Pointingpilot,
I am glad your friend is enjoying it.
I think the bidding might be a bit of the problem but as you know on E/F it is the same system but we don't have to deal with time changes so having seen a couple of rosters I do hope it does get sorted because having worked on world wide and E/F, I know that the way you feel after a long haul duty is totally different, to how you feel after, even a very long day, a E/F duty.
Bill is just doing a blog and in the answer to the first question, he mentions he hopes it will all settle down for Mixed Fleet crew in time.