11.11.16 – (LUS) – PBS Trainers/Holiday Bidding Guide/December Logic Change/Required Coverage/Bidding Checklist/Layer Tab/Award Tab/FABRC/FA Counts by Base ✈

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Friday, November 11, 2016

 

• PBS Trainers in the Crew Room – LUS
• Holiday Bidding Guide – LUS
• December Logic Change – LUS
• Required Coverage – LUS 
• Bidding Checklist – LUS
• Layer Tab – LUS
• Award Tab – LUS
• Flight Attendant Bidding Resource Center (FABRC) – LUS
• Flight Attendant Counts by Base – LAA/LUS

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PBS Trainers in the Crew Room – LUS

PBS trainers are available in the LUS crew rooms to assist for December bidding.

Crew room support will be available until the close of bid on November 16th at 11:00 am EST/09:00 am MST.

Holiday Bidding Guide – LUS

 PBS Holiday Bidding Guide for December

Topics Include:

• December Logic Change
• Tips for Bidding Days Off
• Required Coverage
• Examples of Holiday Bidding Strategies
• Holiday Bidding Tips for Reserves
• December Bid Q & A

December Logic Change – LUS

When the bid month contains unevenly distributed flying hours, new PBS logic has been added which will improve the system’s ability to build legal lines. December is one of the critical months in which there is more flying in the last 12 days of the month than there is in the first 18 days.

As awards are processed, the new logic will monitor the distribution of the remaining open flying. Before each award, PBS validates there will be enough flying to build full lines for all of the remaining lineholders. If the system determines that the un-awarded trips cannot build legal lines for the remaining lineholders, then PBS will begin to limit the allocation of flying in the first half of the month. 

Required Coverage – LUS 

Required Coverage (CN), also referred to as forced coverage, is a term applied to a date in a bid month that occurs when not enough Flight Attendants bid to fly on that date. PBS will allow as many Flight Attendants to be off on a particular day (whether it is a holiday or not) as possible, but will reach a point it has to start forcing coverage because it cannot finish the award with the amount of pairings that remain in open time. PBS does not consider holidays any different than the other days of the month and has to cover the trips that have been scheduled.

During the award process, PBS will continually look forward to calculate the number of duty periods on each day that have not been covered versus the remaining flight attendants who are legal to cover those positions. At that seniority and below, awarding is altered to maintain legalities and award pairings that touch the required coverage dates. If by layer 7, your pairing pools do not include enough pairings that touch a required coverage date, PBS will be forced to award from outside your layers and assign a pairing without regard for your pairing or line preferences.

Bidding Checklist – LUS

Prior to logging out of PBS, use the following bidding checklist to ensure you have completed your bid:

Layer Tab – LUS

Selecting the layer tab will display your current PBS bid. The layer tab lists all of the specific pairings, pairing properties, and line properties you have bid in each layer. If you export your standing bid, you would then view the layer tab to ensure that all of your properties exported correctly.

The layer tab allows you to easily view, edit, and adjust your entire bid. From here you also have the ability to review your pairing pools. When creating your monthly bid, the Layer Tab is the most important tab in PBS.

Use the layer tab to carefully review any possible duplications or bid-errors. For example having two different position orders in the same layer, or two different TCR’s in the same layer. Some of these bid errors will not properly update the pairing pool.

If you skip a layer all together, leaving it completely blank, PBS will create the pairing pool for the layer, by adding all of the available pairings (excluding ODAN and red-eye pairings). It will treat the skipped layer as if it was a bid layer, and it may complete your line at that point. On the other hand, if you stop bidding all together and your line cannot be completed within the layers containing bids, your award will be considered a LN award.

Award Tab – LUS

The award tab allows you to view and print your PBS bid award. The following information outlines how the award process works and how to understand your award. 

How to Read Your Award:

1. Layer – Displays the layer from which your award was completed: L1 = layer 1, L2 = layer 2, etc. However, LN = layer none which indicates your awarded line was completed outside of your seven layers.
2. Off – Total days off awarded in the bid month.
3. Credit – Total amount of credit for the bid month: awarded pairings plus any existing credit.
4. Premium – Total international premium pay awarded. 
5. Priority – Indicates which pairing pool the awarded pairing came from: P1 = layer 1 pairing pool, P2 = layer 2 pairing pool, etc. However, PN = pairing pool none which means the awarded pairing came from outside of your seven layers. Similarly CN = coverage needed, which means the pairing was awarded due to coverage needs and it came from outside of your seven layers.
6. Seat – Awarded position: if the same pairing is awarded more than once, the awarded seat/position will match the chronological order of the pairing origination dates.

PBS tries to find a feasible solution to your bid requests in layer 1. If it cannot award a complete line in layer 1, it will move to layer 2, and so on.

Award Recap:

1. Where did PBS select your pairings from?

• P1-P7: PBS was able to award your pairings from one of your seven pairing pools.
• PN: Your pairing pools did not provide PBS enough pairings that could be held at your seniority to create a legal line. PBS had to go outside of your pairing pools to find additional pairings to complete your line.
• CN: Your seniority required you to be awarded a pairing over certain days even though you requested those days off. If your day off requests were bid in all seven layers, PBS will find any pairing touching those dates to create a legal line. Like PN pairings, CN pairings do not come from any of your pairing pools. A CN pairing will be accompanied by Required Coverage Dates listed in your reason report.

2. Where did PBS finish your award?

• L1-L7: Success! PBS was able to award enough pairings that you bid for, while also satisfying your line properties. Your bidding strategy adequately provided parameters that allowed a legal line to be built.
• LN: PBS was unable to satisfy your line properties by layer 7 and forced to go outside your layers.
• There may have been enough pairings for PBS to award at your seniority in your pairing pools, but your line properties were too restrictive. PBS was unable to find a combination of those pairings to satisfy your line parameters.
• Anytime you are awarded a CN or PN pairing, your line will automatically be LN.

Flight Attendant Bidding Resource Center (FABRC) – LUS

Representatives are ready to assist! Call 480-693-8232 or 800-327-0117, option 2, 8

Flight Attendant Counts by Base – LAA/LUS

   

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