Most Pilots Never Read This
Your Reasons Report is the single most useful document PBS gives you. It tells you exactly what happened to every preference in your bid: what was honored, what was denied, and why.
Most pilots glance at their award, check the dates, and move on. They make the same mistakes month after month because they never read the one document that would tell them what to fix.
This article walks through every section of the Reasons Report, explains every status code in plain English, and gives you a repeatable process for turning last month's report into a better bid next month.
Where to Find It
Your Reasons Report lives in the NavBlue PBS portal under the Results tab, alongside your Awards. After final awards are published (typically around the 17th of the month), click "Reasons Report" to view or download the full text.
The report is plain text. No formatting, no colors, just raw data. It looks intimidating at first, but it's powerful once you know how to read it.
The Header: Your Starting Point
Every Reasons Report starts with a header block that looks like this:
Reasons Report
Period: MAR 2026
Run: ATL738B MAR26 4201 S15
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Seniority 09842 Category ATL-738-B JOHNSON 038291700
Minimum window <065:36> Threshold <085:36> Maximum window <085:36>
Shadow Periods 2026-03-02 2026-03-09
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Each line means something specific:
Period. The bid month this report covers.
Run. The build identifier. Format is {CATEGORY} {MONTH}{YY} {BUILD_NUMBER} S{SEQUENCE}. The sequence number (S20) is your processing position within the build run, not your seniority number.
Seniority / Category / Name / Employee Number. Your identification line. Verify this matches your category. If you recently transferred, make sure you're reading the right category's report.
Credit Window. The three most important numbers in the entire report:
| Field | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Minimum window | The lowest credit hours your line can have. PBS must get you at least this much. Denial mode exists to guarantee it. Calculated as ALV minus 10 hours. |
| Threshold | The target credit where PBS stops adding pairings. Set by the PBS Administrator. You never know this value in advance; it's only revealed here. |
| Maximum window | The highest credit hours your line can have. ALV plus 10 hours (capped at 91:30 for narrowbody, 92:30 for widebody). |
The Threshold Is the Key Number
The threshold tells you PBS's actual target for your line. If your final credit is near the threshold, your line was built normally. If it's well below threshold but above the minimum, you probably hit denial mode. PBS got you above the floor but couldn't reach the target with your remaining preferences.
Shadow Periods. Dates where you're eligible for shadow bidding (competing for trips in an overlapping bid period). These dates affect which pairings are available to you.
Pre-Awards: What Was Already on Your Line
Before PBS processes a single preference from your bid, certain items may already be placed on your line:
- Coverage pairings that the airline needs you to fly for staffing purposes
- Training events like CQ, recurrent training, or new equipment quals
- Vacation blocks you previously selected
Pre-awards appear in the report with a running credit total:
(2 Pre-Awarded, Running total: 018:30)
This tells you how much credit was consumed before your bid was even touched. If you have 18:30 in pre-awards and your minimum window is 065:36, PBS only needs to find 47:06 more credit from your bid preferences. Much easier than building from zero.
Coverage Changes Everything
If you see "Affected by Coverage" in your report, the airline placed trips on your line before processing your bid. These override your preferences entirely. You can't prevent coverage, but you can plan for it. See the strategy note at the end of this article.
Reading Your Bid Group Results
After the header and pre-awards, the report processes each of your bid groups in order. For every preference, you'll see the instruction text followed by a status code.
A typical bid group section looks like this:
Bid Group 1
Prefer Off Mar 15, Mar 16 → Honored
Avoid Pairings If Pairing Length = 1 Day → Honored
Award Pairings If Check-In Time > 10:00 → (3 Awarded, 12 Matching, Running total: 058:15)
Award Pairings → (1 Awarded, 47 Matching, Running total: 076:30)
Line Complete
For each preference, the report tells you:
- What you asked for. The exact preference text.
- What happened. A status code explaining the result.
- How many matched. For Award statements, how many pairings met your criteria.
- Running total. Your cumulative credit after this preference was processed.
The running total is critical. Watch how it grows as each Award statement adds pairings. If it stalls early, your earlier preferences filtered out too many trips.
See an example AI analysis.
Upload your Reasons Report and get a detailed breakdown of what worked, what didn't, and exactly how to improve next month.
Try the Reasons AnalyzerThe Status Codes: What They Mean
This is the reference table. Every status code you'll encounter, in plain English.
