Strategic bidding
Your Bid Checklist
Yes, we know this is a hefty checklist, and we wish it didn't rival a NASA rocket launch protocol in length. However, it's our tried-and-tested method of trapping common bidding errors.
1. Verify Dashboard Accuracy
Ensure personal information (Seniority, Base, IMAX, 4 Part Bid Status, Existing Credit) is correct and factored into your plan.
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Contact your Base Planner immediately if any personal information is incorrect. You can contact them at 1-800-VIP-CREW (1-800-847-2739) or Pilot.Planner@aa.com.
Write down Lineholders Seniority % ________. This is used to calculate the number of pairings you should bid.
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100% Lineholder seniority indicates you are a “designated reserve pilot” and you should bid reserve as a backup.
Write down the Total Seniority % _______ (found beneath Total Bidders). This is the number you will use in BidGrid to check the reasonableness of your bid.
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0% seniority is an indication that you are a non-bidder.
Write down the TALV ________.
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The Targeted Average Line Value (TALV) is the midpoint of the LCW.
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If you are junior (approximately 50% or greater Lineholder seniority), do not be surprised if you receive a line award with the TALV as your Minimum Required Line Value. Junior pilots at 50% or greater seniority should take this into consideration and bid accordingly.
Write down the LCW _______ (for reference).
Write down IMAX _______ (if applicable).
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If your IMAX is less than the top of the LCW, you are IMAX limited.
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The system will award you in the range between IMAX and IMAX minus 14hrs.
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IMAX Pilots will solve in Layer None.
- Line Properties and Days Off properties will not be considered in an IMAX award solution, though we recommend you continue to bid those properties and file award challenges if they are not considered.
- IMAX logic is also understood to invoke maximize credit while adding every pairing in the package to the pilots bid.
- Line Properties and Days Off properties will not be considered in an IMAX award solution, though we recommend you continue to bid those properties and file award challenges if they are not considered.
- IMAX logic is also understood to invoke maximize credit while adding every pairing in the package to the pilots bid.
4 Part Bid Status
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A Base other than what you expect could mean you have been junior manned to be TDY to the indicated base.
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If Status is Green (less than 75 hours), FO’s will not be awarded trips to certain cities with Green captains.
Write down Existing Credit ________ .
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Sometimes Existing Credit represents a real dollar value (vacation), and sometimes existing credit is used for proration purposes to limit the amount of flying that gets awarded. An example of this would be the RT code for retirement.
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If your credit is within 5:15 of the top of the LCW you will not be awarded any flying, except perhaps a fly-through trip that has the credit going into the next month.
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If you have existing credit for vacation, we recommend you use the Vacation Pay Calculator from within the Bidliner extension to determine if you would like to bid reserve in a month when you have vacation.
Note Planner Information (if applicable):
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Default, Reserve Work Block size _______ - _______.
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Dates for contractual month _______ - _______.
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Length of contractual month (30 or 31) _______.
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Special instructions like holiday pay or changes to system operation.
2. Calculate how many pairings you should bid
Write down the number of pairings in the bid package ________ .
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Found on the Layer Tab in the upper right corner.
Write down the number of pairings you are eligible to fly ________ .
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In the Layer Tab, note the Total Pairings from Layer 1. This number is found on the Layer Tab, under the column Total Pairings in Layer 1. This number changes once entries have been made in the system, so you must note it before you have made any entries into the system.
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On a normal month with no pre-plotted activity (like training), the pairings in the bid package and the pairings you are eligible to fly should be the same.
Calculate a target number of pairings to bid using the following formula or our Planning Calculator below:
Add at least 10% to your Lineholder seniority and multiply that by the number of pairings you are eligible to fly.
Add at least 10% to your Lineholder seniority and multiply that by the number of pairings you are eligible to fly.
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Example: A pilot is 50% Lineholder seniority. There are 1000 pairings that pilot is eligible to fly. The formula for that pilot would be the following:
(.10 + .50) x 1000 = 600 pairings to bid (est. 85 per layer)
(.10 + .50) x 1000 = 600 pairings to bid (est. 85 per layer)
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We generally recommend bidding an equal number of pairings per layer. Divide your pairings by 7 to get this approximation.
Planning Calculator:
How to use the Panning Calculator Results:
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Note how many pairings you should bid.
