Falconjet

Here is an excerpt from our contract, Section 25.N.4:

1. Advance Volunteer Assignment (AVA)
   The Company may advance assign a VLT trip prior to the open time assignment window subject to the following:
   1. AVA shall be available and assigned to all eligible pilots beginning 7 days prior to showtime for that assignment, based on the reserve forecast.
   2. A trip is eligible for AVA assignment only if the trip has a showtime:
      1. between Thanksgiving day and December 31; or
      2. during a bid period in which the Company has requested voluntary vacation cancellations in the pilot's crew position; or
      3. during a bid period in which the Company has involuntarily canceled a vacation in the pilot's crew position.

I was wondering how everyone else interprets this section.

To me, that says that AVA should be available (to request, not necessarily to get) for ANY trip that shows between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. No need for vacations to be bought back or canceled during that time frame.

Last year I did an AVA trip before Christmas and I don't remember there being an FCIF from the company saying it that AVA was available, but contract enforcement says that there was one in Oct 06. I tried a FCIF search but they don't go back that far, unless it hasn't been suspended yet, so I can't confirm that the FCIF exists.

Anyway, Contract enforcement said that the company doesn't need AVA this year so they aren't putting out an FCIF and so AVA isn't available in my seat this year. It is their option to put out such an FCIF based on staffing levels and they don't intend to do so this year.

To me the contract says that we should be able to request AVA from after Thanksgiving to the end of the year regardless. I understand that they may not grant the request, but I should at least be able to put it in.

What do you think? Does anyone remember a specific FCIF announcing AVA availability before the start of the Thanksgiving to Christmas rush?

Thanks for your thoughts.

FJ