iBid
Creating your next schedule has never been faster, easier, or more powerful.

 

Searching For Those Elusive Trips
Searches are performed in iBid using intuitive building blocks called "Search Sentences". Each search sentence reads like a normal sentence but contain modifiable portions that allow you to define your search parameters.
iBid has a vast array of things to search for, from basic items such as block or credit time, to more particular things such as if the trip has deadhead legs or operates the 40 seater. With no limit to the number of search sentences you can use in a search, you can be as simple or refined as necessary to find all of the trips your looking for.

iBid can search for regular trips or cd lines (cd trips for flight attendants), and has different search criteria for each. Simply clicking the mode selector at the top of the search window
will change modes and allow you to explore other bidding posibilities all while preserving everything done in the previous mode. iBid also recognizes when its been loaded with a flight attendants bid packet and will create equipment buttons at the top of the window. Any or all of the buttons can be selected allowing the flight attendant to search for trips that operate the specific type of equipment and position their looking for.

To save even more time, iBid allows you to save the search parameters you use the most as a favorite. Favorites are made up of as many search sentence (or other favorites) as you want and are modifiable when added to the search window. This allows them to be used both as definitive search criteria or as a template with the values to be filled in later. After a favorite has been created, it can be selected from a menu (just like a web browser) and can be used alone or in conjuction with other search sentences.


Looking At The Results

The results of each search are presented in the search results window along with the number of trips found. Each trip listed shows at a glance, the trip number and layover cities of the trip and can be sorted by block and credit time, procutivity ratio, trip report and release times among others. Clicking on a trip presents you with the trip in its entirety in the trip display window, while simultaneously turning the days of the month the trip operates on green. This allows you to quickly see if a trip you're searching for is one you wish to bid for and if it operates on the days you're considering. Alternatively you can simply hold the mouse over a trip in the window or calendar for a moment and a popup window will appear showing the trip DSL.

When you find a trip you'd like to consider but want to keep searching for others, simply drag the trip from the search
results window into the scratch pad below. The trip will stay in the scratch pad until you remove it, allowing you to continue searching for other trips. The scratch pad is also a good place to organize the trips you want. By dragging and dropping the trips in the list you can rearrange them in any order you want or sort them using the same list of sort parameters found in the list of search results.

Organizing Your Schedule
iBid's calendar provides a fantastic way to organize your schedule. Trips can be dragged into or out of the calendar while the calendar protects you from possible conflicts such as 28 in 7, 1 in 7, 11 hours in domicile, etc. This leaves you free to modify and experiment to find the best schedule for that month, without having to worry if any of the changes made will cause legal ramifications.

Each calendar day can be set to represent a vacation or training day or can even display a
note reminding you of an important event or appointment. Each trip that appears in the calendar graphically represents report and release times as well as the layover city for each day. All of this allows you to see the most important information at a glance, while access to the more specific information is just a mouse click away. When you've finished making your schedule you can print the calendar to provide a schedule that's easy to read and understand by all not just those trained to read DLS's.

Analyze Your Bid

After the bids are awarded, iBid enables you to load the bid results and provides you valuable feedback that can help make your bidding more accurate, and your schedule better. With the results loaded in the SAW mode, iBid allows you to perform searches for trips just as you did before, but presents you with not only the trips but who they were awarded to. It only takes a few minutes to see if the trips (or cd lines) your bidding for are going senior or junior to you, if you need to change the types of trips you bid for, and what changes would produce the trips that are realistic to your seniority.

SAW mode can also show you all the trips the computer had to choose from when it came to your seniority, as well as allow you to search for particular lines or lines with specific attributes (to aid in a trip trade for example). And because iBid knows the trips in the bid packet and the trips that were awarded, it knows the trips that will appear in open time when the SAW opens (about 90% accurate). You will not only know what the trips will be, but you can test fit those trips against your line and ensure legality. This gives you a huge advantage over others as you can be inputing your request at the opening of the SAW while the others are just bringing up the list of trips.


Try It Risk-Free for 30 Days!

Give iBid a try free for 30 days. The full featured demo will allow you to explore iBid's amazing abilities and use them to your advantage during the next bid. Download iBid here!


"I have recommended this to just about everyone I fly with."

-Jorge Alatorre
 
Raves and Reviews:

"Love the software!  Very nice job"
- Clyde Berry

"I've been having a blast this morning using it and have already told two employees about it... I love this software"

-Elain Morris

"The new features are great! Thanks for your hard work and for listening, It's nice to see your continual improvement to the system."

-John Meyer

"I have tested iBid with my July schedule and found it to be quite a good program. I look forward to building my August schedule...It looks like quite a bit of work went into the construction of the software, great job Matt"

-Drew Levey

"Thanks for creating such a useful program. I especially thank you for creating it as a Mac interface, there's nothing better!"

-Russ Arnold

"Just wanted to say good job again on iBid. I know you put a lot of time into it and it helps me a lot as well as others. It saves me a lot of time every month."
-Dave Williams