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Note that the calculator is based on 5:15 credit per day.
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Use the output to see if more credit per day will allow you to solve in fewer days.
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Use BidGrid to test your realistic chances of success.
3. Notes about Planning Work Blocks
Things to consider:
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It is easy to bid a contradictory Work Block bid that will not solve. Example: Bidding Max Work Block of 3 days when you can only hold 4 day pairings.
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Check pre-plotted activity looking for consecutive days of duty to determine how your work block size preferences might be affected by pre-plotted activity.
Example: If you have a 6 day CQT work block, traditional understanding of PBS has stated that you would have to bid a work block size that would accommodate at least a 6 day work block. Our traditional understanding was under the impression that your entire month would have to allow up to six days of consecutive duty. Any work block bid with a maximum work block size of less than 6 days would not solve.
Example: If you have a 6 day CQT work block, traditional understanding of PBS has stated that you would have to bid a work block size that would accommodate at least a 6 day work block. Our traditional understanding was under the impression that your entire month would have to allow up to six days of consecutive duty. Any work block bid with a maximum work block size of less than 6 days would not solve.
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In March 2024 we received some information in the Helpdesk that indicated that bids with Work Blocks shorter than a longer pre-plotted work block might be respected. Unfortunately, we cannot confirm this understanding of pre-plotted work block size vs. pilots preferred work block size.
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Our best recommendation is to attempt to bid a work block of your preference but recognize the fact that it may or may not solve within your preferred constraint. We suggest you open up your Work Block sizes fairly quickly in your bid.
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Make sure your work block preferences are compatible with the pairings you can typically hold.
4. Craft your ideal month
Do a personal assessment. Answer the following questions and use the answers to craft your bidding strategy:
What days do I want off? Place the days you would like off into 3 groups:
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1) I will do anything to get a particular day off (including bidding reserve).
- Bid these days off in every Line layer and Reserve layer.
- If you cannot hold the time off on Reserve, use Avoid Reserve before any Reserve Bid that allows flying those days.
- Bid these days off in every Line layer and Reserve layer.
- If you cannot hold the time off on Reserve, use Avoid Reserve before any Reserve Bid that allows flying those days.
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2) I will compromise my preferred pairings to get these days off (but I'm not willing to bid reserve).
- Allow undesirable flying while bidding these days off.
- Allow undesirable flying while bidding these days off.
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3) I would like these days off but they are not necessary.
- My pairing choices are more important than my days off. Open these days off to flying before you allow undesirable flying.
- My pairing choices are more important than my days off. Open these days off to flying before you allow undesirable flying.
What type of flying do I prefer?
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Define what you prefer using pairings properties: Pairing Length, Layover Cities, etc.
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Define what you would like to avoid flying using pairings properties such as: Red Eye, Deep South, etc.
Prioritize the importance of your preferences and those things you want to avoid.
5. Plan your Lineholder or Reserve decision.
If your Lineholder seniority is less than 100% you are considered a Designated Lineholder and will be awarded a line if you bid accordingly.
If your Lineholder seniority is 100%, then you are a Designated Reserve pilot. You may be awarded a line, if a senior pilot bids reserve.
Below you will see suggested strategies and notes as to why you may choose a particular strategy:
If your Lineholder seniority is 100%, then you are a Designated Reserve pilot. You may be awarded a line, if a senior pilot bids reserve.
Below you will see suggested strategies and notes as to why you may choose a particular strategy:
Bid Lineholder at all cost:
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Designated Lineholders will be awarded a line as long as they do not bid any reserve lines.
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If you are a Designated Reserve pilot, bid Avoid Reserve. You must do this to be awarded a line if you are not a Designated Lineholder.
Bid Reserve at all cost:
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Bid Avoid Lineholder in your reserve preferences. This is a safety net that tells the system you want reserve even if you made a mistake in your reserve bid.
Bid Lineholder first, then bid Reserve:
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The strategy to use if you have certain days you must have off and you are a designated Lineholder but not senior enough to get any day off you wish.
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You can also use other conditions to make your decision to bid to be on reserve versus bidding to hold a line. Example: Preferred Reserve vs. a month of Red Eyes.
Bid alternating between a Line and Reserve.
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Bid the perfect lines in one or two layers.
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Bid the perfect reserve in a layer.
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Bid a compromise Line.
