Questions pilots actually ask.
Who can sign up?
Active American Airlines pilots on the current seniority list. Enter your employee number and last name, then type the code sent to your @aa.com inbox — search your AA mail for “AskPubs”, and check Junk. Pilots in management roles, or with a retirement or separation on file, can't sign up automatically; if you think that's wrong for you, email [email protected].
What's actually in the app?
AskPubs answers from the manuals, contract, regs and MEL, with the source cited. Bid Builder (beta) builds your PBS bid step by step, and the AskPubs Chrome extension puts it into PBS. PBS Helper answers questions about your own bid data. Seniority shows your standing, seat movement and pay comparisons. Training brings your fleet's training prep and drills together. TLDR shows what changed in manual revisions and bulletins. TTS (beta) puts you in touch with pilots who'd trade a trip.
What does Beta mean?
Bid Builder and TTS are new and still changing month to month, so expect rough edges. They run on real data, but check your bid in PBS before it closes, and tell us when something looks wrong — the in-app report or [email protected].
Is this affiliated with American Airlines or a union?
No. AskPubs is independent, built by a working pilot. It is not an official company or union tool.
Can I use it on my phone?
Yes — use Add to Home Screen (the Safari share menu on iOS, or the Chrome menu on Android) for a full-screen, app-like experience. Bid Builder works on a phone but is much easier on a computer, and putting your bid into PBS with the extension needs Chrome on a computer.
Is my data private?
Your manuals and contract are stored and searched on a private, access-controlled server. To write an answer, AskPubs sends only your question and the matching passages to Anthropic's Claude, which shapes the wording but is not allowed to answer from its own knowledge and is not used to train models. Everything is encrypted in transit, and access is limited to verified pilots.
What do you keep, and for how long?
Your conversations are saved to your account so you can come back to them, and you can delete one from History. A log of questions asked is kept separately, to keep answers reliable and to fix mistakes — it isn't read for surveillance or discipline. There is no fixed deletion schedule yet; if you want your data removed, email [email protected].
Can it be set up for other crew groups?
Yes. If a group has its documents in digital form, AskPubs can be loaded for them the same way.
AskPubs
Where do the answers come from?
Only the documents loaded for your fleet — manuals, contract, regs, MEL. Never the public internet. AskPubs code retrieves and checks the supporting passages before Claude writes the final answer from that context.
What aircraft are covered?
737, 777, 787, and A320, with answers scoped to your fleet.
What if I change fleet or equipment?
Update it in your profile — AskPubs will search the documents for your new fleet.
How does the aircraft lock work?
If you ask about a specific aircraft, AskPubs locks the conversation to that fleet (shown top-right) so follow-ups stay on the same aircraft. Clear it with the X on the aircraft badge.
Can I ask follow-up questions?
Yes — follow-ups work best when they stay in the same conversation.
What should I do if an answer looks wrong?
Reword it, add detail, or ask more specifically. If it still looks off, use the in-app report or email [email protected].
How are answers cited?
Each answer lists its sources underneath — the manual, page and fleet. Anything important, check against that page; that's exactly why every answer points to one.
Bid Builder
What does Bid Builder do?
It builds your PBS monthly bid in six steps: your days off, the trips you want, your line, a PBS fallback, reserve if you want it, then Check and send. Every trip shows where it went last month against your seniority number, so you can see what your number actually held.
Does it predict what I'll be awarded?
No. A trip's colour says where that trip went last month against your number — a fact, not a forecast. PBS decides the award.
Does it know my seniority?
Yes. Your number, base, fleet, seat and last month's award come from the loaded seniority list and awards — you never type them in.
Can I bid reserve?
Yes. Choose a line only, a line with reserve if PBS can't build one, or reserve first, then set your reserve days off, Long or Short Call, work block and waivers. The extension writes your reserve layers as PBS's own reserve bids.
What if the bid package isn't out yet?
It tells you. If a month, base, fleet or seat isn't loaded yet, it says so instead of inventing an answer.
What is PBS Helper?
The PBS tab in the app: a chat about your own PBS data — standing, last award, what pilots around your number held — with the cards for your seat above it.
The AskPubs Chrome extension
How do I install it?
On Chrome on a computer, once — the install guide walks through it in about ten minutes. It isn't in the Chrome Web Store yet, so you load it from a download.
How do I update it?
Download the new version from the install guide, copy it over the same folder, and press ↻ on chrome://extensions. Never Remove it — that deletes your Undo record. When a newer version is out, the extension says so at the top of Preview.
