Yes but NEVER put a reserve bid group in if you are above the G line unless you want reserve. This WILL backfire on you and you will more than likely be given a reserve line even if it was your 5th choice and lines could have been awarded.

Thanks... my "G-line seniority" is 88% so I'm probably going to have to not get too restrictive with my bid groups.

Why did we have to get the most complex PBS system on the planet? I know there are simpler programs out there.

Because we wrote it.

Your best bet is to always have your last bid group literally be just award work.

Thanks again.

Yes, being on reserve would probably be better. But when you see someone junior to you who got a line when you didn't, they probably uses one or all three of these waives that allowed PBS to assign the trips.

Which still won't be enough when you're near the bottom. Sometimes there are so few trips left that PBS can't find a way to them on your line with the default settings. I would suggest at least

Waive Day Off, Min Days Between Work Blocks, 1
Award Work

Or the full Hail Mary bid group as the last one. Twice this year I've had Award Work as my second to last BG, didn't get it, but used the above as my last bid group, and got it. That waive is not too painful. Better than reserve.

Don't forget the "low, minus, minus."

The assumption being that a pilot that is using this as a "last resort" bid group is probably very junior (or has a very poor grasp of what his seniority can hold) with very little quality remaining available.

"L--" will attempt to award as few trips as possible within the credit range for the month since every trip carries the highest negative value possible.

I have some questions about the bids this month. The IAH 737 bid package is almost entirely 4 day trips, just like last month. Everyone, except the most senior, was awarded 4 4-day trips for September. I assume the awards would look about the same, but the line credit range for FO's is 67:30 to 77:30 for October. How will PBS build lines with only 4-day trips available? It can't award 4 trips and remain within the line credit range. Only a small percentage of the trips have enough credit that 3 4-day's would put you within the range. Is PBS allowed to build lines outside of the LCR if it can't build schedules within it?

One thing it can do is carry over a trip into November so only part of the trip is counting in October. Also I believe the LCR uses hard hours, not rig, so it could assign four 18-hour trips for 72 hours for example even though it will pay 80.

For those new to PBS there is union-run forum called PrefBid, here, Welcome to PrefBid.com ? Index page. ("You must be logged in to view the forums. If this is your first time logging in, you will use your employee number as your password. After your first login, you must change your password on the user control panel.")

When PBS first started there was a lot of activity here as pilots posted questions and trainers answered. All this interaction is still archived to read through. The site is still maintained by a couple of the original PBS gurus.

There are also many downloadable instruction sheets and an "ABCs of PBS" pamphlet, http://www.prefbid.com/ABCs/ABCs_20.pdf. It's outdated but useful for a general overview. This link may work without logging in.

During the bidding window there are live trainers available to chat online. See flashing icon at the bottom of page.

PS. This is not a forum to complain about PBS, although many have tried. It's a place to get answers about using PBS.