Cal pbs
 

When above the gline, so guaranteed a flight line, if all 20 of your bid groups fail and it goes into denial mode what steps does the computer follow in assigning you a line? Does it start with you first bid group relaxing the parameters to find a solution, while working its way down your bid groups again? Or does it just start with you last bid group and only modifying the parameters of the last bid group until a solution can be created?

It will relax certain parameters (Denial Mode 1) then run through the 20 bid groups again. If no line can be built, it relaxes more parameters (DM2) and tries it again. By the time it gets to DM4, it's pretty much just "award work".


For the technical answer:


Flight Line Denial Mode

The steps of denial are the same for both above and below the G-line for the “Flight Line Denial Mode.” You will enter “Flight Line Denial Mode” under
the following conditions:

• Above the G-line bidding for a flight line
• Below the G-line bidding for a flight line and senior enough to hold one
• Below the G-line junior-assigned into a flight line


Denial mode group #1:
• All Credit waives remain
• All Day Off waives remain
• All SETs remain
• All AWARDs remain with current limits
• All AVOIDs remain
• Add AWARD WORK with LOW weight for entire bid period+7days
below all other AWARD/AVOID

Denial mode group #2:
• All Credit waives remain
• All Day Off waives remain
• All SETs remain - except SET LINE CREDIT RANGE is removed (if
existing)
• All AWARDs remain with current limits
• All AVOIDs remain
• Add AWARD WORK with LOW weight for entire bid period+7days
below all other AWARD/AVOID

Denial mode group #3:
• All Credit waives removed
• All Day Off waives remain
• All SETs removed
• All AWARDs remain with removed limits
• All AVOIDs remain
• Add AWARD WORK with LOW weight for entire bid period+7days
below all other AWARD/AVOID

Denial mode group #4:
• All Credit waives removed
• All Day Off waives remain
• All SETs removed
• All AWARDs remain with removed limits
• All AVOIDs remain
• Add AWARD WORK with LOW weight for entire bid period+7days
above all other AWARD/AVOID

thank you exactly what i was looking for.

Spicy,
Thanks for the complete answer. Just wondering where I might find all this info.

you have to hack into the PBS mainframe and decipher the binary code.

I think it is on the flight ops page, there is a publication called the ABC's of PBS

You might also try to find the ABC's of PBS, which is the primary manual, located on the PrefBid.com website (www.prefbid.com).

You can also call the CAL MEC office (281.987.3636) and someone from the committee might be able to send you a copy.

I would explain it to you but if you don't know how PBS works by now then there's no hope for you. Just bid "Award Work" and pretend that you know what you are doing. Jay will take care of you.

This goon does not know how to bid that's why he went into "Denial Mode" in the first place. Now he wants an explanation of what happens in Denial Mode and he thinks he's going to understand those mechanizations? LOL! You guys just kill me. You really do.

PBS Committee members are paid FPL to be there 5/7 but are only there 1/7 and when they are there they are out. If you are able to speak to a PBS trainer, he will either charge you for his services or berate you for being not as smart as he is. Jay Pierce's lap dog and founder of PBS, Dave Owens gave instruction two years ago bid "AWARD WORK" and forget about it. I hope you two simpletons are senior pilots. I never have problems with PBS. What do I know that you don't know? LOL!

MANAGEMENT-INDUCED ERROR
Yesterday, after the captain bid awards were published, the CAL MEC Scheduling Committee informed the company of an anomaly with the bid run. Some time later, the company confirmed with the Association that a major error had occurred. In short, the system updated carry-in data within the user interface (where you enter in monthly bids), but due to software settings within the program the latest data was not used during the actual bid run. This error was not easily detectable during the bid run, which the Association monitors.

To be perfectly clear, this was an error made by the company. The Association does not have control of or access to the systems required to pull carry-in data. To put a finer point on it, this was an error made by someone in management failing to fly the airplane. Management made a decision to do a major CCS upgrade on the 11th during the bid window. This caused changes in the middle of the bidding process, and a failure to correctly implement and monitor those changes led to a failure that directly impacts the lives of many of our pilots.

After much discussion amongst the Scheduling Committee, Union Officers, and the company, the Scheduling Committee agreed that the best course of action would be to rerun the bid in its entirety. Due to the nature of the problem, a large number of pilots were affected – 200 or more directly, with an undeterminable number below them affected indirectly.

What does this all mean? For captains, it means that you should disregard your current PBS Bid Award. For first officers, it means that your bid award will not be published at 1000 this morning. The process of rerunning the bid was started last night – absences and carry-in data were pulled (this will include any absence submitted since the close of bidding on the 13th until last night) and the runs were restarted. We expect captain bid awards to be out by Friday, and the large base first officer awards to be out by Monday.

What is the Union doing about this? The PBS Implementation LOA covers the criteria and actions that must be taken in order to initiate a rerun. This has all occurred. Whereas a rerun is a last resort option, given the extent of the problem, it was the only way to ensure a proper and fair bid award for all pilots. We are working with the Grievance committee to explore options for a remedy for the pilot group.

The dispute window will be reset, as will the Help Desk and Prefbid staffing. Look to the Friday CAL MEC Position Report for an update on the bid runs as well as the new dates for the dispute window as well as all support services including Prefbid.com and the help desk.

