from the TA is he following:

We lose MOT.
The loss of MOT is one of two clearly defined line items regarding pbs. The other provision is that PBS will build lines until only 4% of pairings remain.
Why? If we are keeping our industry leading scheduling provisions why can’t we keep MOT?

If PBS is going to fill up my schedule with trips that I don’t want as it unstacks to the 4%, why can’t we drop or swap into MOT? The benefit of MOT is that drops are not subjective to reserve coverage. With PBS we will be unable to drop trip as easily as before.

We lose vacation days. Our min days off are reduced, see chart in TA, based on known abscences including our vacation days. Our two buffer days count towards those days off and go unpaid.

Why are we voting for a PBS system that our own scheduling committee does not understand?

Chairman of scheduling? Huh? Committee?

At smaller bases, MOT and DOT are much less useful. We arent the DEN centric airline we used to be.

Pilots love to complain about unstacking in PBS. Keep in mind regular line bidding is 100% unstacked. They do not leave trips on holidays and weekends in open time. They are all built into the lines. PBS on the other hand can and usually is programmed to allow some stacks to develope over holidays and even weekends. How big or little the stacks run is determined by the negotiated work rules. Very few airlines with PBS have 100% unstacking.

Did you go to a roadshow? All these questions were addressed.
MOT goes away because there are no more post award conflicts. That is largely what seeds MOT. We will go straight to DOT, which btw also does not look at reserve coverage for drops. Do you even work at Frontier, cause your understanding of the current contract is also underwhelming.
Unstacks to 4%??? WTF are you talking about? 4% OT is important so pilot’s preferences ARE honored in the line build solution. If the number is too low, the solver WILL start forcing flying into the schedules of pilots that don’t want it. 4% OT remaining after the build is a good thing.
We don’t lose days off. The known absence chart gets you to your minimum days off for the month. You can still bid to have 20+ days off in a row if your seniority will allow, just like today. Vacation is actually more valuable under PBS than it is today, albeit a very small amount. The inviolate days can be taken with or without credit. It is the pilot’s choice.
Unstacking limits will be negotiated by the JPWG. They will be the same as DL, B6, NK an HA, but they haven’t been decided yet. That is why the PBS LOA is so important.
I honestly don’t understand why you continuously come on this site and post things that are totally false. You clearly either haven’t read the TA, don’t understand the TA or are just trolling. I understand that you are unhappy with the TA, but don’t you think people should be able to make their decision based on fact instead of rhetoric and BS?
Who is the “chairman of scheduling” that you are referring to?

I like the bidding system we currently use. I’m not sure why we agreed to the Pat Ryan Bidding System.

SWA still uses line bidding. Our current line bidding is probably the best part of our current contract. I don’t understand why we are giving it away in the very best of times in our chosen career field.

With PBS, and a contract that moves us from LAST to LAST, the decision to vote No is easy.

We can do better. Or at least we better try.

This is essential.

This TA is not the best we can do. Not by a long shot.

You only get a few swings a these contracts in your career. We’re talking about living with this for the next 7 years. It’s worth the wait to get it right.

The more information that comes out the worse this TA looks......
Vote NO
We can do much better

Maybe I am incorrect, but I thought DOT did consider coverage? Isn’t this why it’s much easier to drop trips during MOT v DOT?

I certainly do understand that there won’t be as many conflicts generated with PBS. This is true. PBS avoids conflicts.

Regarding the 4%: is the four percent not what is referred to as unstacking? If anything in open time greater than the four percent will be placed on pilots schedules without respecting a pilots selections, is this not what we should be concerned about?

And vacation? Don’t try to fool us with that one. PBS reduces our current vacation and reduces the number of days off compared to what we can currently generate with line bidding.

Why in the world are we even considering a TA based on PBS? For what? The union keeps telling me that I’m going to keep my schedule flexibility, but now I’ll be awarded trips that I haven’t bid for? PBS, as efficient as it is, will also drive some bottom line holders to reserve. It will be all that they can hold.

Maybe I don’t fully understand how PBS will be implemented. Who here does? This is the crux of my argument. It seems that PBS is just everyone’s best guess.

Why vote in something that will have such a huge impact on our QOL and our pay that we just don’t understand?