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Vacation Bidding 2008

Section 18 of our Contract governs the annual vacation bidding process and outlines the procedures and timeline for the awarding of vacations.

Reserve Letters

The first step in the annual vacation bidding process is the assignment of Reserve letters. Section 10.A. of our Contract requires that 2008 Reserve letters be assigned and posted in domiciles in September which is the month prior to the start of vacation bidding.  The list establishes the top 25% of the domicile who are exempt from Reserve rotation and assigns “A” or “B” to all Flight Attendants with more than five years seniority.  You will obtain important information by checking the domicile seniority list known as the Reserve Letter List containing the 2008 Lineholder status and Reserve letters.

Vacation Bid Periods (Section 18.E.)

Vacation Accrual and Bidding Seniority

The number of vacation days accrued and your vacation bidding seniority are based on Company seniority, which may be very different from your Flight Attendant seniority.  When vacation bids open, a seniority list for vacation bidding will be available in your domicile.   The list will show your seniority for vacation bidding and the total number of days you have accrued.  Vacation accrual is based on completion of years of service. Flight Attendants hired before the 15th of the month accrue 1 day each month for years 1-4.  Flight Attendants in year 5 and beyond accrue vacation in the current year for use in the following year based on the accrual schedule. The number of vacation days you have accrued will be included in your VACBID screen.

The number of vacation days increase as you reach specific seniority levels as provided in Section 18.B of the Contract with a maximum accrual of 40 days.

The Company will reduce your accrued vacation days if you have been on Leave of Absence (LOA); if you have been on furlough status, voluntary or involuntary; or if you have been on suspension for 30 days or more.  The only exception to this list is Occupational Leave status, which will not impact vacation accrual.  If you are affected by a reduction in your vacation, your vacation accrual will be reduced by 1/12 for each 30 days of leave or major portion, on a prorated basis (Section 18.C).  Day-at-a-time-vacation (DAT) used between November 1, 2007 and December 30, 2007, will be deducted from the vacation accrued during the 2008 calendar year for bidding vacations that will be taken in 2009 bidding as will any DAT taken January 1, 2008 – October 31, 2008.  Once vacation accruals are posted, adjustments to individual vacation accruals are not made as a result of DAT usage.

This year there was significant transfer activity at many locations around the system.  You may find that you can hold a vacation period that your seniority may not have held in the past or you may not hold a vacation period that you have held in the past.  In all cases, you are encouraged to bid the vacation period you want to hold.

Bidding Strategies

Throughout the year, you can significantly increase your income by scheduling yourself to fly holidays.  Keep this in mind when planning your vacation bidding.  You may want to avoid bidding a vacation period that will encompass a holiday, thereby precluding you from receiving any holiday pay.  There are five (5) contractually paid holidays each year, one of which is your birthday. The remaining four (4) paid holidays are specific for the domicile’s country (Section 2.Q).

Some Flight Attendants prefer to bid vacation during a reserve month in order to minimize her/his reserve availability.  Yet others prefer to bid vacation during a lineholder month, on days off, in order to maximize her/his pay.  Still others prefer to bid vacation in a manner that provides the maximum time off.  If you reach the five-year Reserve cap during 2008, you will not know whether you will be an “A” or “B” until the approximately the 10th of your 5th year anniversary month.  This means, unfortunately, you will bid your vacation without knowing your respective Lineholder and Reserve months.  Keep in mind, however, the Contract provides each Flight Attendant the ability to trade her/his reserve letter at least once during the year. (See Reserve Considerations Section of this article.)

Other Bidding Considerations

• Six (6) days is the minimum vacation bid period unless you have lesser number of days accrued.
• If you have at least 12 days and less than 26 days, you may split your vacation in two periods of six (6) days or more. 
• If you have at least 26 days, you may split your vacation into three (3) periods. 
• You may span two calendar months using 14, 15 or 16 vacation days, provided you have at least four (4) full days in each month. 
• If you bid to span two months using 17 or more days, you must have a minimum of seven (7) vacation days in each month.
• If more than six (6) vacation days fall into your Reserve month, you will not be eligible for a move-up line until after the period of vacation. 

