How can I be sure that my line will not change from the time I bid and the final award?

Change will occur as new bids or modified bids are being recorded and processed. Some of these changes will impact lines that are junior to them. For that reason SmartPref™ has been made available everywhere at any time. Crewmembers can review their bid as often as they wish to keep track of changes. Often you'll find something that is a positive change and take advantage of it. Also, it's important to realize that by working with real availability and using generic demands to backup specific demands; SmartPref™ will return a realistic best case and worst case scenario.

How reliable are the results predicted by SmartPref™?

SmartPref™ results are based on current and actual information available during the bidding process and becomes more and more accurate as time goes on. Would you plan a trip without consulting the latest weather forecast? SmartPref™ will always be better than existing systems, as knowing that there is fifty percent chance of rain is better than not knowing anything at all and assuming that current conditions will prevail.

Does that mean I can get a trip or a day off that was forecasted to be unavailable?

Absolutely, changes that occur above your seniority level do not necessarily impact your bid negatively. SmartPref™ does not prohibit a request that, at the time it was submitted, was deemed unavailable, to be honored in final instance. Just as in weather forecasting, the end result may be better than anticipated. In formulating a bid you can 'shoot for the moon' and, given a change in your favor, get at least partly to the moon.

What happens if everyone waits until the last moment to bid?

The assumption that crew members will wait to the 'last minute' to bid and thereby upset the predictions, does not make sense. What would a crewmember gain in waiting?

Unless you are number 1 on the seniority list, you will be subject to the choices made by crewmembers senior to you no matter what. Is it the purpose of number 1 not to inform number 2 of his choices? And for number 2 not to inform number 3, etc?

Clearly this kind of logic becomes self defeating. Presumably if there was an advantage in not divulging your bidding strategy, it would be because you expect to get better trips or better days off than you would otherwise. No argument can made to support this in a seniority scenario and in fact the contrary is true, the more everyone knows about what the other people want, the better it is for all. Because the way a crewmember bids does change from month to month.

Crewing Solutions believes that the informed bidder is the better bidder. As time goes on, the bids will come in earlier and earlier. The crew members will realize the benefits for everyone in a knowledge-based approach. In fact, we predict that at closing time, when the 'complete' solution is produced, little change will occur between the final and previous solutions. Just as weather forecasting becomes more and more accurate as time goes on, the same is true of SmartPref™.