In January '11 we have:
320 total pairings
182 on the CRJ700
138 on the CRJ200
Pairing lengths include:
102 Locals
67 Two-Day Trips
33 Three-Day Trips
112 Four-Day Trips
6 Five-Day Trips
In December '10 we had:
413 total pairings
246 on the CRJ700
167 on the CRJ200
Pairing lengths included:
195 Locals
98 Two-Day Trips
24 Three-Day Trips
96 Four-Day Trips
The addition on IAH flying is interesting and scary. If we see any bit of normalcy return it will be after February. I think MSP and IAH are little to blame, the seasonal slump is really beginning to be more and more obvious thanks to the way the airlines have responded to the recession. You can even see flight frequencies match peak travel times of the day(s). Notice the first part of January has more flying than the latter. It is just good business in my opinion and not the transition's effect. It is supply and demand over emphasized and it sucks for flight crews. I wouldn't be surprised to see the February pairings the same as January's only with the block hours lower. You won't see any 23+ hour four day trips in February, if my prediction is right. Either way all we can do is stick it out and see.
A journal by a SkyWest crew member who seeks to better himself on the Preferential Bidding System (PBS) and schedule topics. CN and PN free since 2010!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Whoa! December 11th, 2010
New year, new flying, new strategy. I just started looking at the pairings for January and I'm still geeking out. Lots of things to think about. My wife recently got a job so my strategy is going to be totally different now, bidding release/report times and fewer pairings throughout the month. This is going to get really crazy. :)
Friday, November 19, 2010
December '10 Bid's Award & Reason Report
Well, bids are out. I hope your line is better than my own. Gosh darn it, I just want to give up. Sure, one year later and my bid was a lot better but it is all in vain if I can't get what I'm trying to get. It would be easy to blame it all on seniority because that is what this whole system is supposed to be based on, but it doesn't make any sense when you look at my reason report. Not a dang bit of sense by layer 5. Today just isn't my day and I'm in a funky depression overall. Maybe I'll feel better by my 5:30am show tomorrow. Either way, a years worth of bidding, blogging, learning, and calling the PBS helpline and I'm back at square one.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Wednesday November 11th, 2010 Hodgepodge
While we wait for the bids to come out, hopefully tomorrow evening, I've found a couple things worth reading. In my last post I briefly described some of the difficulties we are currently faced with given the UA-CO merger. While I could devote an entire blog to it I'll just let the reader read what I've recently seen.
Here's a recent one that talks about logistics and labor disputes: http://www.theairlinezone.com/2010/11/opinion-70-seat-flying-out-of-continental-hubs-is-risky-2/
Here's one that discusses UA, CO and ASE: http://boardingarea.com/blogs/thingsinthesky/category/skywest/
And of course you can read the juicy, pathetic, deny-jumpseat cry babies (and the minority of courageously responsible men and women) on forums: http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/cal-ual-merger/54580-what-do-about-contract-violation-15.html
Here's a recent one that talks about logistics and labor disputes: http://www.theairlinezone.com/2010/11/opinion-70-seat-flying-out-of-continental-hubs-is-risky-2/
Here's one that discusses UA, CO and ASE: http://boardingarea.com/blogs/thingsinthesky/category/skywest/
And of course you can read the juicy, pathetic, deny-jumpseat cry babies (and the minority of courageously responsible men and women) on forums: http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/cal-ual-merger/54580-what-do-about-contract-violation-15.html
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
December '10 Bid's Strategy in Bidding and Christmas Tree:
Edit 11/17/2010 1:28PM: I should really have my wife proofread everything. It isn't 2009 for those that caught my error.
Welcome to the final month of 2010 or the bid for the last month of 2010 anyway. It has been one heck of a year. This time last year I was ready to throw in the towel with SkyWest. Now, I'm more confident that although things aren't as good as they could be it could be a lot worse. In my opinion, things are getting better. Usually with this blog I only make comments on PBS stuff (since that's what this blog is all about) but there are times when a thing comes along you just have to talk about. The United/Continental marriage has recently turned from the honeymoon phase to the... pissed off phase with Continental flight crews furious that SkyWest will be operating 700's in none other than IAH. The domicile announcement was the straw that broke the camels back and those folks are screaming mad. I wouldn't have imagined it, but one thing that always brings a group together is opposition. I've seen that recently with more and more SkyWest crews become really tight and really taking offense to it all. This year has been turbulent and I don't see any end in sight!
Now, let's talk PBS!
Last year December was one of my prototype months for this blog. I failed horribly! Like last year I am hoping for Christmas day and New Years eve off. There were two real problems with my bid last year that caused me to work both. The first way my overly restrictive bidding. I should have opened up my layers so much further than I did, especially around layers 3-6. My bids have regularly been solving around 50-60% of the pairings. The other was a terrible use of target line credit range in layer 7. Both of those issues are resolved and I'm ready for PBS to give me a better line than last year!
A year later and a year wiser. Now, usually a year's time would have one gain seniority. I've actually fallen in seniority from 58% last year to 63% this year. Not great seniority, but I'll take what I can get! Good luck everyone. I hope you have a merry Christmas and happy holidays!
