If you have yet to start your bid you aren't alone. Although, with only two days left, if you don't at least have game plan yet, light a fire under it! So let's talk about strategy for a moment. Before I begin bidding, I need to answer a few questions to determine how I bid.
- What type of trips do I want?
- Do I want weekends off?
- Do I care what overnights I am awarded?
- How many hours do I want to work?
- Am I senior enough to be awarded what I bid for?
- What other preferences do I have?
After answering those questions you will begin to see a basic outline of how your bid should look. Most of those questions are self explanatory so I won't go into detail. For me, I need to fly a lot. Pay is my priority. The highest credit on the longest trips ensure that I get paid efficiently.
Now, COS is a unique domicile. It is small. PBS is better designed for large domiciles (in my opinion) and this defect requires us to be pairing oriented. In other words, bidding by criteria is not as effective as bidding for individual trips in the case of small domicile. Example. Say you want trips that have a BUR overnight (see pictures below).
There are only 6 trips (including and FF) that overnight in BUR. Unless you are extremely junior, you would be better off adding these trips by the pairing number, rather than devoting an entire layer bidding for BUR trips. In small domiciles, it pays to look at and bid by the pairings. As I mentioned in a previous post we have 412 pairings (FA and FF) in COS. COS's bid package average is an "A" meaning we'll be awarded 78-82 hours on average. And the RSR bid info report is out! Here it is:
"DEN/COS RSR Report for November 2009
Sa wat dii krap Colorado Crews! That's Thai for hello. I just came back from nine days of vacation in Thailand and it was a lot of fun. Trip report according to my wife and I: the food was great, the weather was warm, and the massages were cheap! Flying business class on United and Delta made the long flights easier, but adjusting to changing that many time zones has been challenging. If you are interested in travel to Thailand, then send an email and I'll give you all the info I got.
Back to the report for NOV. I'm going to try a new format for the report. First a summary of the “big picture” for the company and then I'll break in down into separate sections for DEN and COS with highlights of the pairings. Let me know what is/is not useful and I'll keep trying to improve future reports.
Big Picture: Two schedule changes by United and Delta on different days, so every week will be different. LAX, SFO, SLC, SBA got more flying than the month before. PSP, FAT, ATL, MKE, ORD got less flying than the previous month. It looks like a lot of the new/different 700 flying is due to the retirement of the 737 by United. Make sure to look at the pairings to see the monthly changes!
DEN: There is a reduction in the block hours and consequently less lines. Less FOs flying was the big change. Again there are 5 days. Everyone who got the 5 day trips must like them, because I didn't receive anything from anyone about them! While I did get emails from crews who didn't like the fact 5 days even existed, again no one sent anything after the bids came out. FAs have more reserves next month, but line holders should relatively have the same amount of credit. Trip mix is good (I think).
COS: There was a slight increase in flying for COS pilots. More locals in the 700. Capts and FOs will be busy again with one less reserve. FAs will have a dilution in flying with more on reserve. Trip mix is good (again, my opinion).
ALL FAs: Again, make sure you get help on your PBS Bid from the help desk 801-258-4541 (Ext 4541 in company network) and if you have concerns, send them to SIA CENTRAL and Larena Beal #5969.
Notice I did not mention anything about ASE. I appreciate the emails I get from ASE crews, but I am the RSR for the pilots in DEN/COS . If you have questions/concerns about the ASE lines, you should get in contact with Mark Cameron #13529 . While I'm more than happy to help answer questions for anyone who takes the time to email, I do represent the pilots of DEN/COS. Also, some of you crew members may be under the impression that I create the pairings or I have some say in what overnights DEN and COS receive. I can't take the credit/blame for the pairings. An RSR only advises the CREW PLANNERS of the types of trips (parings) they build that did/did not work well or generalize feedback from the crews about the pairings. Trust me, I would if I could have every overnight be in SAN, but I wasn't able to hold the SAN overnights in OCT...
Again, if you don't like the pairings or if you do (Thanks Quentin!) let me know! Send me an email (SWOL or scottmaclean@mail.com). Its the only way to help me help you...
Have a great week and good luck bidding,
Scott Maclean. BTW Chargers over Broncos by 7. I'll be there to either laugh or cry..."
Here are the Nuts and Bolts:
For November we have:
Here are the Nuts and Bolts:
For November we have:
213 Locals
62 Two-day trips
37 Three-day trips
100 Four-day trips
200 trips are on the CRJ-200 and 212 are on the CRJ-700.
Stats include both FA and FF positions.
The
longest layover is 33 hours 41' minutes. That trip is R3060 &
3660. The layover is in SAT which isn't bad but not what I am wanting.
The shortest layover is 8:37 hours. That trip is R3042 & 3642.
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