I hate line bidding. Want two random days off for life events? Good luck. There was one month where the number one in base couldn’t have snagged both days off I needed.

Prefer afternoon flying? We built the schedule so every line has mixed start times, enjoy!

Prefer not to go to the east coast? We built the schedule so every line has some NY appreciation time!

You’re 100% at the mercy/whims of the people that construct the lines. To a lesser extent that’s true with PBS and individual trip construction but usually there’s enough of what you want in there it’s possible to get closer to what you want.

Getting three weeks off for one vacation isn’t worth having a terrible schedule the other 11 months of the year IMO. Talking to people who bid using PBS it seems like the only ones who really hate it are the ones who can’t figure out/don’t bother to figure out how to bid properly.

This is what Platinum Days are for

What he said. Not worth it just so the top 20% can trip-touch or whatever.

bottom 20% at my airline and i trip touch every month. PBS blows.

My airline would just turn the trips that touched into a Frankenstein 6 day ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Or drop one day in the middle and split you back into the trip. Not particularly useful.

At 9E, they love giving a 3 day touching another 3 day without enough time to go home in between. They won't give hotel rooms to commuters either in this case.

Interesting
 

One (new) regional is going to offer new hires, qualed on type, more money than those already on property, and qualed on type. Honest question, but does anyone think this is cool? It’s actually part of a bonus program that may, or may not, happen.

Right now if you are a DEC you can write your own ticket at many regionals. That’s simply reality. Without enough non-DEC CAs to run the schedule there aren’t enough CAs to get the FOs up to upgrade eligible before yet more CAs are lost to the majors and the place is in a death spiral. Those either unhireable at a major or willing to trade a few years of seniority at a major for a few more years at a regional can earn - by regional standards - big money. Unless they truly are unhireable by a major, it’s still pennywise pound foolish, but some people have other priorities like locale.

Honest question, what in h€|| has “cool” to do with it?

Four airlines in and I’ve had both PBS and line bidding. From that experience I much prefer line bidding. Anyway, this is like arguing what flavor ice cream is the best.

Spumoni - no question.