Welcome to the final month of 2010 or the bid for the last month of 2010 anyway. It has been one heck of a year. This time last year I was ready to throw in the towel with SkyWest. Now, I'm more confident that although things aren't as good as they could be it could be a lot worse. In my opinion, things are getting better. Usually with this blog I only make comments on PBS stuff (since that's what this blog is all about) but there are times when a thing comes along you just have to talk about. The United/Continental marriage has recently turned from the honeymoon phase to the... pissed off phase with Continental flight crews furious that SkyWest will be operating 700's in none other than IAH. The domicile announcement was the straw that broke the camels back and those folks are screaming mad. I wouldn't have imagined it, but one thing that always brings a group together is opposition. I've seen that recently with more and more SkyWest crews become really tight and really taking offense to it all. This year has been turbulent and I don't see any end in sight!
Now, let's talk PBS!
Last year December was one of my prototype months for this blog. I failed horribly! Like last year I am hoping for Christmas day and New Years eve off. There were two real problems with my bid last year that caused me to work both. The first way my overly restrictive bidding. I should have opened up my layers so much further than I did, especially around layers 3-6. My bids have regularly been solving around 50-60% of the pairings. The other was a terrible use of target line credit range in layer 7. Both of those issues are resolved and I'm ready for PBS to give me a better line than last year!
CN Vs. PN, November 11th, 2010
***Updated for relevance 9/13/14.
Once upon a time, I was a SIA representative. I tried to involve my knowledge of PBS in what I did with SIA. Technically, I was a domicile representative but with only 9 seats in SIA the representatives all had to wear all sorts of hats beyond their title. I once submitted an article to try and explain some of the more detailed points of PBS. I'll repost that now so hopefully it will do some good on here. Bid well, sleep well.
CN vs. PN
With each season, our flying fluctuates dramatically in the amount of flying given to us by our major partners. In the winter and the summer months we are given more flying than in the spring and fall. This creates some months in which many people will see bid awards upwards beyond 90 hours and some months where reduced lines and less efficient pairings are more common. Each month our flying sees a similar fluctuation. Truly, no two months are the same. Among the many factors need to understand, that is one of the more important. It is well known that the perfect line can be very difficult to obtain especially during holiday months, but with a little education, and a little better seniority, one can come very close to being awarded an ideal line, if only for what your seniority can hold. With this article I’ll explain what CN and PN pairings are and how best to avoid them.
Once you receive your award after bidding closes, you may see some curious notations above the pairings you were awarded. CN and PN are codes that refer to why you were awarded a particular pairing just the same as P1-7 indicates the layer from which a particular pairing was awarded to you. P1, for example, would indicate you were awarded a pairing from your first layer. Similarly, the N of CN and PN refers to which layer you were awarded a pairing. Being awarded an N means that no complete line could be created within the legalities and standards, your seniority, and your bid's seven layers so the PBS software has to give you a pairing(s) outside of your bid's seven layers to complete your line. To put it into a nutshell, your bid was too restrictive for your seniority.
Contrary to popular belief, CN doesn't stand for Company Need!
After all, the company needs all the flying covered. Right? The C stands for coverage. Many factors figure in your domicile for the PBS software to identify particular dates and pairing as these priority coverage days and trips before the bids are even processed. Pre-assignments such as golden days, vacations, FMLA's, training, recurrent, and other variables can contribute to particular pairings being identified as a coverage pairing. Sometimes you may see C1-7 in your line award. C2, for example, would mean that you bid for and were awarded a pairing that the PBS software had identified as one of these coverage pairing (in this case, awarded from layers 2). Even with the masses of crew members who have been awarded vacation over holidays, coverage pairings aren't isolated to holidays only; However, the holidays are the easiest coverage days to spot since many crew members are awarded particular day or days off. The bitter truth is, CNs can in some situations be unavoidable. Particularly if you are a junior line holder in your domicile.
A PN is similar to a CN in that you bid too restrictive to allow the computer to complete your line within legalities and standards, so the PBS software moves to your N layer.
C1-7 and P1-7 are the codes in your line award for pairings you bid for and were awarded. Those pairing simply had a higher priority.
Unlike CN, PN doesn't have a particular day in mind when it is awarded, it simply means the PBS software had to assign you a pairing(s) to complete your line along with what you had already been awarded in order to meet legalities, domicile standards, and the policy. In cases where your domicile is short or long in staffing, this dynamic process kicks in as is rather noticeable. This optimization will usually drive the junior line holders in such a way that the software will cap line values or require higher than bid (or average) values.
Here is an example. If a junior line holder has been awarded four 4-day pairings by layer seven that pay an average of 20 hours (80 hours for the month) and the software requires a line of no less than 90 hours per crewmember, the software will have to award additional flying (a CN or PN) to bring up the to 90 hours for the month. The PBS software will then look for any other unassigned pairings (PN) or pairings that have a coverage priority (CN) to award to "complete" that line for domicile standards (90 hour lines). Here is a common scenario, PBS could easily give you another 4 day pairing with low credit. And since it had to complete your line in the "N" layer, it disregards every day off and preference you had. Remember, this is outside of what you bid for. In this example, you have a line with 5 four day pairings and a credit value of above 90 hours. This may be a common scenario. PBS is doing its job to coverage all the trips based upon raw seniority. The smaller the domicile, the more pronounced that dynamic process can be.