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Bid a compromise Reserve.
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Make your last bid a Lineholder bid.
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The last Layer your bid should be a Lineholder bid if you cannot hold off the minimum necessary days on Reserve.
Bid Reserve first, then bid Lineholder.
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Use the same back-and-forth strategy as above only bias to reserve first, then end with a reserve bid.
Once you know if and what layers you are going to bid reserve, here are 4 basic reserve strategies:
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1) Using MUST OFF to control your calendar. MUST OFF relaxing to PREFER OFF in lower layers is how most pilots bid.
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2) Weekends off, generally involves the reserve preference to waive “Block of 4 Days OFF.”
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3) Short Work Blocks to minimize long stretches of fatiguing reserve assignments. Example: Min 3, Max 3.
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4) Long Work Blocks to minimize commute and maximize longer blocks consecutive days off. Example: Min 6, Max 6.
6. Use the products below to test your bid:
BidGrid
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Input a practice bid into BidGrid and it will check to see if you are senior enough to hold your practice bid.
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BidGrid will allow you to test against certain days of the week and weekends, but because we are aggregating data, you cannot check a specific date.
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We recommend you select the bidding month of the previous year. If you look at an entire years worth of data, the runtime can be excessive.
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BidGrid will ultimately reduce the number of pairings you have to bid. We cannot estimate how many pairings you can reduce your bid by. Our best advice is to use BidGrid to refine Layers 1-6 and open up Layer 7 as a safety net.
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BidGrid looks at over 40 million segments of data. The combination of things to search for is unlimited, so if you find something that needs to be added or edited, please reach out to us and we'll do our best to address as soon as we can!
Reserve Legality Checker
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A reserve bidding simulator. Input your practice bid and the Reserve Legality Checker (RLC) will find errors in your reserve bid plan.
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We recommend you watch the video on how to use the RLC.
Once you are confident that you have a realistic plan, begin entering your bid in PBS.
7. Tips for when you enter your bid:
We highly recommend you use a personal computer to bid.
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Based on our experience, mobile device screens, like iPads or phones, are way too small for bidding. Every month we see pilots make mistakes when they accidentally tap something and don't notice it changes their bid.
Our experience has been that simple, straightforward bids generally produce better results.
While bidding you can use the Manual Plus+ to get instant refreshers on any property you hover over.
8. Pairings Bid
Start by bidding what you want, then realistically refine your bid. Finally, always have a safety net bid.
For Lineholders, it is helpful to understand PBS if you look at your bid as two separate distinct bids with a series of tiebreakers.
We recommend you bid one layer at a time.
If you modify your plan in the course of bidding, you can go back to BidGrid to check the reasonableness of your bid against historic data.
Enter Days Off on the big calendar.
Use Layer 1 as a layer where you bid everything you normally cannot hold but would love to fly.
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You may find it easier to bid random but desirable pairings specifically by bidding Pairing ID on Date or Pairing ID.
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Remember, Pairing ID on Date will not respect your big calendar preferences. However, Pairing ID will respect your calendar preferences.
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Do not mix specific AND generic bids in the same layer. This can be done, but the PBS manual recommends you not do it. I have seen many errors from pilots that elected to bid specifics and generics in the same layer.
Layer 1: Bid all of your days off and your preferred flying using pairing ID specifically.
Layer 2: Continue to bid based on the priority of preferences from your plan but begin to make compromises either in your ideal pairings or your days off.
Continue this process through Layer 7
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On average, each layer should contain 1/7 of the number of pairings you estimated that you should bid.
If there is a day you must have off, consider bidding Reserve with that day bid as a MUST OFF.
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You can place this bid in the middle of your Line bids and then continue with more Line bids which don't include your requested a day off.
Bid enough pairings with the number you calculated with the Planning Calculator.
Contrary to urban legend, there is no benefit to bidding any pairing specifically vs. generically.
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The only thing the system looks at is if a particular pairing was bid in a particular layer. Pairings that are bid specifically (by Pairing ID or Pairing ID on Date) have no greater chance of being awarded than those that are bid generically.
The System will only allow 256 entries.
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This number of 256 entries includes the Big Calendar Days Off, Pairing properties, Line properties, Days Off properties, Reserve entries, and Pairing ID’s.
