ASA Sked+

[SLUF4]

So, I have been checking out SKed+ today and it indeed does have a reserve board. So far I've been unable to trade days and it keeps saying shifts must be adjacent to existing shifts.

 

[VerticalSnap]

Does ASA's Sked+ allow you to do post your trip to TRADE with something else that you may want. I remember when I was at ASA on Flica, you could say that you wanted to trade you 4 day for a 3 day on certain days. Then someone would propose a trade and you both could approve or deny it. At SkyWest, the only real way we can trade is by emailing everyone or by putting comments when we post a trip. That doesn't stop someone from just picking up your trip without giving you anything.

 

[SiuDude]

We have a trade only option:

Trade Only Check this box if you are only willing to give up this pairing as a Trade for someone else's pairing

 

[sweptback]

Does ASA's Sked+ allow you to do post your trip to TRADE with something else that you may want. I remember when I was at ASA on Flica, you could say that you wanted to trade you 4 day for a 3 day on certain days. Then someone would propose a trade and you both could approve or deny it. At SkyWest, the only real way we can trade is by emailing everyone or by putting comments when we post a trip. That doesn't stop someone from just picking up your trip without giving you anything.

Yeah, it's pretty slick. Whereas on Flica you would have Future Open Time and the Tradeboard with separate listings, on Sked+ they all show up together.

Our contract requires a tradeboard, so they had to work that in. However, I suspect that SkyWest pilots will see the benefits of this given that the programming is already done.

 

[JoeMerchant]

Yeah, it's pretty slick. Whereas on Flica you would have Future Open Time and the Tradeboard with separate listings, on Sked+ they all show up together.

You mean that "evil" Skywest management actually did something that improves our lives even though they didn't have to? D@mn them......

It must be some evil plot....

 

[sweptback]

You mean that "evil" Skywest management actually did something that improves our lives even though they didn't have to? D@mn them......

It must be some evil plot....

They didn't do it because they wanted the pilots to have better tools. They did it to save $25k a month.

Now, the side effect is they happened to write a better piece of software than Flica. That's great, and shows that some things can be a win-win.

Hopefully their bidding software is as good as this Sked+ is.

 

[Bako Cap]

Hopefully their bidding software is as good as this Sked+ is.

Our PBS leaves a bunch to be desired. I like it a lot and would never chose to go back to hard lines, but I am senior for my base. There are hidden problems that even I run into sometimes. It is easy to use, but takes a long time to understand how not to mess up your own bid. Maybe your contract will force SkyWest INC to fix the several small "gotchas" in the PBS software.

 

[Papa Woody]

Yep, our CONTRACT REQUIRES transparency.

Uh huh! Union contract.

And SkyWest has transparency, too...

K-Y Jelly is indeed transparent

VOTE NO TO ALPA!

 

[ASA_Aviator]

They didn't do it because they wanted the pilots to have better tools. They did it to save $25k a month.

Now, the side effect is they happened to write a better piece of software than Flica. That's great, and shows that some things can be a win-win.

Hopefully their bidding software is as good as this Sked+ is.

You are right. The company doesn't care at all about the pilots. Everything they do is self-serving. It isn't in the best interest of the company at all to do things to keep the pilot group happy. In fact, I can't believe they would give us Sked+ since it is better than Flica. $25k a month is a small price to pay to keep the pilots down!

Come on. There are no conspiracies, and not everything is a pure $ calculation. It wasn't just by accident that the software is better than Flica.

The crew-bid software has less flexibility in the near-term, but over time there will be improvements. Most of the functions are still there, it will just require a little different way of doing them. (No weekends only button, but you can still select the specific weekend days, etc.)

 

[sweptback]

You are right. The company doesn't care at all about the pilots. Everything they do is self-serving. It isn't in the best interest of the company at all to do things to keep the pilot group happy. In fact, I can't believe they would give us Sked+ since it is better than Flica. $25k a month is a small price to pay to keep the pilots down!

Come on. There are no conspiracies, and not everything is a pure $ calculation. It wasn't just by accident that the software is better than Flica.

The crew-bid software has less flexibility in the near-term, but over time there will be improvements. Most of the functions are still there, it will just require a little different way of doing them. (No weekends only button, but you can still select the specific weekend days, etc.)

Actually $25k per month is a lot of money. I'm grateful that the company chose to build their own system that costs nothing on a recurring basis, rather than continue to pay $25k a month to Flica and potentially come to the pilots for concessions. Like I said, some things can be a win-win.

There are a few advantages in Sked+ from what I can tell -- how the info is displayed (in a calendar view rather than a list) and that it will award trips automatically without human intervention. Flica would do that too, but it probably would cost more and the company never turned it on (most airlines that used Flica had a much more advanced version than what we had).

I haven't seen the new bidding program (it sounds like you have) so I'll withhold my comments until I play with it next month. I've heard from some union folks that it's functional but not as advanced as Flica. We'll see.