December '09 Bid's Award and Reason Report

(Caution: the opening paragraph includes negativity and disdain. Reader discretion is advised.)

Greetings fellow People Being Screwed (the sarcastic terminology for 'PBS'). I hope your lines are better than my own, but if you too find yourself with a ridiculous excuse for a line there is still hope. Skedplus just may get us through these dark and ominous times. Usually, I find it distasteful to complain, however there is little else to do. Still, in fulfilling the purpose of this blog, I will explain with all due respect to the company, why I was awarded these particular pairings and how I can improve for next month.

Okay! I am done with the negativity, let's get to business.

Here's my line:

At first look, my bidding severed its purpose of damage control. I wasn't awarded any layer sevens but my line isn't great by any stretch of the imagination.

0 trips from layer one.

0 trips from layer two.

1 trip from layer three.

1 trip from layer four.

2 trips from layer five.

2 trips from layer six.

My first two layers were ineffective. I could have easily condensed layers 2-4 and bid like I normally do with layers 4-7 consisting of criteria. My bidding 'TTFATL' in layer five appears to have not done any good since I was awarded two trips from my layer six, both pairings are "Christmas pairings" which I had bid for in my layer six for damage control.

Let's look at the Reason Report:

Line Constraints

You'll notice in layer four the infamous "... replace by lower layer pairings because of line constraints" and no, infamous isn't "in famous" as Chevy Chase would learn in 'The Three Amigos'.

Of course I am frustrated about this. If the PBS computer would have awarded me this trip instead of giving it to someone junior, I wouldn't be flying Christmas. I talked about Line Constraints on my third post on this blog and no doubt it is even more annoying now. After seeing this particular example I have gained a better understanding of what "Line Constraints" means. No, I haven't talked to anyone on the PBS hotline yet, but it is clear to see that I was not awarded a trip I bid for just so the computer could make me fly on both coverage days. You can see the coverage days on the Reason Report, the 25 and 26. That's why in my line award instead of being P6 under the R3672 you see C6. 'C' stand for coverage which Frank Bowling talked about in his Bid Info report this month. Truth of the matter is that, yes, I had bid for these two trips in my layer six but why the TTFATL failed completely has me stumped. I thought it would have enough pairings to build a line. It is even more baffling that the pairing that PBS removed from me was a pairing that flew on a coverage day (the 26th)!

I am beginning to think bidding criteria may be the best option for me. Especially when you see in my layer 5's reason report all the trips that I could have held. Wouldn't a combination of those have created a decent line?

More to come tomorrow after I talk with the PBS "forensics" unit. I hope they can show me the flaw here or at least a way to correct it for future bids. Before I sign off, I want to show you a few pictures that have me discouraged. A picture is worth a thousand words right?

Thanks for all you do.