Hi, I was speaking with a neighbor who’s a pilot and he said they have about 5 days early in the month to bid on schedules for the following month.
Later in the month (once the schedule is set for the following month) it sounds like they can request any trades or drop or add flights. Does this occur on a first come first serve basis? Or does seniority help with trading/dropping/adding desired flights? Is this process similar for both major and regional airlines?
Thanks!
Ravi,
Fortunately (or not depending on your perspective) trip trades, adds or drops are done on a first come first serve basis. The only time seniority comes into play is if they need to call people in on a day off, then it’s reverse seniority OR if the airline is calling pilots for double-time then it’s by seniority.
Adam
Ravi,
This is a classic case of different airlines having very different work rules. At my airline, all trip trading is done in seniority order, up until 11 am the day prior, then it reverts to first come, first serve. Same with dropping trips.
Chris
Ravi,
My airline it’s first come first serve, but it always depends on how many pilots we have available on reserve. If the reserve pool dips below the threshold, the system won’t let you drop.
Tory
Thanks for sharing and it’s interesting to see how the airline work rules differ…
Tory, in your example, does that mean it may be easier to drop (or trade) flights in a larger pilot base - since it’s likely staffed with a higher number of reserve pilots? Or does the threshold of reserve pilots vary regardless of pilot base size? Somehow it would seem a smaller pilot base would leave a pilot with less schedule flexibility…
Actually not necessarily. If a base is smaller then it is probably because it has less routes that originate from it and therefore requires fewer line pilots and fewer reserve pilots to staff the base. Since our systems uses percentages to calculate reserve coverage, the size of the base does not always directly affect your chances of being able to drop.
Tory
Hi, a follow up question - will the system forecast the size of the reserve pool by base each month? can a pilot bid on a base by the size of the reserve pool or percentage of reserve coverage? Thanks everyone and have a happy 4th!
Ravi,
At my airline I am able to see how many regular lines and reserve lines there are available before each bid. However, I am not aware of a way to calculate what the exact reserve coverage would be though. We do, however, receive emails every month of what everyone was awarded (in seniority order). The list helps us see how close (or how far) we are from holding a line, the general size of the base and our rank within it. You could probably deduce some reserve coverage stats somehow if you needed to know that for some reason. Or you could do what I do and use a default bid, see what PBS spits back and enjoy the ride 
Tory
Ravi,
Our contract stipulates how many Reserve lines are needed based on the monthly block hours and Bid lines. They also put out 2 “practice” bids before the final bid to give you an idea where you stand.
Adam
Ravi,
At my airline the percentage of reserve coverage is generally the same from one base to the next. This information is published every month.
Chris