Sacred Days

Days off preceding and following a scheduled vacation are considered part of your vacation and are “sacred” days (Section 18.M.).  The Company cannot assign training or meetings on those days unless you have specifically bid for them. Reassignments under Section 8.J of the Contract may not infringe on these sacred days. Flight Attendants may not be drafted while on Vacation under any circumstances.

Vacation Pay

Lineholders are paid 2:36 per vacation day, prorated for any partial day.  Premium pay for vacation applies as provided in Sections 5.B.3.b. and c. and 12.D.4.e.  Additionally, if a Flight Attendant’s vacation period results in her/him being projected under her/his minimum guarantee for the month due to the elimination of trips that fall in the vacation period, her/his guarantee shall be adjusted. The new projection will equal vacation pay plus trips scheduled and this may be below 65 hours.

Section 18.M. of the Contract provides that if a vacation starts or ends between a scheduled outbound and return flight, a Flight Attendant may, at her/his option, move the vacation period forward or backward in order to fly the scheduled ID. Contact your Schedule Planner immediately after monthly schedules are released should you opt to fly your trip.

In a 30-day month, Reserves are paid 3:57 hours per scheduled day of availability encompassed by the vacation.  In a 31-day month, Reserves are paid 3:45 per scheduled day of availability.  Reserves whose vacation encompasses no days of Reserve availability may move the vacation to encompass two (2) days of availability (Section 18.M.).  Contact your schedule planner if you find yourself in this situation.

The following chart provides an overview of vacation pay for Lineholders and Reserves.  Lineholders are paid for each vacation day.  Reserves are paid based on the number of days of availability within the vacation period.

Vacation Pay Advance

The Company shall provide, on written request, a partial advance up to sixty (60%) of pay to a Flight Attendant for the purpose of vacation.  This advance must be requested at least seven (7) days prior to the beginning of the vacation period.  (Section 18.P.)  Contact the Flight Attendant Service Center for assistance.

Day at a Time Vacation (DAT)

Each Flight Attendant may take up to ten (10) vacation days a year separate from her/his awarded vacation period(s), as provided by our Contract in Section 18.U.  These days will be deducted from the Flight Attendant’s allotment for the following year’s vacation.

If you use day-at-a-time-vacation (DAT) between November 1, 2007 and October 31, 2008, your vacation accrual will be reduced in 2009.  Once vacation accruals are posted in the VACBID screen, only adjustments to the 2008 accrual are for any DAT taken October 27-31, 2007. 

After the award of relief lines and prior to the beginning of the month, DAT vacation days will be awarded in seniority order.  Throughout the month, DAT will be available only to the extent that regular ANP is available and DAT days have equal priority. DAT days will be paid at a rate of 2.6 hours (2:36) per day, the same as the daily vacation rate for a Lineholder.  DAT cannot be made up.  If awarded DAT, a Flight Attendant shall have her/his minimum monthly guarantee and/or line guarantee reduced accordingly.  For example, if you were to use 2 DAT days for a 10-hour trip with a 79-hour line guarantee and a 65-hour minimum, you would be paid 5:12 for the two DAT days and your line guarantee would be reduced by 4:48 to 74:12 and your minimum to 60:12 (Section 18.R.).  A Flight Attendant on reserve using DAT is also paid 2:36 per day and her/his Reserve minimum is reduced from 75 hours.

Reserve Considerations

Lineholders may, as provided in Section 10.A.1.e. of the Contract, bid reserve lines.

If you are a rotating Reserve, consider your Reserve letter prior to bidding your vacation.  2008 Reserve letters are effective February 2008-January 2009.  One Reserve letter trade is allowed each year.  If a domicile needs to realign Reserve letters to restore the balance of Reserve seniority, you will be allowed an additional Reserve letter trade. (Section 10.A.4. and 6.)

