PBS

1. PBS • Current PBS Airlines • How scheduling works now • Where PBS fits into the Program • How does PBS work? • The implementation process

2. Airlines who use PBS • ASA (FLICA) • Republic (FLICA) • Compass (AOS) • Skywest (AOS) • Delta (NavTech) • JetBlue (NavTech) • United (AdOpt) • Continental (Carmen) • Mesaba (AdOpt) • Pinnacle (Adopt) • Comair (SBS) • GoJets (FLICA) • Mesa (NavTech) • Air Tran (FLICA) • Virgin America (FLICA) • USA 3000 (Carmen)

3. The EGL ALPA negotiators spent a number of months researching PBS. We spoke to pilot scheduling reps of airlines (ALPA and non-ALPA) who have PBS. We tried to get as much information as possible about what they hate, what they like, and why. • We also worked the Economic & Financial Analysis group of ALPA National to get their perspective on carriers who have implemented PBS. • The negotiators also spent a week listening to presentations given by NavTech, Flightline, AOS, and AdOpt.

4. PBS Vendors • NavTech • AdOpt (Kronos) • AOS • Flightline (Sabre) • Also known as FLICA • Carmen (Jeppessen) • Crewing Solutions

5. How it works now • Data retrieval from Marketing • Pairing Generation • Line Construction • Bidding Period • Awarding • Composite and Relief • Reserve • OT Window

6. This is the current process for hard line creation and bidding.

7. Reserve • Reserve lines are built to maximize coverage for transition and weekends

8. With our current system, the company’s overall reserve percentage hovers around 22%. That means 22% of our pilot group is on reserve each month. • Because of month-to-month transition and more Open Time typically being available on weekends, our current system has extreme spikes during the month. The simple chart above shows the effect PBS has on the amount of Open Time available. If the amount of Open Time is more flat, then the amount of reserves needed to cover it is also reduced. This is where the majority of the company’s savings come from.

9. Where PBS fits into the Program • PBS replaces • Hard line construction • Does not replace pairing generation process • Awarding • Composite line construction • Reserve line construction • (Note – there are no relief lines with PBS)

10. Pairing generation could continue to be done with the system we currently use or could be changed. Under PBS, the pairings will be posted each month for pilots to bid on. • What we found from our research was that all airlines where PBS is not popular have something in common: their pilot union has little or no control or input in the building of pairings or control of the PBS software. Pilot groups that like PBS all seem to have some control/input in these areas. • Some airlines have a negotiated min day protections or trip/duty rigs. Such parameters encourage efficient pairing building. Airlines without trip rigs/duty rigs or min day protections were mostly negotiated in bankruptcy or during concessionary times. • Awarding with PBS is almost immediate and only takes minutes compared to hours or days of our current process.

11. How does PBS work • Pairing construction is a separate process from PBS • Pilots enter preferences for desired monthly schedule • Carry-over and known absences are added to the pilot’s schedule prior to bidding. • PBS awards the balance of the schedule based on seniority and pilot preferences

12. There is a period allowed for people to set their parameters in the system. Preferences can vary from desired days off to check-in times. • All known absences are posted in each pilot’s schedule. This allows PBS to plot trips around them. These known absences includes training, vacation and even trips that carry over into the next month. • In most of these systems, the bidding mask has a calendar with all of those absences noted.

13. Pilots enter preferences for desired monthly schedule • A pilot may enter preferences for a wide variety of schedule characteristics • Specific sequences • Avoid specific sequences • Specific days off • Length of trips (1,2,3,4 day) • Sign in/out time • Overnight cities • Maximum days off • Maximum pay credit • Etc.

14. PBS could essentially be described as a Relief Line. With a Relief Line, pilots request what type of trip we want to fly to the transition team. We can also request specific days off, sign in times/out times etc. The difference with PBS is that it is done automatically and the system will award the requests if available in your seniority. If requested, some systems let you know if you were outbid.

15. Each preference is considered by importance • Pilots may have a default bid if they have no special preferences for any given month • This can be used if a pilot does not bid

16. Preferences are set by what you feel is most important to least important. For example, if you want weekends off then that is the first thing that PBS will look for when searching for available pairings. It will continue down the your line of preferences for what is the next most important preference and eliminate pairings that don’t meet such parameters. It will continue down the line and award from most important to least important. • Pilots may also set a default bid. If you forget to bid, the software will run the default bid. Furthermore, if you’re senior enough, that could be your bid for months at a time. WARNING: special dates might not follow within the parameters of a default bid. For example, a senior pilot might have a default bid that flies Wed, Thurs, and Fri. He/she could hold the same schedule for months, however; in this example, those parameters should be changed if the pilot wants Thanksgiving off as it always falls on a Thursday.

