1. Confirm your Reserve Work Block Size in Settings. The default is 3–6 — if your default is different, update it there before continuing.
2. Go to Layer Preferences and specify your bidding preferences (line preference, work block size, fly-through days, waivers).
3. Enter the appropriate activity code for any days you already know — pre-plotted activities (vacation, training, fly-through, etc.) and your Must/Prefer Off days. Click a day to focus it, then click a code in the Activity Codes panel to fill it in. Focus advances to the next day automatically — keep clicking the same code to paint a run of consecutive days.
4. Click Check Bid.

You do not have to fill in the entire month. This is the biggest change from previous versions:

• If you've entered codes for every day, Check Bid simply tells you whether the bid is legal.
• If you've only entered some of your Must/Prefer Off days (say, 4 of the 12 you're required to take), Check Bid will tell you that you haven't bid enough days off yet — and if a way to legally complete the rest of the month exists, it will offer three buttons so you can pick the kind of schedule you'd prefer: Weekends Off (maximize Saturday/Sunday days off), Long Blocks of Days Off (commuter-friendly — fewer, longer breaks), or Balanced (Short Work Blocks) (shorter, more frequent work stretches). Clicking one fills in the remaining days with a schedule that fits your bid as it stands — it may not be the only or best option, but it should work within reason. If you don't like the result, use Clear Calendar and adjust your entries, then try again.
• If no solution can be found with your current waivers, it will suggest trying one of the waiver checkboxes and checking again.
• If you've tried all the waivers and it still can't find a solution, that most likely means no legal completion exists with the days you've already locked in — you'll need to change something you've entered.
• Important: The solutions shown are a representative sample — not every possible legal schedule. The system finds up to 50 distinct solutions per style and ranks them by quality. There may be additional valid solutions beyond what is shown.
• When multiple solutions have the same primary ranking (e.g., same work block pattern), they are sorted secondarily by the most weekend days off — so among equally good schedules, the ones with Saturday/Sunday off are shown first.

Note: Days outside the contractual month are shown in dark gray.

Why do I need to enter codes for days before and after the contractual month?

Correctly bidding Reserve requires an awareness of activity in the preceding and following months. While PBS does not look forward into the following month, the Bidliner RLC only asks that you indicate any pre-plotted activity in those buffer days — transitional reserve days at month boundaries are now handled automatically by the tool and no longer need to be entered manually. However, the RLC has no visibility into what you flew or worked at the end of the preceding month. Any flying, reserve, or other activity from the prior month that could affect your work block at the start of this month should be entered in the buffer days before the contractual month start so the tool can analyze your bid correctly.

How are transitional reserve days at the start/end of the month handled?

Errors about flying or activity that spills from the prior month into the start of the contractual month, or from the end of the month into the next, have been fixed. If your Prefer Fly Through Days preference is left blank (Company Option) or set to an acceptable number, the checker will automatically fill in the appropriate transitional reserve days for you.

How is a "15" code following training (CQT/2R) handled?

Enter the full length of your training under its own code (CQT, 2R, etc.) — travel home rides along on the last day of training and doesn't need its own entry. A single "15" placed immediately after that training block is automatically recognized as the mandatory duty-free day: not duty, not prorated, and it counts toward your monthly day-off allotment. If you leave the following day open and haven't checked "Allow Single Reserve Day Off," the system will place another day off next to it so it isn't a lone single day off — only one single-day-off instance is allowed in total, whether or not it involves a training "15." Hover or focus that calendar cell to see a note confirming this.