Doing Whatever It Takes To Hold A Line
/Each month we receive Bid Protests from FAs who are very upset that someone junior to them held a line of flying while they are stuck on Reserve. Why is this happening? Can anything be done about it?
Here’s an actual bid protest:
“PBS did not give any reasons why I wasn't awarded a line with what I requested. There is a lot of people under me that held lines, with things I didn't say no to or avoid, or asked for.”
Let’s take a look at what s/he was bidding and awarded in their reasons report:
1. Start Pairings
2. Prefer Off Nov 21, 2014, Nov 27, 2014, Nov 28, 2014, Nov 29, 2014, Nov 30,
2014, Nov 22, 2014
3. Award Pairings If All Aircraft Type C7R If Layover In ABQ, AMA, AZO, BHM, BNA,
CHS, CID, CLE, CMH, CMI, CVG, CWA, DAY, DCA, DFW, DSM, DTW, ELP, EVV, FAR, FPO, FWA, GNV, GRB, GRR, GSO, HPN, HSV, IND, JAN, LEX, LIT, LSE, MAF, MEM, MHK, MIA, MQT, MSN, OKC, ORD, ORF, RDU, RIC, ROC, RST, SDF, SGF, STL, SUX, SYR, TLH, TVC, TYS, XNA If Pairing Check-In Station LGA If Pairing Check-In Time > 09:59 If Pairing Check-Out Time < 08:01 If Pairing Length Between 3 days And 4 days
4. Award Pairings If All Aircraft Type C7R If Layover In ABQ, AMA, AZO, BHM, BNA, CHS, CID, CLE, CMH, CMI, CVG, CWA, DAY, DCA, DFW, DSM, DTW, ELP, EVV, FAR, FPO, FWA, GNV, GRB, GRR, GSO, HPN, HSV, IND, JAN, LEX, LIT, LSE, MAF, MEM, MHK, MIA, MQT, MSN, OKC, ORD, ORF, RDU, RIC, ROC, RST, SDF, SGF, STL, SUX, SYR, TLH, TVC, TYS, XNA If Pairing Check-In Station LGA If Pairing Check-In Time > 09:59 If Pairing Check-Out Time < 12:01 If Pairing Length Between 3 days And 4 days
5. Award Pairings If All Aircraft Type C7R If Layover In ABQ, AMA, AZO, BHM, BNA, CHS, CID, CLE, CMH, CMI, CVG, CWA, DAY, DCA, DFW, DSM, DTW, ELP, EVV, FAR, FPO, FWA, GNV, GRB, GRR, GSO, HPN, HSV, IND, JAN, LEX, LIT, LSE, MAF, MEM, MHK, MIA, MQT, MSN, OKC, ORD, ORF, RDU, RIC, ROC, RST, SDF, SGF, STL, SUX, SYR, TLH, TVC, TYS, XNA If Pairing Check-In Station LGA If Pairing Check-In Time > 09:59 If Pairing Check-Out Time < 08:01 If Pairing Total Credit Between 018:00 And 025:00
6. Award Pairings If All Aircraft Type C7R If Layover In ABQ, AMA, AZO, BHM, BNA, CHS, CID, CLE, CMH, CMI, CVG, CWA, DAY, DCA, DFW, DSM, DTW, ELP, EVV, FAR, FPO, FWA, GNV, GRB, GRR, GSO, HPN, HSV, IND, JAN, LEX, LIT, LSE, MAF, MEM, MHK, MIA, MQT, MSN, OKC, ORD, ORF, RDU, RIC, ROC, RST, SDF, SGF, STL, SUX, SYR, TLH, TVC, TYS, XNA If Pairing Check-In Station LGA If Pairing Check-In Time > 09:59 If Pairing Check-Out Time < 12:01 If Pairing
Total Credit Between 018:00 And 025:00
7. Award Pairings If All Aircraft Type C7R If Layover In ABQ, AMA, AZO, BHM, BNA, CHS, CID, CLE, CMH, CMI, CVG, CWA, DAY, DCA, DFW, DSM, DTW, ELP, EVV, FAR, FPO, FWA, GNV, GRB, GRR, GSO, HPN, HSV, IND, JAN, LEX, LIT, LSE, MAF, MEM, MHK, MIA, MQT, MSN, OKC, ORD, ORF, RDU, RIC, ROC, RST, SDF, SGF, STL, SUX, SYR, TLH, TVC, TYS, XNA If Pairing Check-In Station LGA If Pairing Check-In Time > 09:59 If Pairing Check-Out Time < 08:01
8. Award Pairings If All Aircraft Type C7R If Layover In ABQ, AMA, AZO, BHM, BNA, CHS, CID, CLE, CMH, CMI, CVG, CWA, DAY, DCA, DFW, DSM, DTW, ELP, EVV, FAR, FPO, FWA, GNV, GRB, GRR, GSO, HPN, HSV, IND, JAN, LEX, LIT, LSE, MAF, MEM, MHK, MIA, MQT, MSN, OKC, ORD, ORF, RDU, RIC, ROC, RST, SDF, SGF, STL, SUX, SYR, TLH, TVC, TYS, XNA If Pairing Check-In Station LGA If Pairing Check-In Time > 09:59 If Pairing Check-Out Time < 12:01