Normal Processing
| Code | What It Means | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Honored | Preference fully satisfied. No contradicting pairings on your line. | Nothing — this worked. |
| Partially honored | Some dates in a Prefer Off were kept clear, others weren't. PBS honored what it could. | Check which dates were contradicted. Consider if acceptable or if you need to restructure. |
| Block is complete | Your line was finished before PBS reached this preference. | Normal for lower-priority preferences. If important preferences are here, move them higher. |
| Line Complete | Terminal status — your schedule is done. | This is the good ending. |
| No Other Bids Required | PBS is satisfied with your line as-is. | Same as Line Complete — you're done. |
Seniority and Competition
| Code | What It Means | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Awarded to senior bidder: X | X pairings matched your preference but were already taken by more senior pilots. | Normal. Can't fix this — it's seniority. But check if you're competing for over-demanded trips. |
| Awarded to senior shadow bidder: X | Same as above, but the senior pilot was in a shadow bid period. | Normal for early-month trips. |
| Awarded by previous bids: X | X pairings matched but were already awarded by your own higher-priority preferences. | Your bid is working as designed — higher preferences took priority. |
| Filtered by higher bid: X | X pairings were removed from the pool by your own Avoid or Prefer Off above this preference. | This is your Avoids at work. If too many are filtered, you're over-avoiding. |
Pool and Fit Problems
| Code | What It Means | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| No pairings available | Your Avoids and Prefer Offs eliminated every pairing that could satisfy this preference. The pool is empty. | This is critical. Reduce your Avoids. This is the #1 sign of an over-restricted bid. |
| Could not build complete line with pairing | A pairing was available at your seniority, but PBS couldn't use it because it wouldn't fit with other pairings to reach the LCW minimum. | Usually a credit-math issue. The pairing exists but doesn't combine with others to hit your window. |
| Item overlaps with another: X | X pairings matched but conflict with trips already on your line. | Reorder your preferences. The overlap means a higher-priority award took those dates. |
| Beyond bid limit: X | X additional pairings matched, but you hit the Limit you set on this Award statement. | Increase the limit if you want more of these trips. |
| Over maximum credits for period | Adding this pairing would push your line above your maximum credit window. | Normal — PBS is protecting your LCW ceiling. |
Denial Mode and Fallbacks
| Code | What It Means | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Affected by Denial Mode | PBS couldn't build your line with all preferences intact. It denied one or more to complete your schedule. | Review which preferences were denied. Bid less restrictively or use CSSN to fall to your next group instead. |
| Bid denied | This specific preference was denied. Contradicting pairings are on your line. | Check what conflicted. This preference was sacrificed to build a legal line. |
| Not honored | Preference denied and contradicting pairings are on your line. | Same as "Bid denied" — the preference lost. |
| Not considered | Preference was denied but no contradicting pairings exist. It was skipped, not overridden. | Often happens after CSSN or ESN triggers. |
| Start Next Honored | ESN (Else Start Next Bid Group) triggered. PBS abandoned this bid group and moved to the next. | Check why the group failed. The preference with ESN couldn't be honored, so the whole group was scrapped. |
| Pulled during shuffle | PBS removed a pairing from your line to try a different combination. | This is NOT "given to a junior pilot." PBS pulled it from YOUR line to rearrange YOUR award. Normal optimization. |
| Impossible to reach Credit Window | With CSSN active, PBS couldn't build a line using only your Award preferences within the credit window. | Relax your CSSN restrictions or add more Award preferences to give PBS more options. |
30+
unique status codes in the NavBlue Reasons Report system
NavBlue PBS Documentation
System Overrides
| Code | What It Means | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Affected by SLG | Secondary Line Generation built your line. Every preference you submitted was ignored. | Your bid was too restrictive for any legal schedule. Fundamentally restructure your next bid. |
| Affected by Coverage | A pairing was placed on your line to meet airline staffing requirements, before your bid was processed. | Can't prevent this. Plan around it — see strategy notes below. |
| Needed for Legality | A pairing from a lower preference was awarded to satisfy a Set Condition (like a Pattern Bid). | Your Set Condition required this trip. Normal. |
| Maximum Min/Max-Credit bidders Reached | The Administrator's cap on Min or Max Credit bidders was already full. Your credit window preference was ignored. | You were processed in the Normal window instead. Below top 10% of your category, don't rely on Min Credit. |
| Restricted location | Your personal profile restricts you from certain stations. | Check your profile settings if unexpected. |
| Rule violation | FAR or contractual rule prevented this preference from being honored. | Legal constraint — can't override. Adjust your bid around it. |
| Forgotten | A Forget instruction was honored. | Working as intended — you told PBS to skip this. |
| Too many above | Maximum Above limit exceeded for reserve line construction. | Reserve-specific. Adjust your Above limit. |
The Five Codes That Matter Most
You could memorize all 30+ codes, but five of them account for 90% of actionable information:
1. "No pairings available"
This is the alarm bell. It means your filtering preferences (Avoids and Prefer Offs) eliminated every trip that could satisfy an Award statement. Your pool is empty.
