Understanding the bid process [SOLVED]

[RocketRod]

OK, you can stop laughing now!

I've searched these forums on bids, bids process, bids not working, and read the documentation section. That gives me 117 or so possibilities but no answers. In real life a pilot bids a flight he wants to fly. If accepted he then fly's it and gets paid. Or at least that is my understanding of it. In phpVMS you can either enable that bided route to be available to only the bidder, or to all. I have some questions.

1. Specifically, what is the benefit of using bids?

2. How does it tie into the schedule system to enhance it?

3. How have you implemented it?

Thanks!

Rodney

[servetas]

In reality, an airline pilot cannot fly any flight he/she wants. The flights are being "assigned" to the pilot by the airline dispatch center based on his (or her) capabilities, knowledge about the aircraft, etc.

In phpvms, any pilot can bid a flight. Bidding the flight is like booking a flight. It means that he/she "says" that he/she is going to fly this specific flight. Of course, if he/she don't want to fly this flight, he/she can just remove from his/her bids. Also, bidding the flight gives your pilots the chance to access their boarding pass.

As for the other questions, personally i have not understood what do you mean exactly and what kind of information do you want.

[Colin]

The Bid process works exactly as you have explained and your understanding is correct. You can also make it so that when the pilot bids on a flight that particular schedule is disabled so only that pilot can fly it and the route cannot be flown more than once. That can be done under the local config where it says disable schedule on bid, or vice versa, I think this the aspect what your getting at ?

I would provide the code but have only just reinstalled Windows so don't have anything at the moment but someone else can probably hook you up if you need this but it's just under the core folder for the local config

[RocketRod]

In phpvms, any pilot can bid a flight. Bidding the flight is like booking a flight. It means that he/she "says" that he/she is going to fly this specific flight. Of course, if he/she don't want to fly this flight, he/she can just remove from his/her bids. Also, bidding the flight gives your pilots the chance to access their boarding pass.

Thanks for your reply servatas.

Understand what you say here. The boarding Pass is a novelty. I don't think it will get used.

As for the other questions, personally i have not understood what do you mean exactly and what kind of information do you want.

I want to know how the bidding process and the schedule system interact to a positive outcome. Does the bidding process in some way add something to the scheduling. We have been using a manual bid type process for years, and a manual PIREP system. So the Pilot requests a flight from dispatch, dispatch then gives the Pilot a Departure Release, Pilot fly's route and files PIREP, Dispatch processes it. When we get ready to move over to phpVMS and use an Acars system, then the bidding process can either be used or not. Or that is my understanding of it anyway.

[RocketRod]

The Bid process works exactly as you have explained and your understanding is correct. You can also make it so that when the pilot bids on a flight that particular schedule is disabled so only that pilot can fly it and the route cannot be flown more than once. That can be done under the local config where it says disable schedule on bid, or vice versa, I think this the aspect what your getting at ?

I would provide the code but have only just reinstalled Windows so don't have anything at the moment but someone else can probably hook you up if you need this but it's just under the core folder for the local config

Thanks! I was kind of hoping I was right. We have already disabled the lock out to prevent problems.

[servetas]

So the Pilot requests a flight from dispatch, dispatch then gives the Pilot a Departure Release

Is this being done automatically?

[RocketRod]

Is this being done automatically?

Currently, no it is not. Our entire PIREP system has been manual. While it works well, we want to use an acars system and automate what we can.

[servetas]

Ok, so you can remove the pilot briefing from public and share it with the pilot as soon as he adds the flight on his bids. Pilot briefing can include a lot of information such as metars, notams, charts, weather charts, route etc...

[RocketRod]

I have the Pilot Brief configured and working. Thanks1