Carmen Rostering

[warwicks]

Hi,

I was wondering what people's view of the Carmen Rostering system was. We have the option to put in "bids" to preference what we wish to have on out roster but this has led to large problems with people who are not so computer literate putting in bids which mean they end up with awful or extremely quiet rosters (as well as the more computer literate people as the system is complicated)

The bidding system also means that things such as longhaul and nightstops where everyone earns alot more money are not being shared out fairly.

I have noticed that Central Trains are going on strike due to a computerised rostering system being rolled out.

Does anybody in the airline industry on here have any thoughts or comments?

:)

[nicola_c]

I have been carmen bidding since jul 06 and can honestly say I have only had 1 roster where I feel I actually got somewhere close to what I had asked for. I am fairly computer literate and I was aware not to outbid myself or confuse the system. I have heard of other crew members who have not bidded for night stops or trips and have ended up with 14 day longhaul trips! So I have to say from my experience it doesn't really work!

[Glamgirl]

I actually really like Carmen! I've been playing with her for nearly 6 years and we have a mutual understanding. She can be temperamental at times (then again, us girls get pmt every so often). She needs tlc and a bit of gentle persuasion. I get around 75% of my bids which is more than I can expect, really. As junior crew, you can expect up to 40% satisfaction. If you have issues with Carmen, there should be someone in your scheduling department who can deal with it (in my company you can send a rosta query form to head of scheduling who will then look at it for you and explain what's going on).

I'm glad that I at least have some option as to what I bid for, instead of the old system where you got what you were given (way too many Tripoli's for my liking then). There's always rosta swaps as well, unless you're not allowed to do that kind of thing.

Keep playing with Carmen, try different things, don't give up and most of all, good luck.