How can one prevent this? One common strategy that is encouraged is using your seventh layer as your "last resort layer". Remember, if PBS cannot complete a line with all those constraints by your seventh layer... it will then give you anything it wants. By then, PBS doesn't care that you don't like to fly with such-and-such or that you don't like '___' kind of trips. After your seventh layer, if PBS cannot complete a line within all these constraints, it is going to give you something that you didn't bid for. It will give you whatever it wants to complete your line. So, your last layer, your layer seven, becomes a very important layer. It can provide for you a safety net from being awarded something you didn't bid for. Do yourself a favor and make that seventh layer the last resort layer. Bid for lots of trips in that layer make it a real safety net from the trips you would absolutely not fly.
The reality is that PBS is a computer program that is designed to distribute all of the flying every month in every domicile and to do so while honoring seniority and while complying with legalities and while honoring company policy standards. When PBS cannot complete a line within these legalities and standards you're going to get a CNs or PNs. Makes since to bid for lots of trips.
Honestly, the only way to completely avoid CNs and PNs is to bid for 100% of to trips in your domicile. If you bid for everyone of the pairings in your domicile, there is no way that PBS could have to move to the N layer. It would find a means of creating a line, within all those standards, with no problem.
Unless you are on the cusp of a line, bidding for 100% of the trips isn't exactly bidding, right? Bidding takes you wanting certain trips or not wanting certain trips. So, bidding smarter and gain seniority in your domicile is the best way to avoid CNs and PNs in the real world. It should go without saying that bidding smarter for your seniority is vital to the process. Frank Bowlin wrote an article several months ago with the title, "PBS Gives You Seven Layers for Success". The main idea of the article was to bid better overall using your seven layers to their full potential. Better use of your layers is something that is rarely discussed. More often than not, crewmembers simply complain about their line without doing any work to improve it! A better use and understanding of PBS is crucial in maximizing the potential of your bid. Right?! Being too restrictive by layer seven (for your seniority) will always put you in harms way of CNs and PNs.
Of course, each bid is personal and it is all based on seniority, standards, legalities, and variables that fluctuate month to month. It is always recommended that you contact the PBS helpline (801) 258-4541 on the 10th-16th for more detailed and accurate assistance. Other resources include the PBS CBT on eCampus, PBS monthly bid info and FAQs, the PBS user's manual, and PBS online docs all found on SkyWest Online.
Once upon a time, I was a SIA representative. I tried to involve my knowledge of PBS in what I did with SIA. Technically, I was a domicile representative but with only 9 seats in SIA the representatives all had to wear all sorts of hats beyond their title. I once submitted an article to try and explain some of the more detailed points of PBS. I'll repost that now so hopefully it will do some good on here. Bid well, sleep well.
CN vs. PN
With each season, our flying fluctuates dramatically in the amount of flying given to us by our major partners. In the winter and the summer months we are given more flying than in the spring and fall. This creates some months in which many people will see bid awards upwards beyond 90 hours and some months where reduced lines and less efficient pairings are more common. Each month our flying sees a similar fluctuation. Truly, no two months are the same. Among the many factors need to understand, that is one of the more important. It is well known that the perfect line can be very difficult to obtain especially during holiday months, but with a little education, and a little better seniority, one can come very close to being awarded an ideal line, if only for what your seniority can hold. With this article I’ll explain what CN and PN pairings are and how best to avoid them.
Once you receive your award after bidding closes, you may see some curious notations above the pairings you were awarded. CN and PN are codes that refer to why you were awarded a particular pairing just the same as P1-7 indicates the layer from which a particular pairing was awarded to you. P1, for example, would indicate you were awarded a pairing from your first layer. Similarly, the N of CN and PN refers to which layer you were awarded a pairing. Being awarded an N means that no complete line could be created within the legalities and standards, your seniority, and your bid's seven layers so the PBS software has to give you a pairing(s) outside of your bid's seven layers to complete your line. To put it into a nutshell, your bid was too restrictive for your seniority.
Contrary to popular belief, CN doesn't stand for Company Need!
After all, the company needs all the flying covered. Right? The C stands for coverage. Many factors figure in your domicile for the PBS software to identify particular dates and pairing as these priority coverage days and trips before the bids are even processed. Pre-assignments such as golden days, vacations, FMLA's, training, recurrent, and other variables can contribute to particular pairings being identified as a coverage pairing. Sometimes you may see C1-7 in your line award. C2, for example, would mean that you bid for and were awarded a pairing that the PBS software had identified as one of these coverage pairing (in this case, awarded from layers 2). Even with the masses of crew members who have been awarded vacation over holidays, coverage pairings aren't isolated to holidays only; However, the holidays are the easiest coverage days to spot since many crew members are awarded particular day or days off. The bitter truth is, CNs can in some situations be unavoidable. Particularly if you are a junior line holder in your domicile.
A PN is similar to a CN in that you bid too restrictive to allow the computer to complete your line within legalities and standards, so the PBS software moves to your N layer.
C1-7 and P1-7 are the codes in your line award for pairings you bid for and were awarded. Those pairing simply had a higher priority.
Unlike CN, PN doesn't have a particular day in mind when it is awarded, it simply means the PBS software had to assign you a pairing(s) to complete your line along with what you had already been awarded in order to meet legalities, domicile standards, and the policy. In cases where your domicile is short or long in staffing, this dynamic process kicks in as is rather noticeable. This optimization will usually drive the junior line holders in such a way that the software will cap line values or require higher than bid (or average) values.
