June bidding advice

Most survived the changes for May bidding but not everyone was happy with the results of their May schedule. There were not only changes in the pairings but also in the steps you might have needed to take in order to hold the trips you wanted. We did our best to communicate these changes, with the PBS Info Page devoting a lot of real estate at the top of the page to help you. That information is still there for you to read if you missed it earlier.

Confusion about some new ‘Waive’ options was a factor for some people…with people being unsure if they needed to use one of the new ‘waives’ or even where to find them. Waives are entered like any other bid line – by clicking on the ‘Add’ button to the right when looking at your Current or Default bid. The ‘Waive’ tab is on the far right of the list on the ‘Add bid preference’ page. AFA was not consulted as to the terminology used to describe the new ‘waive’ options.

Definitions of Lineholder Waives:

Allow Charters – Necessary to bid for charters in PBS (ANC-RDB is the only current charter bid in PBS).

Allow Redeye Long Duty Period Pairings – Must be added in order to be awarded redeye ‘4k’ pairings (there are currently none offered).

Allow Non-Redeye Long Duty Period Pairings – Must be added to your bid to be awarded day-time ‘4k’ pairings, both as turns and as part of a multiday trip.

48 Hours Off In 7 Days – To allow the program to build six days in a row of flying…with a 24 hour minimum rest at base in any seven day period.

48 Hours Off In 7 Days If Training – To allow the program to build six days working in a row but only the week of training (RT or any other company-scheduled training event) with then a 24 hour break at your base.

No Same Day Pairings – This must be entered in your bid if you want to fly two pairings on the same calendar day. Those needing to enter this ‘waive’ are people wanting back-to-back SEA-ANC/FAI all-nighter turns, back-to-back LAX-GDL/MEX redeye pairings, HNL-ANC then ANC-ORD the same day, etc.

Rest After Training – Used to waive rest after training down to 9:00 (nine hours) after release from training.

Rest Before TV – Using this allows rest before travel to a training event to be waived down to 2:00 (two hours) after check-out.

Co-Terminal – LAX base only…to allow PBS to award LAX check-ins and more than one co-terminal check-in.

Definition of Reserve Waives:

Maximum Days On 5 – To allow PBS to build you six days of on-call in a row.

Maximum Days On 5 If Training – To allow PBS to have you working six days in a row but only when a training event such as RT falls in that week.

Coming soon! The ability for Reserves to waive to one calendar day rest per week instead of the contractually required two consecutive days.

FYI –

1. Waive bids will automatically go the top of your bid…they cannot be moved.
2. Layover rest is NOT the same as rest at your base. During bidding, you must have at least 48 hours off at your base in any seven day period. If you ‘waive’ that rule, then you must have at least 24 hours off at your base in any seven day period. Rest on a layover does not count towards contractual rest during bid awards.

Changes in Flying out of your Base

While there might have been some changes in the pairings in all bases, the biggest impact was felt in the SEA base. Those particularly impacted were people bidding only for two-day trips that were now unable to hold them. They had previously needed to be awarded two-day AUS, DTW, IAH, ORD, SAT or STL pairings as those were the only two-day trips they generally held. With all of those cities listed above now being turns, there were very few two-day trips available other than east coast, Hawaii or Mexico.

Consequently, a significant number of people’s bids went into ‘Denial Mode’. This was because they did not have any ‘backup plan’ if they couldn’t hold two-day trips. These people will have to make adjustments to their bid to be willing to fly, at minimum, multi-leg two-day trips or very likely other trip lengths…turns, three or four-day trips,

Long Duty Period (‘4k’) pairings contractually are to be offered to every base. SEA and PDX only fly ‘4k’ trips as turns but in all other bases the ‘4k’ day is mid-pairing after laying over in SEA or PDX the night before and after. A maximum of 90% of the total 4k departures may be built in any single domicile and a minimum of 10% of the total 4k domicile departures will be built and distributed on an approximately equitable basis throughout the remaining domiciles each bid month. In May, some ‘4k’ pairings out of SAN were not bid for and fell into Open Time.

Upcoming PBS Base Sits

Representatives from the PBS Committee will be holding base sits in early May. The focus of these base sits is to reach out to the many new-hire FA’s in ANC and SEA but anyone is most welcome to drop in for help with their bid. Feedback on pairings can be addressed to the representatives from Crew Planning at the base sits. Comments regarding pairings can also be sent via Outlook email to your LEC Scheduling Committee Chairs or your LEC President. The Scheduling Committee will be meeting on June 25^th, 2015 in Seattle with management to discuss any concerns you bring forward to your local committee.

ANC PBS base sit

Inflight

May 5^th 9am-3pm

May 6^th 5am-1pm

Sabrina Blevins-Crew Planning

Rebecca Asbell- PDXFA

Steve Poynter – SEAFA

SEA PBS base sit

Inflight-Mezzanine

May 7^th 9am-4pm

May 8^th 5am-1pm

Kelly Yeager-Crew Planning

Rebecca Asbell-PDXFA

Steve Poynter-SEAFA

Contact the PBS Committee anytime by email to PBS Q&A via Outlook.

The PBS program was down for a short while on March 18th so that a program update could be installed. This update addresses the contractual changes related to bidding in April for May schedules. Please familiarize yourself with these PBS-related changes and pass the word about them. Both management and AFA will be communicating the many changes coming in April for May…both bidding-related and pay-related.

Effective bidding in April for May:

Minimum TFP bid eliminated: 

The ‘Set Condition Minimum TFP’ bid preference is no longer available. This bid preference will still appear on PBS for a few more months until it can be removed…but if you bid for a Minimum TFP line that request will NOT be honored. All lines will be built within the ‘Normal’ range of TFP. The ‘Set Condition Maximum TFP’ bid is still available, giving you a line built between the base line average and the maximum allowed that month. If you’re currently using ‘Set Condition Minimum TFP’ you might want to delete that line from your bid…it will no longer be honored.