Does it submit my bid for me?
Only when you press Update. Preview first shows, layer by layer, what will change; nothing is written before you press Update, and importing the same bid twice changes nothing.
Can I undo an import?
Yes. Undo last import puts back exactly the bid you had before, on the same layers. If PBS won't load your bid, “PBS won't load?” does the same undo without reading it.
Will it touch my Standing Bid?
No. It changes only your monthly bid. It never touches your Standing Bid, carry-in trips, or lines — reserve ones included — that you typed into PBS yourself.
What about PBS's 300-line limit?
PBS won't take a monthly bid of more than 300 lines, so the extension never takes yours past 300. If a bid would go over, Preview says how many lines to remove in Bid Builder and offers no Update.
What does it store, and what does it send?
Only your own bid, in Chrome on your computer, so Preview and Undo are exact. It runs only on the PBS site and sends nothing to AskPubs or anyone else. Details are on the extension privacy page.
Training
What's in the training lane?
Your fleet's training organized the way AA actually trains it — QUAL, REQUAL and CQ. AA's own lessons, guides, videos and Crewcast sit beside drills for your flows, maneuvers and callouts. Pick your fleet and seat once; everything after that is yours.
Where do the maneuvers come from?
The PTG-published maneuvers for your fleet and event — not a separate prep list somebody invented. On the CQ track the event timeline (RGSO, RTSO, MOO, RLEO) is the syllabus, and tapping an event gives you its purpose, airports, plates, AA lessons, and the maneuvers AA lists for that day.
What are Review, Chair-fly, and Check?
Three ways through the same procedure. Review shows the full choreography, including the yellow notes — those are part of the procedure, not commentary. Chair-fly hides your seat's lines so you say them out loud, then reveal. Check marks each of your lines got-it or missed; it's all-or-nothing to master, and misses queue up on the home screen.
Is this AA's official training?
No. AskPubs is independent. Where AA publishes a lesson, guide or video, the lane links you straight to it rather than paraphrasing it — the drills around them are ours, and your check ride is still AA's.
Seniority
What does the seniority tab tell me?
Where you sit on the list and among those actually bidding, the most junior number that held each award type at your seat last month, who left your seat ahead of you and where they went, when a different seat could come into reach, and what that seat would pay month by month against staying put.
Where do the numbers come from?
Standing and seat composition from the seniority list as loaded. Movement from comparing consecutive awarded months and following the pilots who left. Pay from the CBA Section 3 tables at your own longevity year, with the short-call and long-call guarantees for reserve scenarios. It is measurement, not a model.
Will it tell me when I'll hold a seat?
It gives you a window, not a date — earliest, estimate, latest. A single month would imply a certainty the seniority list doesn't have. Retirements are only part of what opens a seat; most of the room ahead of you comes from upgrades and base changes, and the lane shows which, for your seat.
Why does it say "not eligible for this seat"?
Because you're junior to every pilot in it today. Those vacancies go to the pilots senior to you who bid them, and that queue isn't in the data yet — so instead of guessing a month, it shows where you stand and leaves the months blank. It's the tool being careful, not broken.
Is the pay comparison my actual paycheck?
No — it's a comparison, and it says what it assumes. Base CBA rates at your longevity year, the international override not included, the company 401(k) shown as its own line rather than folded in, training months charged to a new seat, and earnings stopping at your retirement month. Use it to weigh seats against each other, not to predict a W-2.
TLDR
What is TLDR?
What changed in manual revisions, fleet bulletins and PWG bulletins, in one feed — each item with what changed, when it's effective, and a link to the original. Time-limited items drop off when they expire. Filter to your fleet; unread markers keep your place on this device.
Does opening a TLDR item complete required reading?
No. TLDR is a catch-up aid, not a read acknowledgement or compliance record. It does not satisfy company or FAA reading requirements. Comply365 and Jetnet remain the systems of record; follow the original source for required actions.
TTS
What is TTS?
A trade board for pilots in your own bid status — the same base, fleet, seat and division. Post a trip to drop, swap, pick up or lend, and see what others have posted. It's in beta.
What's shared when I tap a post?
Tapping I want this or I can help sends your name, seniority number, email and phone to that post's owner, and only to them. Posts show a seniority number, never a name; the owner's name reaches you when they reply.
Does TTS make the trade?
No. It only puts you in touch — the trade itself still goes through the usual process.
On the horizon
What is planned next?
SOTA — State of the Airline is in development but not available in the app. The scope may change and there are no announced release dates.