Here is an example. If a junior line holder has been awarded four 4-day pairings by layer seven that pay an average of 20 hours (80 hours for the month) and the software requires a line of no less than 90 hours per crewmember, the software will have to award additional flying (a CN or PN) to bring up the to 90 hours for the month. The PBS software will then look for any other unassigned pairings (PN) or pairings that have a coverage priority (CN) to award to "complete" that line for domicile standards (90 hour lines). Here is a common scenario, PBS could easily give you another 4 day pairing with low credit. And since it had to complete your line in the "N" layer, it disregards every day off and preference you had. Remember, this is outside of what you bid for. In this example, you have a line with 5 four day pairings and a credit value of above 90 hours. This may be a common scenario. PBS is doing its job to coverage all the trips based upon raw seniority. The smaller the domicile, the more pronounced that dynamic process can be.
How can one prevent this? One common strategy that is encouraged is using your seventh layer as your "last resort layer". Remember, if PBS cannot complete a line with all those constraints by your seventh layer... it will then give you anything it wants. By then, PBS doesn't care that you don't like to fly with such-and-such or that you don't like '___' kind of trips. After your seventh layer, if PBS cannot complete a line within all these constraints, it is going to give you something that you didn't bid for. It will give you whatever it wants to complete your line. So, your last layer, your layer seven, becomes a very important layer. It can provide for you a safety net from being awarded something you didn't bid for. Do yourself a favor and make that seventh layer the last resort layer. Bid for lots of trips in that layer make it a real safety net from the trips you would absolutely not fly.
Honestly, the only way to completely avoid CNs and PNs is to bid for 100% of to trips in your domicile. If you bid for everyone of the pairings in your domicile, there is no way that PBS could have to move to the N layer. It would find a means of creating a line, within all those standards, with no problem.
Unless you are on the cusp of a line, bidding for 100% of the trips isn't exactly bidding, right? Bidding takes you wanting certain trips or not wanting certain trips. So, bidding smarter and gain seniority in your domicile is the best way to avoid CNs and PNs in the real world. It should go without saying that bidding smarter for your seniority is vital to the process. Frank Bowlin wrote an article several months ago with the title, "PBS Gives You Seven Layers for Success". The main idea of the article was to bid better overall using your seven layers to their full potential. Better use of your layers is something that is rarely discussed. More often than not, crewmembers simply complain about their line without doing any work to improve it! A better use and understanding of PBS is crucial in maximizing the potential of your bid. Right?! Being too restrictive by layer seven (for your seniority) will always put you in harms way of CNs and PNs.
Of course, each bid is personal and it is all based on seniority, standards, legalities, and variables that fluctuate month to month. It is always recommended that you contact the PBS helpline (801) 258-4541 on the 10th-16th for more detailed and accurate assistance. Other resources include the PBS CBT on eCampus, PBS monthly bid info and FAQs, the PBS user's manual, and PBS online docs all found on SkyWest Online.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
December '10 Bid's Nuts and Bolts
Welcome to December (Insert scary music).
This morning I have been reviewing the pairings and formulating a strategy for my bid. So do you want to hear the good news or the bad news? Well, let's review the Nuts and Bolts first then we'll get to the craziness.
In December we have:
413 total pairings
246 on the CRJ700
167 on the CRJ200
Pairing length includes:
195 Locals
98 Two-Day Trips
24 Three-Day Trips
96 Four-Day Trips
Okay, now for the good news verses the bad news. The good news is that Jesus Christ's birthday is celebrated on the 25th of December, a holiday known as Christmas. The bad news?
11 pairings start on the 25th.
+6 pairings start on the 24th and continue in and beyond the 25th.
+4 pairings start on the 23th and continue in and beyond the 25th.
+5 four-day trips strart on the 22nd and finish on the 25th.
=25 pairings over Christmas.
What's that all mean? Like it or not, 25 of us in COS will be working on Christmas day. If we use the seniority list and the bid info to see where from the bottom of the line holders will stop (53 targeted line holders minus 25 line holders from there) that means even the 28th in COS is highly likely to be awarded or CN'ed a pairing over Christmas. That's a tough pill to swallow and to be honest, the only hope a guy like me (number 38 in COS) has of being awarded the 25th off is if lots of folks senior to me bid terribly.
Good luck, God bless, and happy birthday Jesus!
This morning I have been reviewing the pairings and formulating a strategy for my bid. So do you want to hear the good news or the bad news? Well, let's review the Nuts and Bolts first then we'll get to the craziness.
In December we have:
413 total pairings
246 on the CRJ700
167 on the CRJ200
Pairing length includes:
195 Locals
98 Two-Day Trips
24 Three-Day Trips
96 Four-Day Trips
Okay, now for the good news verses the bad news. The good news is that Jesus Christ's birthday is celebrated on the 25th of December, a holiday known as Christmas. The bad news?
11 pairings start on the 25th.
+6 pairings start on the 24th and continue in and beyond the 25th.
+4 pairings start on the 23th and continue in and beyond the 25th.
+5 four-day trips strart on the 22nd and finish on the 25th.
=25 pairings over Christmas.