SPECIAL MEC MEETING FRIDAY, APRIL 20
A Special MEC Meeting has been called for this Friday, April 20, to discuss negotiating strategy in light of recent blastmails from the UAL MEC as well as the PBS issue.

"We are working with the Grievance committee to explore options for a remedy for the pilot group."

Hahaha...that's a good one.

Maybe they can 'work on it' until Dec 31, 2012...then settle for $40M (or whatever the PS amount would have been).

Didn't someone on a different thread say something about "Mesa, just with bigger airplanes"?
This is such a class act - gives me such confidence!

Exactly. Mix it with over-quota hiring female brain surgeons and you have a recipe for disaster.

April 18, 2012

I can’t help but think the that pretty much the only people having a worse week than the CAL pilots are the Secret Service agents who are trying to explain to their wives how their Cartagena trip went and why they are home early.

This morning I tried to give you some detail to the current PBS bidding fiasco that we are dealing with. As is often the case when communications are rushed, I believe that I may have created more questions than answers with this morning’s blastmail. The hundreds of very angry emails I received today would certainly indicate as much. For those that sent me emails, please accept this as my reply. I take full responsibility for the fact that our communications came out after management’s soft-peddling CCS bulletin and that our message did not answer your questions adequately.

I want to say with all sincerity that I completely understand and respect the anger and frustration that you feel over this situation. It is bad enough that in our understaffed situation our schedules during the month are tenuous at best. To not even have a schedule to try and plan day care, doctor appointments, spouse’s schedules, etc, is completely unacceptable. Simply rerunning the bid and delaying your schedules can not be an acceptable outcome to this.

It seems to be a norm that issues of complexity and magnitude do not occur during normal business hours. I learned that there was a potential issue yesterday afternoon as I was entering a meeting at 1500 with Jeff Smisek to complete our BOD briefing. Following that meeting I went to ORD to catch a late flight to SNA in order to attend the LAX LC meeting this morning. While at the airport I learned, via a conference call at about 1830 with the Scheduling committee, that the problem was more extensive than originally thought and that the only solution was a complete re-run of the bid. This was due to the fact that management’s errors not only affected upwards of 200+ pilots directly, but would also potentially indirectly affect hundreds of other pilot’s schedules as well. I asked the committee to come up with a message for the pilot group explaining the issues and got on the flight to SNA. Upon arrival at the hotel in SNA at around 0100 I reviewed the blastmail, made some adjustments and approved its distribution. In the morning management beat us to the punch and put their CCS message out. We adjusted our message once more and sent it out this morning.

I have received literally hundreds of emails expressing legitimate anger and frustration over the rerun. I want to assure you, this was not a case of the union capitulating to management’s requests or the union carrying the company’s water. This is a case of the union trying to ensure that pilots’ schedules are completed and processed properly. The run that would have resulted had we not done the re-run would have resulted in hundreds of pilots having their scheduled mangled through the dispute resolution process and suffering from potential pay degradations. Hundreds more would have received schedules that bore no resemblance to their bid choices or preferences. This would not have been a seniority within feasibility issue, but rather “infeasible no matter what situation." In addition, our pilots have consistently communicated to the Union that we should insist that management rerun the bid as set forth in our contract in situations like this. In this catastrophic case in which no other choice was available (clearly nearly every pilot was affected in one way or another), we felt as though we needed to honor seniority and have management abide by the contract.

I want to again recognize that this situation highlights one of the very core issues we must fix in our JCBA. The work rules that generate our schedules must be corrected and the core PBS production issues we have faced all too often must be addressed. The pilot group will not continue to suffer the consequences of IT failures, programming errors, complacency or ineptitude.

I am working to see that recognition is given our pilots for this failure. But in the long run, we have to protect ourselves contractually and demand that the bid respects seniority.

As I implied above, this has been a busy week with lots on our union plate. In addition to dealing with this PBS bid issue I have called a special MEC meeting on Friday to discuss negotiations, the latest proposed initiatives from the UAL MEC and our PBS issues. Both topics will take center stage and I will communicate the MEC’s thoughts on these matters in my Friday brief.

Good evening,

CAL MEC Chairman

He should have just said to MGT "What's the rush?"

I agree................hopefully we won't get it as I'd certainly hate to see all these furloughed UAL guys who are flying at CAL get something they DON'T DESERVE or didn't WORK FOR! Would serve them right! :eek: Shoot, maybe we should just let them stay on the street until that "incredible airline" that gave them the boot and told them not to let the door hit them on the way out rehires them! That would certainly teach us a lesson, wouldn't it? Oh brother...........................

I'm sure all these furloughed UAL guys recognize that it's not in their new CAL contract.

Sorry about this, but what exactly is PBS? When I hear it, I have Sesame Street in mind.

Preferential Bidding System (PBS) is how the monthly line-flying is bid on/awarded versus the "old school" Bid-Packs that some other carrier's still use.

Some within the CAL Camp like to refer to PBS as Preferential "BS".

Well, you'd be wrong. Already had a few complaining they didn't get it because they thought if they were in training they SHOULD get it since they were on property.:eek:

Remedy? Zyclon-B?