Change in Bid Protest:

The bid protest period will now be from 9am Pacific on the 13th to 9am Pacific on the 14th…24 hours in length. The reason for this is that very few protests were filed in the second day of bid protest. You can send your line award question to the PBS Q&A at any time outside the bid protest period. See Sec 10 Par L for information regarding Bid Protest.

New Line Average Range:

The monthly posted ‘base line average’ can now range from a low of 75tfp to a high of 85tfp. If past history is any guide, you can expect higher line averages in the summer and lower line averages in the winter (except possibly December). Remember, a ‘legal’ line can range anywhere from 10tfp below the posted line average to 10tfp above. Again, the ‘Minimum TFP’ bid has been eliminated but the ‘Maximum TFP’ bid remains available.

New rules:

1. No Same-Day Pairings will be awarded (two pairings on the same calendar day) unless…

PBS will no longer be able to award you more than one pairing on any calendar day. You can waive this new rule if you wish…look for this option at the ‘Waive’ tab. If you wish to be awarded back-to-back SEA-ANC/FAI redeye turns, consecutive LAX-GDL/MEX pairings, back-to-back ANC-Hawaii-ANC-ORD pairings or ANY other situation where you wish to be awarded two different pairing numbers on the same day then you must ‘waive’ the ‘No Same-Day Pairings’ rule.

‘Coverage Awards’ and this new rule…attention junior lineholders!!

 This new rule ALSO applies to ‘Coverage Awards’ (aka ‘unstacking). You cannot be forced-assigned two different pairings on the same day (get home in the morning and leave again that evening). Most all would agree this is a good thing but there is a potential down-side for the most junior lineholders. If being awarded two pairings on the same day was necessary for someone to hold a line and they failed to ‘waive’ the rule, they could be potentially forced to Reserve. This is a tough call…no one can tell you whether to ‘waive’ this new rule or not….or what might happen in any given month.

2. No Charters can be awarded by PBS unless…

Charters cannot be awarded or forced onto anyone via ‘Coverage Awards’ during bidding. If you’re ANC-based and wish to bid for RDG charters, you MUST waive the new ‘No Charters’ rule at the ‘Waive’ tab and ‘Allow Charters‘. The ANC-Red Dog charter is currently the only ‘known charter’ that can be bid for during bidding on PBS. Other frequent charters such as the Apple charter (ORD-PVR) have such a long duty day that they cannot be bid for or awarded during PBS bid awards.

3. 48/7 waiver

Lineholders can now ‘waive’ the 48/7 contractual rest rule down to 24 hours off, Look for this option at the ‘Waive’ tab.  A Lineholder could have as little as 24 hours off between up to six-day blocks of flying.  Contractual rest must be at your base for bidding purposes…only during trading can it be on a layover.

If you do NOT choose to ‘waive’ the ’48/7′ rule then your line award must still respect that rule during line construction.

4.  New six day block option for Reserves

Reserves can fly a block of six days instead of the previous five days maximum.  The ‘Waive Maximum Days On 5’ option is found at the ‘Waive’ tab. The minimum two calendar days off per week rule is still in effect.   This new ‘waive’ option will assist the bidder in potentially getting a longer stretch of days off somewhere in the month.  For example, by flying six on, two off, six on, two off, six on you can now potentially have up to eight consecutive days off in a 30-day month, nine consecutive days off in a 31 day month.  Being able to hold this long of stretch of days off may be contingent on the requirement for someone to work ‘Coverage’ days in a month.

New flying:

Long Stage Length/Duty Period pairings

Long Duty Period (aka ‘4K’) pairings will not be awarded during bidding unless you ‘waive’ that rule. There is a separate rule for both day and redeye 4k pairings. Go to the ‘Waive’ tab to ‘Allow Non-Redeye Long Duty Period Pairings’ or ‘Allow Redeye Long Duty Period Pairings’. If you wish to waive both rules, you must enter two separate lines. If you are waiving the ‘Non-Redeye’ rule, this will NOT allow the program to award you a ‘Redeye’ 4k pairing.

Redeye Definition: Any flight that departs between 14:00 and 04:00 that then lands between 02:00 and 12:00.

Screenshot that includes the new ‘Waive’ options…found at the ‘Waive’ tab:

If you have any questions, send them to PBS Q&A via Outlook or FirstClass.

Thanks!

Your AFA PBS Committee—MEC chairperson Stephen Poynter, Rebecca Asbell; and MEC Scheduling chairperson Jake Jones

Friday, February 6, 2015 @ 1030 PT

Incorrect pairings file requires a completely system shutdown and reload

Due to an inadvertent error, the incorrect pairings file was loaded into Navtech’s PBS. A complete system shutdown is required in order to load the correct pairings file. This is anticipated to take approximately two hours.

Bidding will not resume until at least noon PT and bids will close 12 noon PT February 11^th

Bidding will not resume until at least noon Pacific Time, so the close of bids will be extended (from the normal 9am PT on February 10^th) to 12 noon PT on February 11^th. At this time the Joint PBS Committee is anticipating that bid awards will still be on time despite the 24-hour extension to the closing of bids.

Pairing numbers and/or layover cities will change in some cases

Because the pairings file will be a different file, some pairing numbers and/or layover cities within the same pairing numbers will change. AFA recommends that you take a very close look at your bid prior to submitting it—particularly if you bid by pairing number.

More information forthcoming on Company media outlets

Please check the Company media outlets (Navtech’s PBS, Inflight Splash page, bulletins and/or Outlook email) for more information as it becomes available.