What's that all mean? Like it or not, 25 of us in COS will be working on Christmas day. If we use the seniority list and the bid info to see where from the bottom of the line holders will stop (53 targeted line holders minus 25 line holders from there) that means even the 28th in COS is highly likely to be awarded or CN'ed a pairing over Christmas. That's a tough pill to swallow and to be honest, the only hope a guy like me (number 38 in COS) has of being awarded the 25th off is if lots of folks senior to me bid terribly.
Good luck, God bless, and happy birthday Jesus!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
November '10 Bid's Award & Reason Report
What the...!? That didn't turn out the way I had anticipated. While it would be easy to blame this on shenanigans, I know that this (should be) my fault. I can't help but wonder if I'm just bidding too restrictively.
 |
| 3 CN's? I've never had that many. |
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
It's 9:00AM, Do You Know Where Your Bid Is? November 19th, 2010
Good luck everyone!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
November '10 Bid's Strategy in Bidding and Christmas Tree:
Each month I offer my Strategy in Bidding and Christmas Tree. Both are necessary to determine how one should bid in a given month. For me, it takes a more critical look to determine I'm doing everything right. I have a friend of mine here in COS that realized earlier in the week that she had completed her bid without thinking about Thanksgiving or her Anniversary. Thankfully she caught it well before the 17th, but that is the sort of thing that happens. We forget about important events and plans easily, so taking a closer look is critical.
For the first time in my 4 years and 5 months at SkyWest, I've been awarded vacation time over a holiday. No working Thanksgiving for me! That makes my bid so easy. On top of that, we don't have a SIA meeting during Novemeber, it's scheduled for the first part of December so my bid just got real, real easy.
For the first time in my 4 years and 5 months at SkyWest, I've been awarded vacation time over a holiday. No working Thanksgiving for me! That makes my bid so easy. On top of that, we don't have a SIA meeting during Novemeber, it's scheduled for the first part of December so my bid just got real, real easy.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
November '10 Bid's Nuts and Bolts
Welcome to the Holidays!
Or should I say beware? Like it or not, it is that time of year again and I don't even have to say just how important your bid is. We all know that if there were ever a month to have a perfect line, it's in November and December. So If you're wondering about Colorado Springs, you've come to the right place
Or should I say beware? Like it or not, it is that time of year again and I don't even have to say just how important your bid is. We all know that if there were ever a month to have a perfect line, it's in November and December. So If you're wondering about Colorado Springs, you've come to the right place
Monday, September 20, 2010
October '10 Bid's Award & Reason Report
As you can see, I was bit by the layer 7 bug. My Strategy worked well and I avoided any CNs or PNs. The pairings were just terrible this month and I did my best to avoid the inefficient trips. I was lucky enough to be awarded decent trips. I can build on that and shape up my line with Skedplus. I may have to pick up a DEN trip, but I am confident that I can drop one or two of the layer sevens.
October '10 Bid's Strategy in Bidding and Christmas Tree
October '10 Bid's Nuts and Bolts
Sorry the Nuts and Bolts is coming out late. I was elected to SIA a while back and ever since I was my workload has really gone through the roof. I'm still flying 115 a month average too. Anyway, here goes the post.
September proved to be a record setting month for Colorado Springs. Three hundred and fifty-one pairings made for the slimmest month the domicile has seen to this journal's date. No doubt the tightest that many of us have ever seen in COS. Going into October many of us were concerned that we'd end up with yet another decrease since the fall months have historically been worse. I'm happy to say that that isn't the case, however, 394 pairings for October is hardly something to brag about. Especially with the block hours dropping by 10% as you'll read in the RSR report. I'm happy to say that our new RSR gives us a little more information than previous RSRs.
September proved to be a record setting month for Colorado Springs. Three hundred and fifty-one pairings made for the slimmest month the domicile has seen to this journal's date. No doubt the tightest that many of us have ever seen in COS. Going into October many of us were concerned that we'd end up with yet another decrease since the fall months have historically been worse. I'm happy to say that that isn't the case, however, 394 pairings for October is hardly something to brag about. Especially with the block hours dropping by 10% as you'll read in the RSR report. I'm happy to say that our new RSR gives us a little more information than previous RSRs.
DEN/COS October Bid Information
Overall, October's total block hours are down slightly from September.
Here are the details for COS:
Total CRJ (200 and 700 combined) block hours for October are 2376 vs. 2641 block hours in September - a reduction of 10%.
As far as credit distribution, the highest credit per duty period on the 200 is found in the locals, with an average of 5:51 per duty period. 2-days average 5:01, 3-days average 5:19, and 4-day pairings average 4:56 credit per duty period. Although there are fewer block hours, the credit-per-duty period is higher overall than last month.
On the 700, locals are also highest credit ratio with 5:40 per duty period. 2-days average 4:22, 3-days average 4:35, and 4-days average 4:55. Unfortunately, the 700 pairings have lower credit-per-duty periods on average – especially the 3-day trips.
In DEN:
Total CRJ (200 and 700 combined) block hours for October are 16527 vs. 17,392 block hours in September - a reduction of 5%.
Credit distribution among the CRJ200 pairings in DEN is as follows: Highest credit ratio to duty period is found in 3-day trips, with average of 5:41 per duty period. Locals average 5:40, 2-days average 5:07, and 4-days average 5:08.
On the 700, 3-day trips are also leading with 5:52 average credit per duty period. Locals average 5:26, 2-days average 4:15, and 4-days average 5:04. The 2-day trips show a very low average credit-per-duty-period ratio. Incidentally, there are 100 occurrences of such trips this month, with 33 of them paying less than 9 hours credit for the 2-day pairing.
