The way I've done it (since I'm junior, so all the cushy weeks are gone by the time it gets to me) is NOT bid vacation. That way, when I get my schedule, I an often PTO around large blocks of days off. I've gotten two weeks off fairly easily that way, both as a lineholder and on reserve. Bad part about doing it this way is you're kinda rolling the dice on the reserve grid favoring you. I've managed to pull it off in the first PTO/drop/swap window almost every time. Wait longer than that, and odds are pretty good the reserve grid won't be green anymore.