PBS.....grrrrrr!

[OldTownPilot]

Well dad got his PBS award for December. PBS now officially BLOWS!

1) his 7 day vacation is ....7 days.
2) he works 11 days straight.
3) gets done the afternoon of the 23rd...good luck getting home.

This is someone that bids 14% (~60/~500)

Under the old line system he would have worked 6 days. Now he has to work 13.

[GaTechKid]

Does he fully understand the layer system?

[OldTownPilot]

Originally Posted by GaTechKid

Does he fully understand the layer system?

Its not SKW so its called "bid groups" and Yes.

And it actually would have been 8 days under the old system.

PBS good for the pilots....my rear end.

[GaTechKid]

I've never said PBS was good or bad. It's a fact that if you don't understand the software you can get screwed, so I'm wondering if your father knows the software.

[OldTownPilot]

I actually understand it more than he does and I do most of the manipulating to get what he wants.

The 11 days came because of the overlap between months. I had a "set max days per working block = 9" but I just found out that it does not look back into the previous month to determine that. So he got stuck with a 5-day HAM IRO that buts upto his vacation on the front end. He should have had a 3-day trip there but for some reason there isn't. The trip rig on that pays ~4:15 per day so the entire pairing is worth about 21 hours, and the 7:00 of DH is paid at 75%, so its more like 19, plus its a 757 trip which pays less (he has not been on a 757 since PBS started 4 months ago). He wanted to work the 6 days after his vacation the maximize the time off before x-mas. The one good thing is that he is done for the month after the 23rd.

[Maximillian_Jenius]

Originally Posted by OldTownPilot

I actually understand it more than he does and I do most of the manipulating to get what he wants.

The 11 days came because of the overlap between months. I had a "set max days per working block = 9" but I just found out that it does not look back into the previous month to determine that. So he got stuck with a 5-day HAM IRO that buts upto his vacation on the front end. He should have had a 3-day trip there but for some reason there isn't. The trip rig on that pays ~4:15 per day so the entire pairing is worth about 21 hours, and the 7:00 of DH is paid at 75%, so its more like 19, plus its a 757 trip which pays less (he has not been on a 757 since PBS started 4 months ago). He wanted to work the 6 days after his vacation the maximize the time off before x-mas. The one good thing is that he is done for the month after the 23rd.

With the 757-300's the 767-200 which I'm guessing is the other plane your dad is SIC rated in has to be about equal in pay right?

[OldTownPilot]

All 757s pay the same and all 767s pay the same. There is a blended rate for vacations and "soft" time but block time is paid different for the different types. The difference is $16/hr according to APC

In order to IRO you need a full type rating. His cert has no "SIC" rating.

[JEP]

Originally Posted by OldTownPilot

I actually understand it more than he does and I do most of the manipulating to get what he wants.

.......

Maybe Dad should be mad at you and not the PBS...

I thought these computers were supposed to makeour lives easier.

[zmiller4]

11 days straight sucks...he's got a 24hr period off in there, right?

PBS has worked out really well for me, which has really surprised me.

[OldTownPilot]

Yeah, the Europe trips get done in the afternoon, and then leave the next evening, so there is your 24, no calendar day off. Plus the HAM trip has 72 hrs over there. BAck in High school, I started playing with his bids and then open time. He despised the open time window back with the lines, and I actually enjoyed it. Plus I was halfway decent at it. A couple of years ago he bid down to get Xmas off and got 4 SNN trips and a 6-day OSL (basicly junk). He was left with 1 of the SNN trips, 1 each of GVA, CDG, MXP and ZRH, 20 more hrs of credit, the 26th off and new years in HNL.

[GaTechKid]

Is HAM Hamburg? Also, he gets 72 hours off in HAM?

[OldTownPilot]

Yes and Yes. But the problem lies in that he should not have had that trip. He wanted to work 9 days there not 11. For him 6 is enough. That trip had to be an IRO trip (DH over) because of 32/7 with the 2 previous Europe trips. The trip should have been a 3day IRO on a 767. I went through the trips awarded to junior people and made a schedule that should have passed his first realistic bid group, with all 767 flying on 3 day trips. There was also a BCN 757 trip stuck in his schedule too.

PBS alows the company to F$^( the pilots how they see fit. End of story.

[kellwolf]

The problem with our PBS is there is no support for the pilots on how the thing works. It's like the grand mystery and don't ask them man behind the curtain. He doesn't know anyway. Basically, you screw with your bid until it accidentally comes out the way you want, then you can't figure out how you did it, but if you leave it the way you did you won't get the same thing the next month. Ours' has three separate bids: a standing bid for lines, a reserve bid and a CDO bid. Right now, under the PBS test system, my seniority will only hold a reserve line. Yet, the ONLY option I have is "no more than 5 days consecutive" set to the highest level, yet EVERY month I get 6 on/2 off. Everyone around me in seniority, right up to the highest seniority person on reserve, gets the same thing. Yet, under the current bid line system, I can hold weekends off on reserve. The FAs went live with PBS in Sept, and I saw some senior FAs CRYING because they only got 10 days off that month. It really hasn't gotten better since.

There is no manual, sample bids or any sort of training provided. I don't know if PCL didn't want to pay for it or it just doesn't exist, but the method of figuring out how the thing works isn't very conducive to one's mental state of being....