You will be eligible to serve Reserve based on the following (Section 10.A.1.b.):

The Contract provides the Company with the ability to utilize a Reserve up to 87 hours in the third month of the quarter or to their quarterly maximum, whichever is greater.   Flight Attendants may wish to bid vacations at the end of the quarter in order to minimize the impact of the increased hours.   Keep in mind, Section 10.B.2. of the Contract provides that a Reserve on vacation or ANP for seven (7) days or more in the remaining part of the month will not be awarded a move-up line.  So, if you bid an end of month vacation as a Reserve, you will be by-passed on the Reserve move-up list during the month.

The Flight Attendant Schedule Quarters are:

Please note: Schedule months can be changed annually with appropriate notice to the Union. Please review the schedule months posted in the annual Vacation booklet before bidding your vacation.

No Bids and Insufficient Vacation Bids

If you have accrued less than 30 days vacation, but fail to submit a vacation bid, you will be assigned a vacation period during the secondary vacation bid process.  If you have accrued 30 vacation days or more, you will be assigned a vacation period during the tertiary vacation bid process.  

If you do not bid enough to cover your seniority, you will be assigned a vacation in one of the two following ways.  During the primary bid process, the Company will award all primary bids.  Insufficient bids will then be awarded in seniority order by working backward through the year, from December to January.  If your secondary or tertiary bid is insufficient, you will automatically be assigned a vacation in inverse seniority order working forward through the year, from January through December.  In this instance it would mean that if you have 1998 Company seniority, you will be assigned a vacation before someone with 1991 Company seniority.

Trading Vacations

You are allowed two vacation trades per year with another Flight Attendant (Section 18.S.).  All vacation trades must be completed two months before the first vacation.  As an example, if you have a September vacation, you must submit your vacation trade request in July or earlier.  There are two exceptions.  Flight Attendants trading days in the same month are not bound to the requirement of trading two months prior to the vacation month.  Trades involving January vacations must be submitted by December 15. February vacation trade requests must be submitted by December 30.

Trades between Flight Attendants involving vacation days awarded during primary vacation award must be for the total number of primary vacation days awarded.  In other words, the vacation periods traded must be of identical length (Section 18.S.).

When trading secondary or tertiary vacation periods the trade does not need to involve an equal number of days.  Trading one of these vacation periods with another Flight Attendant who has fewer days will reduce your vacation. For example, Mary has ten days of vacation and would like to trade with Eric, who has eight days.  If the trade is awarded, Mary will lose 2 days of vacation.  To avoid loss of vacation, we encourage you to trade the same number of days with your flying partners or use the interim vacation bidding process.

Interim Vacation Bids

Section 18.G of our Contract requires that all un-awarded or vacated primary vacation days will be posted for interim vacation bids.  Flight Attendants are allowed unlimited interim vacation bids.

You may split your vacation through the interim bid process as long as it does not give you more splits than you are allowed.  For example, if you have a total of 16 days vacation, 10/1-10/16, you may submit an interim bid vacating 10/1-10/7 for 5/1-5/7.

Interim Vacation Bidding opens on the first business day (week day) of the schedule month and remains open for seven (7) consecutive days.

The same two-month advance restriction applies to interim bidding as in vacation trading.  The Company can waive this restriction based on the needs of service.  You can interim bid a February vacation during the December interim bid process if there are available days posted. 

Section 18.R of our Contract provides should you be hospitalized, on jury duty or on an occupational illness absence for a major portion of your vacation, you may attempt to bid a later vacation using the interim bid process. Contact the Service Center to submit bids for these situations.

Section 23.M.2 of our Contract provides that the Company shall not require Flight Attendants to use vacation time for Family Medical Leave.

Transferring Flight Attendants must interim bid when arriving at their new domicile unless otherwise advised by the Company. Interim vacation bids are now submitted via SKYNET.  If you are at a layover location that is not SKYNET accessible, contact the Flight Attendant Service Center for assistance in submitting the bid.

Should you have additional vacation bidding questions, please contact your Local AFA office for assistance.

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