The fix: Count your Avoid statements. If you have more than three or four, start converting the least important ones to Prefer Off. Prefer Off deprioritizes trips without removing them. PBS can still use them if it needs to.
2. "Affected by Denial Mode"
PBS couldn't build your line while honoring all your preferences. It started denying them one at a time (see the How PBS Bidding Works article for the full denial sequence).
For narrowbody categories, this is extremely common. 85-94% of pilots see it. Don't panic. But do check which preferences were denied. If a preference you care about was sacrificed, restructure your bid so it's protected by ESN or placed higher.
3. "Awarded to senior bidder"
This isn't a problem with your bid. It's seniority working as designed. But the number matters. If you see "Awarded to senior bidder: 47" on a specific Award statement, that means 47 trips matched your criteria but were all taken by senior pilots. You're competing for highly demanded trips.
The fix: Diversify. If everyone in the top 50% of your category is bidding for the same trip profile, the bottom 50% will never get them. Bid for trips that are less popular but still meet your needs. This is where category intelligence becomes a real advantage.
4. "Affected by SLG"
This is the worst code you can see. Secondary Line Generation means PBS threw out your entire bid and built your line from scratch with zero input from you. Every Avoid, every Prefer Off, every Award: ignored.
The fix: Your bid was too restrictive. Not "a little aggressive." Broken. Start your next bid from a clean slate. Fewer Avoids, broader Awards, and a real fallback bid group.
5. "Filtered by higher bid"
This is your own Avoids and Prefer Offs eating your Awards. If you see "Filtered by higher bid: 23" on an Award statement, that means 23 trips matched what you asked for but were already removed by your own filtering preferences above.
The fix: Look at the Avoid that's doing the filtering. Is it more important than the Award it's blocking? If not, move it lower or convert it to Prefer Off.
What to Do After Every Award
Reading the report is step one. Here's the five-step process for turning it into a better bid:
Step 1: Check the header. Compare your final credit (running total at the end) against the threshold. If you're near threshold, your bid worked well. If you're between minimum and threshold, denial mode was active.
Step 2: Find the denied preferences. Scan for "Bid denied," "Not honored," or "Affected by Denial Mode." These are the preferences that broke. Write them down.
Step 3: Check your pool. Look for "No pairings available" or "Filtered by higher bid." These tell you whether your Avoids were too aggressive. Count how many pairings were filtered versus how many were available.
Step 4: Read the competition. Look at "Awarded to senior bidder" counts on your Award statements. High counts mean you're competing for popular trips. Consider whether less-competitive trip profiles would still meet your needs.
Step 5: Adjust one thing at a time. Don't rewrite your entire bid based on one month's report. Change the one preference that caused the most damage, leave everything else the same, and compare results next month. Controlled changes are the only way to learn what works.
Build a Feedback Loop
Save your Reasons Report each month. After three months, you'll have a pattern: which preferences consistently get honored, which consistently get denied, and where your bid breaks under competition. That pattern is more valuable than any single month's data.
Coverage Strategy
If "Affected by Coverage" appears regularly in your reports, you're in a category where the airline frequently needs bodies on specific trips. You can't prevent coverage, but you can adapt:
- Bid for the least objectionable coverage trips rather than avoiding all work on those dates. If coverage is likely on a holiday, bid for the shortest trip that touches it. PBS will place that one instead of a worse option.
- Use Prefer Off instead of Avoid for dates where coverage is possible. Prefer Off still lets PBS place coverage pairings but tells the system you'd rather not work those days if there's a choice.
- Consider a reserve backup group. If coverage is going to ruin your pairing line anyway, a reserve bid group with controlled X-day placement might give you a better outcome.
What Comes Next
How PBS Bidding Works covers the full processing sequence, all seven phases your bid goes through before you see results. If any of the status codes above are unfamiliar, start there.
Prefer Off vs Avoid is the most impactful decision in your bid. When to filter aggressively and when to nudge. Seniority changes the calculus completely.
Your Reasons Report is PBS talking to you. The pilots who actually read it every month are the ones who figure the system out.