17. Conflicts and known absences • Current system resolves conflicts by removing flying and placing it into Open Time • PBS builds your schedule around any known absences or carry-over • Pay and flight credit for known absences are a set number of hours per day (To be negotiated)

18. Award Process • Flight credit hours from known absences plus actual flight hours must meet the minimum required line value and not exceed the maximum line value. (To be negotiated) • The total must fall within the negotiated Credit Window

19. Maximum line value is negotiated with the company. For example, a threshold could be set between 78 and 82 hours. When PBS is building a line and it reaches the set threshold, it stops plotting trips. There is a misunderstanding that PBS will “ONLY” give you min days off. That is incorrect. Some pairings are built with lots of time. After a few pairings are plotted and the system reaches the threshold, it stops. As with our current lines, some have 19 days off and others 15, or 12, etc.

20. Credit Hours Example Transition trip 8hrs 4-day 20 hour trip 3-day 15hr trip Vacation 21hrs*# RecurrentGS 12hrs*# *Values to be negotiated #The higher the credit the better

21. Known Absences are placed into the line first. In the above example we have 33 hours of known absences plus 8 hours of carry-over flying. The system will have to place a minimum of 31 hours of flying into the line in order to meet the 72 hour line min (assuming our negotiated minimum threshold were 72 hours). Over the 18 days left (30 – 7 – 3 – 2) the system will have to meet minimum line guarantee and min days off. 31 hours of flying can be accomplished pretty easily with a 4-day trip and a 3-day trip. That would leave you with a 11 days off and a 7 day vacation block for 18 total days off in a vacation month and a pay credit of 76 hours.

22. The Implementation Process • Research and Education • Choose Preferential Bidding System • Negotiate with Company • Decide testing parameters • Test in Representative Domiciles • Decide whether to implement Preferential Bidding • System Wide Implementation

23. Open Time with PBS • Some companies run their PBS to leave 0 open time, while others leave some open time. • If system is programmed to leave 0 open time, it forces flying into schedules. • Too much leftover open time can also have a negative effect • (Run “Clean”)

24. Leaving zero open times leaves no room for trip trading once awarding is over. Furthermore with this type of constraint, if the bid finishes and there is leftover Open Time, it would then go back and force this flying into schedules with less flexibility for pilots. • If a lot of open time is left, one negative effect would be to have more pilots on RSV. • If we force the system to leave too much Open Time leftover, then it could have the opposite effect of zero Open Time. The system could potentially go back through bid awards and pull flying from pilots in order to have it left over in Open Time. • Any open time could be picked up after awards close. At that point, the pilot can exceed the threshold set for PBS. • Most of the vendors recommend to let their PBS “run clean”. This means to put minimal constraints on it, such as requiring too much or too little Open Time to be left after the bid awards.

25. Research and Education • Poll Pilots for baseline and tracking? • Research competing PBS companies • Educate MEC on all aspects of the various systems • Educate Pilots on PBS • Decision Point

26. Contractual Issues • Pairing Construction • Trip/Duty Rigs/Min. Day Value • Transition • Vacation • Training • Other Credits • Reserve • Composite Lines • CDOs • How OT is governed

27. These are the areas of focus if PBS was to be implemented at American Eagle. Vacation DTS is a hot topic among pilots at Eagle, and rightfully so. DTS is a parameter that can be negotiated in many ways to allow maximum days off if a pilot has a week of vacation. • As previously stated, the airlines with an unpopular PBS were in bankruptcy or concessionary times. Therefore, the pilots groups were not able to negotiate better parameters or able to obtain seat at the table with the company when operating the system. This seems to be the reason why PBS is unpopular. PBS will run as negotiated.

28. Company Savings • Bain projected that PBS would save Eagle roughly $5 million/year • Savings come from transition, training, vacation conflicts being reduced • Most savings is from a reduction in reserve staffing • From current average of 22% down to around 10% - 14% (Mostly from the elimination of transition conflict peeks)

29. PBS is not a system that should be negotiated during times of stagnation. However, during periods of movement and hiring, it won’t put anyone out of a job. Furthermore, more pilots will be able to have a line. As previously sated, the company staffs reserves mainly for transition and weekends.

30. A Preferential Bidding System can be a big improvement for Eagle pilots

31. The opposite is true if negotiated during bankruptcy as we have learned from many airlines.