The following is an aggregate comparison of number of trips by type for each aircraft, from last month to this month. Note that the numbers reflect occurrences of a given trip type. In other words, if a given pairing number (e.g. N1200) starts on three different dates in the bid period, that pairing would account for 3 instances of that trip type in these numbers.
Bid Package Summary for the CRJ200 for September / October:
Stnd-up
|
Local
|
2-Day
|
3-Day
|
4-Day
|
5-Day
|
Total Block
| |
COS
|
0 / 0
|
78 / 55
|
10 / 15
|
31 / 10
|
22 / 29
|
0 / 1
|
1415 / 1165
|
DEN
|
79 / 79
|
134 / 147
|
112 / 135
|
83 / 80
|
335 / 301
|
1 / 18
|
10225 / 10316
|
Bid Package Summary for the CRJ700 for September / October:
Stnd-up
|
Local
|
2-Day
|
3-Day
|
4-Day
|
5-Day
|
Total Block
| |
COS
|
0 / 0
|
25 / 68
|
42 / 54
|
10 / 7
|
28 / 13
|
0 / 0
|
1226 / 1211
|
DEN
|
80 / 84
|
96 / 44
|
64 / 100
|
36 / 43
|
245 / 199
|
0 / 0
|
7167 / 6212
|
Vijaya Tensei
DEN/COS Regional Scheduling Representative
Thursday, August 19, 2010
September '10 Bid's Award & Reason Report
There it is folks. I hope luck was on your side. Depending on where you're based you are either smiling or crying. That's a very common story and each month is 100% different than the previous. In my case, my gamble with a carry-in pairing worked. It is a good paying trip and the training pre-assignment adds just enough to give me 87 hours. I was thinking I'd be on the low end. Especially because there weren't as many efficient trips out there. I was luck enough have been awarded three high credit trips that no one under me wanted (apparently). Now for me, eight days off would be something of a miracle but it is just not something I can afford so I'll be on skedplus the 8pm MDT on the 24th going hog-wild trying to pick up another efficient trip or two.
September '10 Bid's Strategy in Bidding and Christmas Tree
So as you may have noticed, my bid wasn't as extravagant as in the past. Knowing that COS was a 'B' package month, I didn't believe that I'd be given much flying. That's one of the reasons that I wanted to keep the carry-in pairing I was awarded in August. Normally a carry-in pairing will hurt your bid but in this case it helped. When the domicile is stretched so thin any little addition to your schedule (training or carry-ins).
I also did a couple things that I usually don't do. I bid to "avoid landing at city" YQT. In the COS bid package there were about 20 trips with a 30+ hour YQT overnight. Most of those fell on Saturday. I'm sure YQT is nice and I'm sure that those flying that trip will not be disappointed but Saturdays in September-December are holy to me. That's right.
NCAA Football season is a few weeks away! These YQT trips weren't efficient and left me in another country when it came time to watch the pigskin fly. Now, I could have bid to avoid specific pairings which I did in the June Bid Strategy post, but like I mentioned in the July Bid Strategy, sometimes it is just easier to avoid the specific city rather than bid avoid some 20 specific pairings.
Monday, August 16, 2010
September '10 Bid's Nuts and Bolts
Welcome to the seasonal slump in flying. The Nuts and Bolts say it all...
In September COS has 351 total pairings. FA and FF.
141 are on the CRJ 200.
210 are on the CRJ 700.
Trip lengths for Spetember include:
128 Locals.
94 Two-day trips.
30 Three-day trips.
99 Four-day trips.
In August COS had 474 total pairings.
188 are on the CRJ 200.
286 are on the CRJ 700.
Trip lengths for August included:
250 Locals
112 Two-day trips
45 Three-day trips
112 Four-day trips
Having some eight guaranteed reserves is both a blessing and a curse. Finally, we'll be able to drop a trip. But with as little flying as we have, I can't imagine there will be lots being dropped. It is just so violent of a change that it is really hard to swallow. Several who had a line in August will be on reserve yet again. That is very demoralizing. A little better news for us is that we officially have a new SAPA RSR for DEN/COS. V. Tensei. There has always been a little discontent in having a single person represent two domiciles, especially domiciles that share so much flying. One recent RSR really made a lot of COS crews mad in telling them that if they wanted better flying they could transfer to DEN. While there is a bit of truth to it, I hope that this RSR will fight to keep some good flying in COS and not just an occasional pairing or two.
Good luck bidding and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
In September COS has 351 total pairings. FA and FF.
141 are on the CRJ 200.
210 are on the CRJ 700.
Trip lengths for Spetember include:
128 Locals.
94 Two-day trips.
30 Three-day trips.
99 Four-day trips.
In August COS had 474 total pairings.
188 are on the CRJ 200.
286 are on the CRJ 700.
Trip lengths for August included:
250 Locals
112 Two-day trips
45 Three-day trips
112 Four-day trips
Having some eight guaranteed reserves is both a blessing and a curse. Finally, we'll be able to drop a trip. But with as little flying as we have, I can't imagine there will be lots being dropped. It is just so violent of a change that it is really hard to swallow. Several who had a line in August will be on reserve yet again. That is very demoralizing. A little better news for us is that we officially have a new SAPA RSR for DEN/COS. V. Tensei. There has always been a little discontent in having a single person represent two domiciles, especially domiciles that share so much flying. One recent RSR really made a lot of COS crews mad in telling them that if they wanted better flying they could transfer to DEN. While there is a bit of truth to it, I hope that this RSR will fight to keep some good flying in COS and not just an occasional pairing or two.