9. Line Properties Bid
Use Line properties to help define what your month will look like regardless of what pairings you are awarded (Work Blocks, Credit, Waivers, etc).
Line properties are often misunderstood and are frequently underutilized.
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Most pilots focus on their pairings bid, not on their Line property bid.
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Junior pilots should consider placing their emphasis on Line properties over pairings.
Line properties that have a magenta background must be bid in layer one and they must be equal or less restrictive in each subsequent layer.
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Most Line properties and all magenta Line properties should not be bid in the last line layer. An exception to this rule is: a pilot would prefer to go on reserve and reserve layers are bid below his line.
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Bidding magenta background properties is a restrictive bid and bidding them in the last line layer may cause the system to go to Layer None “LN.”
Avoid Layer None because all Line properties and Days Off properties are ignored.
Line Construction Considerations:
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Maximize Credit: Requests a line with credit value as close to the top of the LCW as possible only from the pairings you have bid.
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Minimize TAFB: Works as the title suggests. It is a way of minimizing layover time and favoring trips that depart later and return earlier.
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Work Block Length: Sets the desired length of Work Blocks in days. Work Blocks are not the same as Pairing Lengths. Trips may be placed back to back which will create a longer Work Block.
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Start Work Block Day of the Week: Specifies the preferred day of the week for starting work blocks. ALL Work Blocks must start on the same day of the week.
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Minimum Days Off Between Work Blocks: Very powerful. Sets the minimum number of days off between work blocks. Bidding 4 to 6 will tend to compress all your flying together.
Line Construction Waivers: (these may help you solve)
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Allow Double-Up: Permits the assignment of two pairings in a single day.
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Allow Same Day Pairing: Allows the assignment of two pairings on the same day with a break between them. Required for certain flying like ODANS. Example: Land at 6:00 Rest and Depart at 22:00 on the same calendar day on a different pairing.
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Reduce Post Work Block Days Off by 1: Reduces the contractual entitlement to a minimum number days off between work blocks by 1 day. This will enable you to compress your flying and if leveraged correctly, attain more consecutive days off.
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Min Rest Between Co-Terminal: Sets the minimum rest period between pairings that end at different co-terminal airports.
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Allow Rest at Outstation: Permits rest periods to occur at outstations instead of the pilot's home base.
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Minimum Domicile Rest: Sets the minimum number of hours of rest at the pilot's home base between pairings.
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Allow Co-Terminal Mix in a Work Block: Permits the assignment of pairings with different co-terminal airports in the same Work Block.
10. Days Off Bid (tiebreakers)
Not to be confused with bidding a particular calendar day off on the big calendar, the Days Off Tab is basically a form of a tiebreaker.
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If the system can find multiple solutions it will give you the solution that represents whatever you have bid for in the Days Off Tab.
Be aware of the order of precedents listed below (which ones are most important and are awarded first). When bidding multiple properties that use the word, maximize or minimize, they are sorted by the priority listed below:
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1 Maximize Total Days Off
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2* Maximize Block of Days Off
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2* Maximize String of Days Off Start
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2* Maximize String of Days Off End
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3 Maximize Weekends Off
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4 Maximize Weekend Days Off
*Do not bid more than one of the three Priority 2 properties in any given layer. These work great.
11. Reserve Bid
If you are a Designated Lineholder, you do not need to bid reserve as a backup unless you would prefer reserve over certain lines.
If you are a Designated Reserve pilot, bid Avoid Reserve if you want a line at all cost.
Bidliner’s RLC is a tool where you can practice a reserve bid and it will check it for accuracy. It's essentially a reserve bidding simulator.
Determine the required number of reserve days off based on pre-plotted activity and the proration table. You can find this in the PBS Manual or calculated in the Reserve Legality Checker or Vacation Pay Calculator.
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What is proration? Proration is the reduction of duty days and days off based on pilots availability to operations for flying.
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There are two types of pre-plotted activity as it pertains to reserve:
1. Days that prorate: In general terms, if you are not available to operations to fly a trip, the day will prorate. Upgrade/Transition training and vacation are examples where you are not available to operations.
2. Days that do not prorate: In general terms, if you are available to operations, your days will not prorate because they are considered normal duty. CQT is an example.
1. Days that prorate: In general terms, if you are not available to operations to fly a trip, the day will prorate. Upgrade/Transition training and vacation are examples where you are not available to operations.
