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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
Gwendolyn says
The Waive rules are very confusing the way they are written on the Tab
Allow Charters? If I waive does that mean I won’t be able to pick up charters?
I fly all nighters back to back I waived the same day… Is there something else I need to waive as well???
Jeffrey Peterson (MEC President) says
“Allow Charters” really only affects the Anchorage base with Red Dog charters currently. Charters cannot be traded even if bid and awarded in PBS so the “Allow Charters” waiver guarantees that a flight attendant is aware s/he wants a charter. In the past, some F/As were unstacked a Red Dog charter and then couldn’t trade it so this is why the new waive is in place. The PBS waiver has no effect on choosing to bid non-PBS charters later.
If you want to fly back to back Nighters then you did the right thing. There is nothing else you have to do except to correctly bid for the desired Nighters of course! 😉