So, all trips over x-mas gets dumped into open time? And then you need to have enough reserves to cover it all. And they are not doing anything the rest of the month (because line pilots want to fly those days)?

This is an extreme scenario but I am sure you can appreciate the inefficiencies there.

Most importantly, how do you get the company to agree on any of this? Try to nail them down on say 20% reserve staffing level to start with.