Live Smartpref overated?

[Clutch]

Wait, so there are still two "potential new pieces of contractual flying..." totaling 277ish larger regional jets? That is still a ton of potential business if Mr. Raymond James is correct. Are the remaining two the rest of the AMR RFP and UAL regional re-fleeting?

The Delta deal with Pinnacle made sense because Delta wanted to park 50-seaters but still keep Pinnacle in the DCI portfolio (at cut rate prices) to promote competition. The AA/Republic deal makes sense because Republic has an active E-Jet program and is an established American Connection/Eagle partner (Chautauqua). Hopefully SKYW, Inc is still a serious contender for the remaining potential business, wherever that might be.

According to quadruple 7 forever, the company will dismiss any offers at new flying because our pilot groups are in a pissing match.

 

[Oakum_Boy]

Didn't stop Bedford. It's a load of Irish Malarkey.

UA Express is a below-average product, but my bet is they might just opt to step it up and get some competitive airframe types (which Skywest is apparently in no way capable of operating?) AA just indicated the -700 isn't their cup of tea anymore

 

[Pilot Hopeful]

Flight line globalizes in a different way. It may honor your seniority but it certainly changes everyone's lines subjectively by humans in order to come to a viable solution.

I'm curious: What do you mean by this? I know of no globalizing in the FlightLine product.

 

[Tarzan]

Funny. Republic is in negotiations that aren't going well. How did they get 53 planes?

 

[777forever]

Wait, so there are still two "potential new pieces of contractual flying..." totaling 277ish larger regional jets? That is still a ton of potential business if Mr. Raymond James is correct. Are the remaining two the rest of the AMR RFP and UAL regional re-fleeting?

The Delta deal with Pinnacle made sense because Delta wanted to park 50-seaters but still keep Pinnacle in the DCI portfolio (at cut rate prices) to promote competition. The AA/Republic deal makes sense because Republic has an active E-Jet program and is an established American Connection/Eagle partner (Chautauqua). Hopefully SKYW, Inc is still a serious contender for the remaining potential business, wherever that might be.

Maybe, but all indications show not anytime soon. XJT and Skywest have all but stopped hiring. Meanwhile Eagle is hiring 600+, and RAH 800+

Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk 2

 

[Nevets]

I'm curious: What do you mean by this? I know of no globalizing in the FlightLine product.

Ok, globalizing is the wrong word. My only point in the smartpref versus flight line debate is that both may change your final schedule to something better or worse than what you had before. In smartpref, it's transparent. It will change the line only of those in the constrained group with neutral pairings first. But you see the change in your line as it happens if you chose to look. In flight line, it's a blind bid. When it closes, you have no idea what the initial run gave you. Humans subjectively change your line (and everyone else's) multiple times by manipulating the threshold, unstacking, etc, until they come to an agreement that its best for everyone (collectively and not seniority/individually).

To me, it's not that much different than smartpref except that in smartpref the parameters are set, you can see them at all times and cannot be manipulated by any subjective human during or after the bid window closes, and if you choose, you can see if your line changes for the worse or the better depending on what the senior people bid or change their bid, you can see who has bid, changed their bid, how long ago, how many have not bid, if these people are senior to you, you can see which days still have positive coverage or negative coverage, you can set your backup pairings if someone senior to you takes your current pairing, you can see what the remaining average line value needs to be, you can see if you have bid deep enough so that it doesnt run out of possible pairings you have bid,you get your line about 15 minutes after the bid closes (remember no human manipulation if they don't like your line), and I'm positive I'm missing a lot of stuff. There is plenty of information to bid with if you don't want to rely just on the live bid award. Or you can completely ignore all that information and keep bidding blindly like you do with flight line. Smartpref doesn't care.

 

[Pilot Hopeful]

In flight line, it's a blind bid. When it closes, you have no idea what the initial run gave you. Humans subjectively change your line (and everyone else's) multiple times by manipulating the threshold, unstacking, etc, until they come to an agreement that its best for everyone (collectively and not seniority/individually).

Yes, the FlightLine bid is blind, but the pilot has a number of tools available that limit---if not eliminate---any human change to the outcome once a bid is closed.

For example, suppose that, for a given month in one base, each pilot has 100 pairings from which to choose. If every pilot were to order the pairings from 1 to 100 (i.e., submitting 100 distinct pairing bids), each pilot will hold the pairings that his or her seniority allows. Any pairings awarded to senior pilots will not be available; those remaining will.

