Originally Posted by eglplt (Post 3896488)

Is it still using the Jeppessen program behind the scenes and basically a more user friendly interface to enter your bids, or is it a completely new system?

Originally Posted by Longhornmaniac8 (Post 3896386)

I assure you, it's a colossal improvement. It's incredibly intuitive and includes an AutoBid function where you simply tell it your top 5 or so preferences and it'll build and submit a bid for you. Of course, you can still edit it.

It has a lot of advanced features which you may not use, but you won't need to. I think the days are largely gone where people can "gain" seniority by bidding better than people senior to them.

Originally Posted by Turbosina (Post 3894226)

Junior 737 FO here (~60% in base, ~80% of lineholders). I've actually had plenty of luck getting 10-11 day stretches off in a row, for the past 5-6 months, when I've been both above and below the G-line. (Currently writing this from Melbourne, Oz on our fourth 10-day getaway in as many months.)

You don't need BidNav to help make this happen. I've used BidNav quite a bit for almost the past year, but I find that I probably don't need it anymore. But back to your question:

One quirk of PBS (which BidNav can't help with) is that there is no way to request "give me any 10 days off in a row, I don't care which dates, I just want 10 days off in a row." You have to specify a certain set of dates. Naturally, if you want *any* stretch of 10 days off, that's not too hard to get. You just plug in a different set of 10-day breaks into your bid groups. Here's how I do it:

1) I use all 20 bid groups. In the first 10 bid groups, I'll pick 10 sets of 10-day-off breaks. I figure I have a decent chance of getting at least one of these requests. I also improve that probability by waiving everything. (BidNav tells you not to do this, but if you waive everything, you're more likely to get the 10 days off you want.)

So for example my first 10 bid groups look really simple:

Bid Group 1:
1. WAIVE Min days between work blocks 1
2. WAIVE 1 in 7 Day Off in Base
3. WAIVE Double Duty Restriction
4. WAIVE Duty in consecutive WOCLs
5. AVOID Work 07 Apr -- 17 Apr
6. AWARD Work 01 Apr 0001 -- 30 Apr 2359 (L-)

Bid Group 2 is the exact same as above, except I change the dates in Row 5 (Avoid) to different dates.

2) In the second set of 10 bid groups, I do the same as above, except I shorten the block of 10 days off to blocks of 8 days off. (I can still do a decent vacation in 8 days.) If I can't get 10 days off, then I'll take 8.

Now, there are some HUGE caveats to this approach.

First: waiving all four line properties means that in the parts of the month that you're working, you will wind up working pretty intensely. Last month, I got 11 days off at the start of the month...and then had to work three (3) 4-days in a row, with only one full day off between 2 of those 4-days. In between the other pair of 4-days, I had less than 24 hours off between the two trips. All of this was due to the waives in lines 1, 2, and 3 of the above bid group.

So, BidNav will recommend that you don't waive these line properties. But if you're OK with a really intense set of work blocks, then I find this approach has worked really well for me (so far, 5 months of bidding this way has given me 5 10-day vacations without using any vacation time.)

Another option you could do is, in bid groups 1-10, just do what I posted above, but do NOT waive any of the line properties. Then in groups 11-20, just copy over groups 1-10, but add the four WAIVE lines at the front of each bid group.

It all depends on what's most important to you. I personally just wanted to take a bunch of international vacations over the US wintertime, so the resultant intensity of my work schedules when I wasn't on vacation, was fine with me. For summertime, though, I'll bid completely differently.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by FLARE99 (Post 3879571)

I will forever promote BidNav. I think it's worth every penny.

Originally Posted by Turbosina (Post 3894226)

Junior 737 FO here (~60% in base, ~80% of lineholders). I've actually had plenty of luck getting 10-11 day stretches off in a row, for the past 5-6 months, when I've been both above and below the G-line. (Currently writing this from Melbourne, Oz on our fourth 10-day getaway in as many months.)

You don't need BidNav to help make this happen. I've used BidNav quite a bit for almost the past year, but I find that I probably don't need it anymore. But back to your question:

One quirk of PBS (which BidNav can't help with) is that there is no way to request "give me any 10 days off in a row, I don't care which dates, I just want 10 days off in a row." You have to specify a certain set of dates. Naturally, if you want *any* stretch of 10 days off, that's not too hard to get. You just plug in a different set of 10-day breaks into your bid groups. Here's how I do it:

1) I use all 20 bid groups. In the first 10 bid groups, I'll pick 10 sets of 10-day-off breaks. I figure I have a decent chance of getting at least one of these requests. I also improve that probability by waiving everything. (BidNav tells you not to do this, but if you waive everything, you're more likely to get the 10 days off you want.)

So for example my first 10 bid groups look really simple:

Bid Group 1:
1. WAIVE Min days between work blocks 1
2. WAIVE 1 in 7 Day Off in Base
3. WAIVE Double Duty Restriction
4. WAIVE Duty in consecutive WOCLs
5. AVOID Work 07 Apr -- 17 Apr
6. AWARD Work 01 Apr 0001 -- 30 Apr 2359 (L-)

Bid Group 2 is the exact same as above, except I change the dates in Row 5 (Avoid) to different dates.

2) In the second set of 10 bid groups, I do the same as above, except I shorten the block of 10 days off to blocks of 8 days off. (I can still do a decent vacation in 8 days.) If I can't get 10 days off, then I'll take 8.

Now, there are some HUGE caveats to this approach.

First: waiving all four line properties means that in the parts of the month that you're working, you will wind up working pretty intensely. Last month, I got 11 days off at the start of the month...and then had to work three (3) 4-days in a row, with only one full day off between 2 of those 4-days. In between the other pair of 4-days, I had less than 24 hours off between the two trips. All of this was due to the waives in lines 1, 2, and 3 of the above bid group.

So, BidNav will recommend that you don't waive these line properties. But if you're OK with a really intense set of work blocks, then I find this approach has worked really well for me (so far, 5 months of bidding this way has given me 5 10-day vacations without using any vacation time.)

Another option you could do is, in bid groups 1-10, just do what I posted above, but do NOT waive any of the line properties. Then in groups 11-20, just copy over groups 1-10, but add the four WAIVE lines at the front of each bid group.

It all depends on what's most important to you. I personally just wanted to take a bunch of international vacations over the US wintertime, so the resultant intensity of my work schedules when I wasn't on vacation, was fine with me. For summertime, though, I'll bid completely differently.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by OFFCOURSE (Post 3923682)

I disagree . I tried using bid nav for a few months and didn’t get any better results than when I was bidding on my own. Your experience may vary though .
im going to try the pbs2.0 on my own first and see what happens.