Good luck bidding and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
August '10 Bid's Award & Reason Report
Here was my August line:
Nothing to really brag about. August started the downward trend of seasonal reduced flying. I got the carry-in pairing that has turned out to not be so bad. Typically I avoid carry-in pairings but with a reduction in flying I can use that to get a few extra hours for September which will be a very, very, very slow month (in comparison).
Sunday, July 11, 2010
August '10 Bid's Nuts and Bolts
July 10th began the bidding for what will be the one of the busiest month of the year for COS and the rest of the OO system. I am just now taking a look at the flying for COS this Sunday morning and I must say that I am a bit shocked. We're down to three reserves for August. That's the lowest we've ever had in COS (to my knowledge). Funny enough, we have just a couple dozen less pairings but with three of our flight attendants out for the month and with five part-timers we will be stretched rather thin and only have three reserves for August, if that many.
August should prove to be the busiest month for the year with the possible exception of December. September on the other hand will be a record decline in traffic. That's just the way the seasonal forecast is. Our industry has become completely dependent on the travel forecast. Spring and Fall tend to be the slower months for air travel where Summer and Winter tend to be the busiest. Of course it wasn't always that way and it has evolved to depend on this system since the market decline of 2008-2009.
For COS, September should be a month where we have lots of reserves. As my Father relies on the season needs of the agriculture industry in Arkansas he would be the first to say, "take it while you can get it!" I suppose we should all take the good with the bad. Whether you're like me and needing the extra flying or if you despise the heavy burden, just wait a month... it will change.
So for August we have, 51 Guaranteed, 55 Targeted, and all of three reserves. We remain a D package average with exactly the same amount of pairings that we had in December, 474.
In August we have 474 total pairings. That includes FA and FF.
188 are on the CRJ 200.
286 are on the CRJ 700.
Trip lengths for August include,
250 Locals
112 Two-day trips
45 Three-day trips
112 Four-day trips
Compared to,
In July we had 488 total pairings.
186 of those are on the CRJ 200.
302 of those are on the CRJ 700.
Trip lengths for July include
264 Locals
123 Two-day trips
20 Three-day trips
81 Four-day trips
August should prove to be the busiest month for the year with the possible exception of December. September on the other hand will be a record decline in traffic. That's just the way the seasonal forecast is. Our industry has become completely dependent on the travel forecast. Spring and Fall tend to be the slower months for air travel where Summer and Winter tend to be the busiest. Of course it wasn't always that way and it has evolved to depend on this system since the market decline of 2008-2009.
For COS, September should be a month where we have lots of reserves. As my Father relies on the season needs of the agriculture industry in Arkansas he would be the first to say, "take it while you can get it!" I suppose we should all take the good with the bad. Whether you're like me and needing the extra flying or if you despise the heavy burden, just wait a month... it will change.
So for August we have, 51 Guaranteed, 55 Targeted, and all of three reserves. We remain a D package average with exactly the same amount of pairings that we had in December, 474.
In August we have 474 total pairings. That includes FA and FF.
188 are on the CRJ 200.
286 are on the CRJ 700.
Trip lengths for August include,
250 Locals
112 Two-day trips
45 Three-day trips
112 Four-day trips
Compared to,
In July we had 488 total pairings.
186 of those are on the CRJ 200.
302 of those are on the CRJ 700.
Trip lengths for July include
264 Locals
123 Two-day trips
20 Three-day trips
81 Four-day trips
Saturday, June 19, 2010
July '10 Bid's Award & Reason Report
Probably the best line I have ever had.
Now, the "TT" or company business helps out a little. It is figured in as being worth 10 hours. But look at that! 113 hours and 11 days off! I typically try to fly 120 hours and so I'm one good local away from getting it. But this is honestly the best I have ever been awarded. I wasn't awarded any locals so my layer 4 and 5 was pretty much null and void but that doesn't hurt me! I didn't want locals anyway! I got two of the specific pairings I bid for in layer one and two. Life is swell.
Check out this Reason Report!
I must be doing something right because I managed to avoid the infamous, "Replaced due to line constraints." I mean, this is the ideal bid and award! I wish every month were like this.
Now, the "TT" or company business helps out a little. It is figured in as being worth 10 hours. But look at that! 113 hours and 11 days off! I typically try to fly 120 hours and so I'm one good local away from getting it. But this is honestly the best I have ever been awarded. I wasn't awarded any locals so my layer 4 and 5 was pretty much null and void but that doesn't hurt me! I didn't want locals anyway! I got two of the specific pairings I bid for in layer one and two. Life is swell.
Check out this Reason Report!
July '10 Bid's Strategy in Bidding and Christmas Tree
Greetings July 19th,
This past week I received my tax return. Having bought a house and being the head of household we got quite a bit back. So, like anyone else interested in helping the economy, I bought an iPad. This past week I had a four-day trip and so I brought along my iPad. It works great! I did all of my bidding on it. But I waited to get home to my Mac book before I did my posts because I haven't been able to do the cropped screen shots from my iPad.
