To be awarded a legal line, his vaca credit and protected time credit (PTC) must be equal to or greater than the Line Construction Floor (LCF). With one week of vacation in October, the vaca credit is 22.75. With a LCF of 70 hours, he'll need to bid a line worth 47.25 hrs (70 - 22.75). Each day you're available to work for the month other than vacation is worth 2:20 in MPG (October is a 31 day month). So in this example, if he was a awarded a 47.25 line, he would actually get 56 hrs in MPG (24 days x 2:20). Total pay in this example is 78.75 hrs. If he wants any additional pay he'll either have to bid a line that makes him fly at least 8.75 hrs more than the minimum or he'll have to pick up flying that exceeds 8.75 hrs. So he'll make the exact same pay working 47.25 hrs as he will if he works up to 56 hrs. Only beyond working 56 hours will he actually see more money. So there is not "Beauty" in this system. If, like UALinIAH said, you work one minute beyond the LCF your are working for free until you close the gap between (LCF minus vaca credit) and the MPG. If you want an additional 10 hrs of pay (88.75) for the month, you'll either have to pick up a trip worth 18.75 or bid a line that has 18.75 more flying built in. Either way, you're flying 8.75 for free.