Preferential Bidding - Pros & Cons

[Mkay?]

Wassup Guys/Gals -

I was under the impression that preferential bidding was a good thing. After reading a post about ACA's TA, I guess there some pay issues that are unfavorable. SO ... all you omniscient pilots out there educate away!


MKAY!

 

[saabcaptain]

I work for Chicago Express and we use a prefbid system. The "conflict" problem representing a pay cut is true. For example if in a bid line you had a trip going into the next month but for the following month you had a bid line that conflicted at some carriers you might get the higher of the two trips etc.

Prefbid is smart enough to know which days in a given month are impossible for you to work on, for example: vacation days, carry in trips, training events, etc. and will create your schedule around these days. Because naturally with this system there are no conflicts, if your contract would have offered the chance at "soft money" from bid line conflicts you would lose that extra cash.

The reality is however that a Prefbid system for 75% of the pilot group will result in improvements to your typical line and your ability to hold unique and custom schedules. This is a lifestyle improvement which can't be translated into dollars. We have found though for the bottom 25% of the seniority list it makes lifestyle issues worse as the best "stuff" and days are long gone before Prefbid gets to them when in the past a few "hand me downs" fell to even the junky lines in a bid package.

Long story short... for us Prefbid has been a mixed blessing but overall it has improved our quality of life and is here to stay. For me as a senior Captain it has resulted in ideal schedules every month with more days off.

Hope that made *some* sense.

 

[Mkay?]

Thanks for the reply. Definately cleared it up for me. I am stuck on reserve anyway, so the schedule can't get much worse if we go to preferential bidding. Fly safe!

 

[dgs]

I personally love pref bidding. As an FO I was quickly able to get the trips I wanted with the days off I wanted. As a junior Capt I'm able to get the days off I want and maybe a trip or two I ask for. June's schedule gave me exactly the days off I wanted plus some and ClassBid was very creative in providing me a productive schedule in the remaining days.

The double edge of the sword is that it will often give you exactly what you ask for, and you may not have realized what you asked for was not what you wanted until the lines come out. In other words, it takes an investment of time and energy to construct a good bid that will get you what you REALLY want. The learning curve can be very steep and you may have to bite the bullet with some ugly schedules if you screwed up your bid.

Given our commutes to JFK, many of us at JB like to bid an average 5-days on, 5-days off. That means only 3 round-trip commutes per month. Other companies that construct 7-day sequences don't give you that kind of flexibility. Some guys even try to build 2-weeks on, 2-weeks off because their commutes are VERY UGLY. That is only possible by bidding for trips with duty rigs and accepting some down time on the road and/or back at JFK between trips.

Bottom line is that pref bidding can give you some great schedules with some very productive trips. However, you have to know what you are doing if you want to use it to its fullest advantage.

 

[Skank]

One big factor to consider in Pref Bidding is how will your particular system be designed. Each system can be highly customized to produce a wide variety of schedules. At Jetblue we have fairly homogenous lines. The most senior bidder gets 17-18 days off while the junior bidders are getting 15-16 days off. The more senior guys are getting a couple of hours more productivity for the month while enjoying a day, or two more days off.

Another factor is that our contract mirrors our bidding system. We get paid time and a half for everything over 70 hours, so everyone wants to fly more than that. That's why we don't care about conflicts and all that soft time. We just try to maximize our pay with the most days off. Like DGS says, as a junior bidder you can generally expect to get the days off you need right away. Eventually you can work your preffered trips on the days you choose as you get more senior.

As good as it is, it could be equally as bad if your contract doesn't support the design of the preferences. It could also get really hard on the junior guys if the scheduling committee is made up of all senior guys, and they tend to enjoy screwing those below them.

Just some opinions, hope they help.

 

[METARzan]

Talking about the senior guys screwing those below them. I'm a little worried about pref bidding. Last week I had to endure a couple of senior captains complaining about the fact that their lines were built with a few less hours than last month. Thier solution was to furlough the bottom 100 guys. I'm not far from that.

Right now I have a pretty good schedule and I am barely holding a line. When/if pref bidding happens I am almost sure it will get worse.

Just a little paranoid pessimism from the bottom of the seniority list.