2. Days that do not prorate: In general terms, if you are available to operations, your days will not prorate because they are considered normal duty. CQT is an example.
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In PBS, hover over Planner Information, this will pull up Planner Information in your Bidliner Extension. You can scroll down view all the duty codes as to whether they prorate.
Select the desired reserve schedule type (Long, Short, or L-S, S-L).
Bid for "must-off" and "prefer-off dates" considering reserve coverage dates.
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Our coverage day predictor tool is coming soon. Until then, if you are junior to 50% seniority, consider weekends to be coverage dates and open up the MUST OFF on weekends in your later reserve bids.
Consider waivers to increase flexibility.
Pilots may need to bid Avoid Reserve in order to remove System Line Constraints. This is often the only way a Designated Reserve pilot can be awarded a Regular Line.
Selecting Prefer Fly Through Days 0 is a Restrictive Bid. If Fly Through Days are required to solve a legal award the layer will fail and the System will consider the next layer.
Do not bid a "Must-Off" on the last contractual day of the month and Prefer Fly Through Days in the same layer.
Final Reserve bid check:
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Bid the correct number of days.
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Bid legal work blocks, remembering work blocks look back into the previous month and forward into the next month.
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Check your reserve preferences for their appropriateness:
- In a normal month, you can only have one instance of a single day off if you selected the allow a single day off waiver check box.
- In March 2024, the PBS Helpdesk learned that the system will allow, with the waiver, two instances of a single day off provided one of those instances was a pre-plotted single day off, placed following five or six days of CQT training.
- A single day off is only a single day off if it is a stand alone day off. If it is next to vacation or a day off from the previous month, then it does not constitute a single day off.
- Make sure your Must Off days and any Work Block restrictions are congruent with each other.
- Waive First Day of Month DFP Requirement is a difficult property to understand. If in doubt, select it. For this to apply, you must have a stand alone single day off the last day of the previous month. When this is true, AA is required to award you the first day of the following month off, the month you are currently bidding. If you are willing to accept the single day off in the previous month as a stand alone single day off, you can waive your right to have the first day of the month you are bidding off.
- In a normal month, you can only have one instance of a single day off if you selected the allow a single day off waiver check box.
- In March 2024, the PBS Helpdesk learned that the system will allow, with the waiver, two instances of a single day off provided one of those instances was a pre-plotted single day off, placed following five or six days of CQT training.
- A single day off is only a single day off if it is a stand alone day off. If it is next to vacation or a day off from the previous month, then it does not constitute a single day off.
- Make sure your Must Off days and any Work Block restrictions are congruent with each other.
- Waive First Day of Month DFP Requirement is a difficult property to understand. If in doubt, select it. For this to apply, you must have a stand alone single day off the last day of the previous month. When this is true, AA is required to award you the first day of the following month off, the month you are currently bidding. If you are willing to accept the single day off in the previous month as a stand alone single day off, you can waive your right to have the first day of the month you are bidding off.
12. Final Checks
Our experience has been that simple, straightforward bids generally produce better results.
Make sure you add pairings in every layer and do not leave any Pairings by Layer count as 0.
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One exception would be if your Line properties are extremely important. You can bid most all your pairings in the first layers and then relax the Line properties as you go down hoping to solve with desired Line properties without as much concern for exactly what pairings you are awarded. This is an excellent strategy for junior pilots, and it is very rarely used.
Layer 1:
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Bid Pairings you like (we suggest bidding pairing ID on Date).
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Bid Line constraints (minimum days off, work block length, etc).
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STOP — Validate each Layer by selecting View Pairing Set (in the Layer Tab) to get a preview of what the system is going to bid for you. This is where you make sure the potential pairings reflect your intended bid.
Layers 2-5 or 6:
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Continue to add pairings to each layer by gradually relaxing restrictions in lower layers. If you don't want to relax restrictions you must delete days off.
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Relax Line constraints before Layer 7 (in most cases ).
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If the pairings are more important than Line constraints, you want to relax your Line constraints earlier in your bid. This will enable those pairings to be awarded without restrictive constraints, which may inhibit their award.
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If you want the benefits associated with Line properties, then bid more pairings earlier in your bid and hang onto the Line properties (through Layer, 5 or 6) This may enhance your final award with your preferred Line properties.
