Coming from the 'It's about time!" department is the announcement that from now on, your monthly bids will be awarded the same day they close.  

Apparently, Advance Schedule Planning now has a new automated bid award system called “ABIDS.” (All Bids In Da System---kidding!)

Can you folks believe that the Advance Schedule Planning staff had previously awarded monthly flight attendant lines with the assistance of AFA volunteers manually?   Rick Sebastian, Manager, Advance Schedule Planning, told Onboard Updates recently that “The manual process required teams of 6-8 people, working for three days to complete the awards."  Imagine that: A Fortune 500 company like UAL Corporation utilizing the assistance of flight attendants between trips!

Well whatever "ABIDS" is, it's certainly nice to know that we'll receive our awards the same day they close.

Kudos to United Airlines for making that possible.  That's a real good improvement.  Thanks to all who made it happen!