The FlightLine system does not have the option of awarding any pairing out-of-order to a junior pilot. The only time that any variance is permitted is the extent to which a pilot does not specify a preference among a given number of pairings. In reality, pilots have much more than 100 pairings from which to choose, and submitting a bid that orders every pairing into a list is not practical. This is where outside "influence" comes into play, I think.

Suppose that on a given week, the pilot has the seniority to hold any one of several, 4-day trips. If the pilot has not specifically ordered these four trips (i.e., the pilot does not have a preference for which one is assigned), then the system will assign a trip given some outside parameter (e.g., high credit, TAFB, etc.), which can change on any given bid run. But if the pilot DOES specify some order of preference, then any outside factor determined by the company or the union becomes a mute point. FlightLine must award according to pilot preference.

The pilot has other tools that limit outside influence too. The personal credit threshold (PCT) allows pilots to set a desired credit level for the month. A high PCT allows a pilot to bid and receive high credit for the month, even if the company threshold has been set lower. Similarly, a pilot desiring a low PCT will be awarded a lower credit line for the month, assuming the line falls within the credit window. A generous credit window, say 30 or more hours, affords a wide range of options within the pilot group. It is not uncommon for some pilots to credit 95 hours while others choose to fly only 70-75 hours.

Even with unstacking, the pilot has a great say in what trips are awarded. Using an unstack bid sheet, a pilot can preference every pairing that will be unstacked. The FlightLine logic does not simply award pairings at "random," unless, again, the pilot specifies no preference.

[. . .] you can see if your line changes for the worse or the better depending on what the senior people bid or change their bid, you can see who has bid, changed their bid, how long ago, how many have not bid, if these people are senior to you, you can see which days still have positive coverage or negative coverage, you can set your backup pairings if someone senior to you takes your current pairing, you can see what the remaining average line value needs to be, you can see if you have bid deep enough so that it doesnt run out of possible pairings you have bid,you get your line about 15 minutes after the bid closes.

OK, these are definitely some nice features of SmartPref, especially having a schedule so quickly after bid close! Do these statements apply to all the pilots, including the constrained group?

 

[Nevets]

Yes, the FlightLine bid is blind, but the pilot has a number of tools available that limit---if not eliminate---any human change to the outcome once a bid is closed.

For example, suppose that, for a given month in one base, each pilot has 100 pairings from which to choose. If every pilot were to order the pairings from 1 to 100 (i.e., submitting 100 distinct pairing bids), each pilot will hold the pairings that his or her seniority allows. Any pairings awarded to senior pilots will not be available; those remaining will.

The FlightLine system does not have the option of awarding any pairing out-of-order to a junior pilot. The only time that any variance is permitted is the extent to which a pilot does not specify a preference among a given number of pairings. In reality, pilots have much more than 100 pairings from which to choose, and submitting a bid that orders every pairing into a list is not practical. This is where outside "influence" comes into play, I think.

Suppose that on a given week, the pilot has the seniority to hold any one of several, 4-day trips. If the pilot has not specifically ordered these four trips (i.e., the pilot does not have a preference for which one is assigned), then the system will assign a trip given some outside parameter (e.g., high credit, TAFB, etc.), which can change on any given bid run. But if the pilot DOES specify some order of preference, then any outside factor determined by the company or the union becomes a mute point. FlightLine must award according to pilot preference.

The pilot has other tools that limit outside influence too. The personal credit threshold (PCT) allows pilots to set a desired credit level for the month. A high PCT allows a pilot to bid and receive high credit for the month, even if the company threshold has been set lower. Similarly, a pilot desiring a low PCT will be awarded a lower credit line for the month, assuming the line falls within the credit window. A generous credit window, say 30 or more hours, affords a wide range of options within the pilot group. It is not uncommon for some pilots to credit 95 hours while others choose to fly only 70-75 hours.

Even with unstacking, the pilot has a great say in what trips are awarded. Using an unstack bid sheet, a pilot can preference every pairing that will be unstacked. The FlightLine logic does not simply award pairings at "random," unless, again, the pilot specifies no preference.


OK, these are definitely some nice features of SmartPref, especially having a schedule so quickly after bid close! Do these statements apply to all the pilots, including the constrained group?

Yeah, smartpref does those things as well. It will use neutral trips to build a viable solution. For the restricted group, it will try to do that as well but the one feature that doesn't work for the constrained group is the ability to rearrange your backup trips. But everyone is able to pick their credit window as well. There are three credit windows to pick from so its not whatever the pilot wants to set.

 

[Pilot Hopeful]

It will use neutral trips to build a viable solution.

What is a "neutral trip"?

 

[Nevets]

What is a "neutral trip"?

It's just as you explained in your third and fourth paragraph.