There are a number of issues with R line vacations. Read the vacation section on reserve in the CBA, but here is the cliff notes:

The number of V days will remove the same number of R days. If you do not touch enough R days with the Vacation footprint including the buffer days then you submit a "request" of which R days to drop when they rebuild your line. You can waive the buffer on either or both end of the V days, but the days dropped are always in relation to the number of V days.

Reserve Extension: If you want (and have the hours in your bank) you can extend your vacation based on a formula in the CBA. Generally a 7 day vacation can be extended to 10. Meaning you can drop 10 R days.

Rebuilding the R line: They will leave as many original blocks of R days from the bid line. If you have not hit enough R days with your footprint then you will put in the bid processing window your requests for other days to drop. Bottom line, you will not drop an entire block of R days because it touches just some of the days necessarily. Bidding Reserve on vacation is a good deal, just be careful what line you bid to meet your needs.

Remember this: all R days AFTER your vacation will show leveling for the Vacation period, if you have R days before vacation then you will not benefit from any leveling time.

Hope this helps.

e. Reserve Vacation Extension
A pilot with vacation during a month in which he holds a
reserve line may extend the vacation that occurs in that month.
Vacation buffers shall then be added to the extended vacation
as provided in Section 7.G.3.a., unless waived by the pilot.
i. The maximum extension shall be determined by the
following formula:
Maximum Extension = ({[(Number of vacation days (as
Sec. 7.G.3.d.i. (continued)
30 October 2006 7-11
awarded or slid) in the bid period multiplied by 6) + 6]
÷ R-day value} rounded down) minus the number of
originally scheduled vacation days in the bid period.
Example: A pilot has a 7 day vacation period in a bid
period in which the R-day value is 4:36. The maximum
extension is
{[(7 x 6) +6] ÷ 4.600} - 7
= [(42 + 6) ÷ 4.600] - 7
= (10.434 rounded down) - 7
= 10 - 7 = 3.
Consequently, the pilot could add up to three days to his
vacation period. This would give him a total of 14 days
(presuming buffers could fi t on both ends of his vacation
period as extended). The pilot’s vacation bank would
be charged 46 CH (10 x 4.600), but only 7 vacation
days would be removed from his vacation accrual.