So July's bid was one that I changed my strategy on. Like every month, your bid should take into account the monthly and seasonal changes. Looking at the Nuts and Bolts for July it was easy to see that I'd need to add locals into my bid. There were just so many of them and in order for me to be awarded a legal line without falling to my seventh layer (or worse) I would need to change the way I typically bid.
As you can see, I am not bidding to my seniority ratio. Generally that is an excellent rule of thumb but I do not because I typically bid for multi-day trips and the large majority of FA's senior to me bid for locals. It was still risky bidding for 49% in my seventh layer, but I was confident that with July being such a bountiful month I wouldn't have any problem.
I have continued to use my Standing Bid and a starting point for my bidding. My Standing Bid only contains my line properties which is what I have overlooked in the past. It wasn't pretty. I also made a slight modification to my layer three. When I was looking at the View Pairing Set for layer three, I noticed a couple of trips I didn't want to fly... at least in that layer. So the easiest way to remove them from that layer was bidding to avoid YXE.
Well, the bids are out! Time to see if my strategy worked!
This past week I received my tax return. Having bought a house and being the head of household we got quite a bit back. So, like anyone else interested in helping the economy, I bought an iPad. This past week I had a four-day trip and so I brought along my iPad. It works great! I did all of my bidding on it. But I waited to get home to my Mac book before I did my posts because I haven't been able to do the cropped screen shots from my iPad.
So July's bid was one that I changed my strategy on. Like every month, your bid should take into account the monthly and seasonal changes. Looking at the Nuts and Bolts for July it was easy to see that I'd need to add locals into my bid. There were just so many of them and in order for me to be awarded a legal line without falling to my seventh layer (or worse) I would need to change the way I typically bid.
I have continued to use my Standing Bid and a starting point for my bidding. My Standing Bid only contains my line properties which is what I have overlooked in the past. It wasn't pretty. I also made a slight modification to my layer three. When I was looking at the View Pairing Set for layer three, I noticed a couple of trips I didn't want to fly... at least in that layer. So the easiest way to remove them from that layer was bidding to avoid YXE.
Well, the bids are out! Time to see if my strategy worked!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
July '10 Bid's Nuts and Bolts
An increase in flying? Yes! Finally! But wait, there's more! COS is down to having only four reserves for July. So few of us will see less than 90 hours for July. It is crucial we all get this bid right because this situation has possibility to award lots of CN's (July 4th) and PN's. Also, it seems that the majority of the trips are averaging around 5 credit hours per duty period and under. Not exactly great in my opinion. I'd much rather have quality over quantity, but I am very happy that there will be much fewer reserve lines and some of our "cusp" flight attendants won't have to rely on their cell phones.
And sorry for my late Nut and Bolts post. I've taken some much needed vacation time and I've been rather busy with my family. It's been nice but it is time to get some work done, right? Okay! Let's get started.
So 52 Guaranteed lines, 56 targeted lines, and 4 reserves. Compared to last months 48 Guaranteed, 52 targeted, 11 reserves and a "C" package. As I said, for July we have an increase in flying. An increase just shy of one hundred pairings. It will be he most flying Colorado Springs has seen this year. In fact, it is more flying that we even had in December (474 pairings) and it is the most I have seen since I began this journal back in October.
In July we have 488 total pairings. That includes FA and FF.
186 of those are on the CRJ 200.
302 of those are on the CRJ 700.
Trip lengths for July include
264 Locals
123 Two-day trips
20 Three-day trips
81 Four-day trips
Compare that to:
398 total pairings in June
136 were on the CRJ200
262 were on the CRJ700
Pairing lengths for June include:
191 locals
82 Two-day trips
28 Three-day trips
97 Four-day trips
And sorry for my late Nut and Bolts post. I've taken some much needed vacation time and I've been rather busy with my family. It's been nice but it is time to get some work done, right? Okay! Let's get started.
In July we have 488 total pairings. That includes FA and FF.
186 of those are on the CRJ 200.
302 of those are on the CRJ 700.
Trip lengths for July include
264 Locals
123 Two-day trips
20 Three-day trips
81 Four-day trips
Compare that to:
398 total pairings in June
136 were on the CRJ200
262 were on the CRJ700
Pairing lengths for June include:
191 locals
82 Two-day trips
28 Three-day trips
97 Four-day trips
Thursday, May 20, 2010
June '10 Bid's Award & Reason Report
My strategy paid off and my award is more of what I want!
I received 104 hours of credit and 11 days off. Not exactly beautiful, but it is far better than I was expecting from June (see Juniority post)! My reason report is pretty consistent with what I am trying to accomplish too. I had two replaced/not-awarded...line constraints. And I hate line constraints. But these pairings being replaced allowed me two be awarded two more trips for more pay. Max Credit is the culprit in this situation and I could not be happier with him. In all, my bid solved at layer 5 which you can view on my Strategy post for the June bid. My layer 5 was only 21% of the total pairing pool! This would indicate that most people senior to me aren't bidding for these type of trips. Which, I didn't even include locals in my bid until layer 7 so my guess would be that the majority of folks senior to me are bidding locals and the occasional high paying multi-day trips. At this point I have a firm grasp of how to bid in my domicile although with the way things are going I, and many other, may have to transfer to DEN before too long.