9. Award Pairings If All Aircraft Type C7R If Pairing Check-In Station LGA If Pairing Check-In Time > 09:59 If Pairing Check-Out Time < 08:01
10. Award Pairings If All Aircraft Type C7R If Pairing Check-In Station LGA If Pairing Check-In Time > 09:59 If Pairing Check-Out Time < 12:01
11. Award Pairings If Duty Legs (Counting DeadHead Legs) < 5 legs
Award Pairings
Best Line Before:
17304 2014-11-11 (017:25) (Coverage)
17339 2014-11-19 (016:59) (Coverage)
25190 2014-11-26 (015:11) (Coverage)
Total Credit: (049:35)
-------------------------
12. Start Reserve
Now, clearly this FA has put a tremendous amount of time and effort into creating a meticulous bid which meets her/his preferences. The problem is that this FA is very junior in their base and is on the cusp of holding a line or being awarded Reserve. The logic basically ignored all of her/his preferences since there was very little flying left and tried to build a line from the remaining pairings which only resulted in 49:35 hours worth of credit. 49 hours is not enough to meet the 75 hour threshold, so the logic moved on to the Reserve group and made a RSV award.
So how the heck did folks junior to her/him wind up getting a line then?
The answer is: they did whatever it took.
Here is an actual reasons report from one of the junior FAs who DID score a line from the remaining pool:
1. Start Pairings
2. Waive Minimum 2 Days Off
Honored
3. Waive No Same Day Pairings
Honored
4. Waive 1 Day Off in 7
Honored
5. Set Condition Minimum Credit
Honored
6. Prefer Off Nov 26, 2014, Nov 27, 2014, Nov 28, 2014, Nov 29, 2014, Nov 30, 2014
Partially honored
7. Prefer Off Weekends
Not used
8. Prefer Off Nov 1, 2014
Honored
9. Award Pairings If Any Aircraft Type C7R If Pairing Check-In Time > 09:30 If
Pairing Length Between 2 days And 6 days
Not used
10. Avoid Pairings If Any Aircraft Type ERD If Pairing Check-In Time < 08:55
Honored
Award Pairings
Awarded for coverage: 5
Awarded to senior bidder: 1034
Item overlaps with another: 40
Below minimum domestic rest: 1
(0 Awarded, 1080 Matching, Running total: 075:03)
Can you spot the difference? I’ve bolded the relevant bits to help make it easier to spot. This FA, who is almost 20 numbers junior, selected key waivers which allowed the logic to piece together pairings in order to make an award which otherwise could not be built due to contractual protections. S/he also was awarded "Set Condition Minimum Credit", which allowed for her/his bid to be built to a lower credit threshold.
In particular, this FA waived the minimum 2 days off and the 1 day off in 7. The resulting line award contained a stretch of 8 days in a row with the 24-hour period being in a hotel on a 30 hour overnight, but this bid returned a line when others did not.
Now, waiving contractual rights is not for everyone, so please consider your options carefully. If you are in that grey zone where you may or may not hold a line, selecting some carefully chosen waivers might just do the trick for you.