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STOP — Validate each Layer by selecting View Pairing Set (in the Layer Tab) to get a preview of what the system is going to bid for you. This is where you make sure the potential pairings reflect your intended bid.
Final Layer:
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Bid a percentage of pairings commensurate with seniority. This is what you calculated in your plan.
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STOP — Validate each Layer by selecting View Pairing Set (in the Layer Tab) to get a preview of what the system is going to bid for you. This is where you make sure the potential pairings reflect your intended bid.
If you want a Regular Line at all cost, bid Avoid Reserve in a higher layer.
If you want a Reserve Line, enter a reserve bid in a designated layer.
If you are a Designated Lineholder (less than 100% Lineholder seniority), you do not need to bid reserve as a backup.
If you want a Reserve Line at all cost, bid Avoid Lineholder.
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We recommend this, especially for pilots who have large blocks of vacation and want reserve for the pay benefit.
Consider alternating between bidding both Regular Line and Reserve to achieve specific days off schedules.
The pairing set is what gets bid, not the properties. Your bid consist of seven pairing sets each one coming from a layer.
Check for pairings by layer on the layer tab to make sure every layer has an appropriate number of pairings in it. Check for duplicate bids. This may have happened if you have a layer with no additional pairings added.
If you bid days off on the big calendar make sure your bid makes sense. Sometimes different properties can conflict with each other.
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Example: Bidding only Prefer Pairing Length 4 and Work Block length Min 3 Max 3 you will not solve in that layer.
Work Block Length: This is a Restrictive Bid. Avoid bidding this property in the lowest Regular Line layer of the bid.
Min Days off between Work Blocks: This is a Restrictive Bid. Do NOT bid this property in the lowest layer of the bid.
Target Credit Range: This is a Restrictive Bid. Do NOT bid this property in the lowest layer of the bid.
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Pilots who are IMAX limited below the LCW should not use the Target Credit Range property. The System will not consider this property if the personal IMAX limited LCW is less than the upper limit of the bid status LCW.
Do not mix specific pairing IDs with generic properties in the same layer.
Avoid bidding certain properties requiring a numeric value in the same layer that may be contradictory.
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Example: Min Average Credit per Duty Period or Max Sit Time. This may create a conflict, causing the System to use the least restrictive value of the two.
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Bid this property in the layer before undesirable flying.
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Bid this property to preserve your Line Properties with a higher layer solution.
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Do not bid this property if you are not willing to have a higher layer pairing sacrificed or traded for a lower layer pairing to facilitate a solution.
STOP — Validate each Layer by selecting View Pairing Set (in the Layer Tab) to get a preview of what the system is going to bid for you. This is where you make sure the potential pairings reflect your intended bid.
Do NOT bid Prefer Pairing Length with Line properties Pairing Mix in a Work Block.
Do NOT bid Prefer Pairing Length 1 with the following Pairing Properties, as they will remove all 1-Day pairings from that layer’s pool:
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Number of Duty Periods (greater than 1)
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Mid Pairing Report
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Mid Pairing Release
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Max First Duty Period Length
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Max Last Duty Period Length
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Prefer One Leg on First Duty Period
Last but not least, some final reminders:
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Check for any error messages or warnings.
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Do a final gut check: Can your bid solve?
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Did I bid enough pairings?
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Have I bid any restrictive Line Properties in Layer 7?
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Do Work Block properties and days off on the big calendar work together?
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Does your seniority and the available pairings accommodate your Line properties request.
Example: You are a narrow body, junior, first officer, and you bid the following.
Work Block: = Min 3 Max 3
Min Days Off Between work Blocks: = 4
This bid requires you to work 3 days on 4 days off. In a normal four week month, this would result in 12 days worked, which would require over six hours per day to get you into the typical line construction window. Given recent pairing construction, there would be no solution, except for the very senior pilots who can fly high time turns.
Example: You are a narrow body, junior, first officer, and you bid the following.
Work Block: = Min 3 Max 3
Min Days Off Between work Blocks: = 4
This bid requires you to work 3 days on 4 days off. In a normal four week month, this would result in 12 days worked, which would require over six hours per day to get you into the typical line construction window. Given recent pairing construction, there would be no solution, except for the very senior pilots who can fly high time turns.
Submit the bid before the closing deadline. 1200 DFW Base Time.