Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler - Real World Pilot Assignments?

Delta Virtual Airlines Water Cooler \| Airline Operations \| Real World Pilot Assignments?
DVA1677 Captain, MD-88 Joined on May 16 2004 Online Nine Century Millennium Club Kansas City, MO USA 1,036 legs, 2,006.7 hours 964 legs, 1,869.5 hours online 797 legs, 1,632.7 hours ACARS	Posted onPost created on May 17 2012 12:16 ET by Rob Wadley
	Let's say I'm a real world Captain/FO for Dellta based out of Atlanta on the 757 (which I am not, I'm a humble mx technician in the AF) how do pilot assignments work? I've read a lot about aviation, but don't think I've ever come across it. Would I show up to work and my boss says, "you're going to fly flght #### to Orlando and flight #### back and see ya tommorrow. Do you stick to that aircraft? Do you change planes? Is it like baseball where you would be on a road trip for a week on a set schedule, flying across the country? If you were based out of Boston and flew the A319, would you do shuttle runs to New York and back 8 times a day 5 times a week? Just wondering if anybody is in the know about real world airline operations from the perspective of a pilot on a day to day basis.
DVA8752 Captain, B767-300 Joined on January 01 2010 50 State Club Triple Century Club Sedalia, CO 338 legs, 1,236.8 hours 31 legs, 181.3 hours online 37 legs, 232.7 hours ACARS 2 legs, 8.4 hours event	Posted onPost created on May 17 2012 13:14 ET by Brandon Howell
	RW pilots have a bid system where they bid on the flights they want. Seniority determines who gets what they want. The number of flights and the length of a trip is always changing.
DVA1763 Senior Captain, B757-200 Joined on June 29 2004 Everett 250 Club Online Six Century Club Seven Century Club DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary Oklahoma City, OK 723 legs, 2,015.0 hours 645 legs, 1,824.0 hours online 585 legs, 1,608.7 hours ACARS 10 legs, 44.8 hours event 740 legs, 2,044.9 hours total	Posted onPost created on May 17 2012 15:23 ET by Steve Pickle
	Answer: It depends. Different airlines have different things. One option is Preferential Bidding System, or PBS. You can read about that here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferential_bidding_system http://aos.us/WhatIsPBS.html PBS sucks for anyone not a really senior captain in the base of their choice. Vacation days are cut, it really takes all of the "pilot selection" out of bidding. You just enter your preferences into the system, and it spits out trips for you. No bueno. I've never spoken with a pilot who likes it. Then, there's the more traditional bidding system, with "bid packets" The basic gist of the traditional system is.. -The schedulers create "lines" for each base. These lines are for the whole month and include a wide range of trips from day trips (i.e. ATL-VPS-ATL-HSV-ATL all in one day) to long four day trips where the pilot is away from base for four days before the trip ends. -Pilots then bid on these lines. They basically say "I want line ATL7498, ATL8473, and ATL4758" -Then, BASED ON SENIORITY, they'll get the first available line. This is why seniority is so important in the airlines. The more senior you are, the better lines you can bid, thence the better your quality of life. The same system applies when wanting to switch aircraft or base. If you can "hold a line" at that base in that aircraft, you bid it. There's a lot more that goes into that, but I'll let one of the resident airline guys go into that. Keep in mind that for the first 2 years of flying for a regional/major airline, pilots are not senior enough to even hold a line. Meaning, they don't get to bid. They get stuck with either long or short reserve out of their base. It sucks. EDIT: sorry this post is so unorganized, I kind of just threw this together while waiting in the airport for my CFI to get here.
DVA1677 Captain, MD-88 Joined on May 16 2004 Online Nine Century Millennium Club Kansas City, MO USA 1,036 legs, 2,006.7 hours 964 legs, 1,869.5 hours online 797 legs, 1,632.7 hours ACARS	Posted onPost created on May 18 2012 00:55 ET by Rob Wadley
	Don't aplogize, Steve. Exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I assumed there was some kind of bidding system in place, but really didn't know how it worked. Thanks!

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