Originally Posted by
Brickfire
Not sure there's much difference here between AA/UA/DL
That said, splitting a block over two schedule periods defintely the easiest way to go.
8-9 days off as a reserve in one month is hard if not impossible because you then have to squeeze 16-18 days of 117 compliant work blocks into the rest of the month. Also leaves the rest of your schedule as a mess. If you live in base it might work, otherwise you won't see your spouse/kids/dogs for the whole months between work and exploring Thailand.
6-7 days would be vastly more doable. (South America is a great no-jet lag option for short trips).
Not the barnstormer reason to come to DL, but at least at Delta you are not required to bid for rest periods in your "on call" days, so unless you are "unstacked" into a holiday or specific weekend you tried to avoid, you can bid every month for your reserve days to all be in a row. It at least guarantees you a couple of free days of no duty as the company has to make sure you have your 30hrs of rest on your schedule once they start using you.