Since when did the company begin locking us out of open time after a certain number of requests (300)? Friday evening (2 Mar) approximately 10 “frozen” charter trips hit MD-11 open time. I submitted requests for 8 of those within seconds of them becoming “unfrozen” only to get the infamous “DISAPPROVED earlier time stamp” crew notification. C R A P. The other two trips, curiously went away and never became “unfrozen” but were awarded to two other individuals? Interesting. When I checked the calendars of those who were awarded these “frozen” trips (probably the reason the other two individuals block their calendars) -- every single month these same individuals are getting these good deals(2XXX Charters). I’m also curious how do you submit open time bids when you’re flying? Could it be that the open time system is corrupt (insider trading)? Or. . . are they just that lucky (every month? YGBSM!)?

So today (Saturday), five or six more “frozen” trips hit open time and I’m determined I’m going to get one of those, so I keep polling open time every couple of minutes; sometimes sooner. Locked out at 300! No soup for you! “Check again at 1200 a.m.” Really? By contract are they allowed to do that (Sec. 25.A.6.b.i.)?

I was thinking maybe these “lucky” individuals could be using some sophisticated “bot” program, but if that were the case, wouldn’t they bump up against the same arbitrary 300 requests lockout? Appdude, were you aware that the company was doing this? Seems like it defeats the purpose of your FX CAL auto-poll function if we’re locked out at 300 requests.

Whining? You bet I am. But, it doesn’t appear that the “playing field” is very level. . . and in case you’re wondering; I actually do have a life, and better things to do than check open time, just not when waiting for a jumpseat.

2DF, Oh yeah, no F
The 300 hits has been there for a while. As a "not senior" guy, I hit the stop a couple of times a month. It is a step to help with the bot programs. If you know someone is flying while they get a trip, take the specifics to prof stds. We have had people get time off for letting others access the company website using their info. It is a computer security thing. Letting a computer do it for you while you aren't present is the same thing. inside intel -knowing when one is gonna be released it a possibility that I think happens. A simple text or phone call from someone in charters to a few key individuals and it would greatly increase your chances. Just my conspiracy theory at work

Let me get this ,...you check open time 300 TIMES A MONTH!!!

No, I think he meant 300 times in one day. I was watching those frozen trips myself. Got beat out of most of them, but was able to pick one up yesterday with PMU. There are pilots out there that bribe schedulers to get inside intel, no way to prove it though. Also I'm sure there are still bots out there that are impossible to beat. Most guys that get charters every month block their calenders. It's frustrating to say the least

So, who do we complain to about this problem? The company for "freezing" the user for wanting to get a trip, or do we complain to the individuals out there that are giving gifts to the schedulers in order to be "considered" for the "frozen" trips? There are plenty of individuals out there that have learned how to game the system, either through bots, or special favors to the schedulers, et.al. IMO, these are the ones that are making it tougher for the rest of us that at least TRY to play by the rules. We need to start policing our own before we start b*tching to the company about restrictions they've put in place, only because of misuse by some greedy individuals. FWIW.......

Yes, the company locks out at 300 per day. I got locked out yesterday and did not get any gravy, either.
Yes, there is a problem with guys bribing/friending schedulers for inside info.
Yes, there is a problem with the current system of CAPTCHA for open time refresh and trades. The bad among us are programming right past it, and the rest of us are hampered with extra time to put in the code.
Yes, there are guys with wives, friends who do trading for them.

So...
Right now FastBid,BidX,MagicWebFx, and FxCal guys have the ear of management for some input.
Here is my suggestion:
Management should publish current info sec policy to the pilots:
CAPTCHA is there for a reason, to make sure a person is there. Programming around it is hacking.
Your password and eGrid are yours and yours alone. No wives, friends, etc, ever. Period.
Management should either remove all the CAPTCHA from trades and open time counts, or replace with 'real' CAPTCHA, the same as the blue and gold that is used on the eGrid login challenge.
Management should not let trips sit in Fz status that much. Creates a polling and feeding frenzy.
Management should address the 'insider trading' issue. That one is not easy to do.

So..
If you agree with my suggestions, please reply with a simple agree and we can take them to management. Thanks.

Flex,
Exactly! The rules are there, and those of us that play by them should have the same expectation from others. We need to stop running to the company for things that should be handled within first. That is why I referenced Professional Standards. We need to have facts though. One thing that would be good would be all of the Xpairings tracked. So we could all see who got them and when they were assigned. A post on the union website. So when you see one you can post it there and the time/date it was assigned with any specifics i.e., frozen for 8 hrs then released.

Don't get me wrong, I am not looking for a witch hunt. I have gotten my fair share. Sitting, watching a movie with the fam and hitting refresh, and sometimes getting locked out trying for a frozen one to open up. But mine is there for the world to see. Also, we definitely have some savvy people that are doing quite well within the guidelines. However, I have kept track of a few and have seen a few pick-ups, based on the trip they were on, and there would be no way a reasonable man would have been awake or had access to a computer to make the trade. IMHO. If we post the trips then anyone can see who got the trip. This way the calendar blockers still have their specific privacy honored but the crew force can look at all of the trips for the month. Just ilke looking at one from the bid pack. I think if would be enlightening.

agree, really

Packagecheck,
I agree, it would be enlightening to see a collection of who gets those trips month after month, maybe published along side the flown disputed pairings.
I still feel strongly that the average crew guy has not heard info sec policies in black and white enough. They are maintaining plausible deniability. That is management's job to make that clear.
A two pronged approach will work the best on this issue.

It seems like an SMS-based system would work beautifully here.

The schedulers could send out a text message to our phones, similar to the mass texts that ALPA sends out.

It would be a whole lot fairer (unless you were flying). The company would get even quicker response, and we wouldn't have to be tied to the company web page all day.