I'll give it a shot.

Protecting carry-over and not protecting min days off. I know of pilots that bid max carry-over, and then bid to protect that carry-over and fly a full next month. These pilots can have as little as 6 days off.

Selling back max vacation. This is giving up paid days off so that you can work more and get paid for days that you could have had off. Selling back vacation is just like working extra IMO.

Yes, both of these are allowed in the contract. However, the company then goes to the NC and says why do pilots need so many min days off? Look at how much they work voluntarily. The same can be said with our vacation.


Edit: I'll add that yes, you can pick up a trip worth only 6 hours if you don't have a make-up bank, but you can trade a trip for up to 12 hours more than the trip was worth. If you do both, that is an additional 18 hours without a make-up bank. Then you add the items I posted above.