Float
 

Stole this. A good read on what Carey was talking about:


These numbers are rounded and simplified for discussion

1. Let's say we have 15,000 active pilots. That represents 780,000 work weeks over the course of one year

2. If those 15,000 pilots each had four weeks of vacation, that is 60,000 weeks of vacation that needs to be bid or 7.7% of the total possible work weeks

3. Conversely, if all pilots take the minimum one week of vacation and float the rest, that would return 45,000 weeks of productivity to the company, which is the equivalent of having an additional 865 pilots on the property. (865 pilots times 52 weeks of work)

4. JCBA Section 9.C.4.b spells out the minimum amount of vacation the company must offer. Each month needs to have at least 5% of the total weeks being bid or at least 2.75% of the total accrued vacation (whether floated or not), whichever is less.

5. This means that if nobody floats vacation, the company has two choices. They can either offer at least 3,000 weeks of vacation per month (5% of 60,000), or if they are tightly manned, they can choose months where they only offer the minimum 2.75% of the accrued vacation, which in this example would be 1,650 weeks.

6. If the company was in a panic and chose to only offer 1,650 weeks during June, July, August and December (6,600 total weeks), they would have to cram the remaining 53,400 weeks of vacation into the remaining eight months of the year, which would mean 6,675 weeks of vacation per month, which would put 10.25% of us on vacation for each of the shoulder months.

7. Forcing a situation where over ten percent of pilots in a bid status are on vacation, combined with the massive number of pilots in training in any given month, puts very real pressures on the company.

8. Now take the same scenario and all pilots float half of their accrued vacation. Instead of 60,000 weeks, there would only be 30,000 weeks to schedule. The 5% requirement would only be 1,500 weeks per month, which is less than the 2.75% minimum of ACCRUED vacation. That means the company would still have to offer at least 1,650 weeks of vacation in the peak months (same as the previous scenario). But that would mean instead of cramming 53,400 weeks of vacation into the shoulder months, the company would only need to accommodate 23,400 weeks in the shoulder months. That is a HUGE difference.

Thanks Al!

I'm not floating. Not all have 4 weeks. Perhaps 1500 only get 1,2 weeks.
The EA flows most get 4 weeks.

If you float you're one of the reasons we are so far behind our peers. Your union is asking you to do something for the greater good. Do it.


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You scared me for a second, and made me check the contract. Year 1 thru 5 get 21 days (to be accrued over the 1st year). So only OTS guys coming off probation year haven't accrued the 21 days yet. Maybe 300 pilots get less than 3 weeks.

Fool us once...

No float! You're gonna pay, AA.... You're gonna pay.

I can't even get this janky website to save my round 1 ballot, which by the way, will have no floated vacation on it.

I'm one of those unfortunately

I really don't this will work the way everybody think it is gonna work.
I am thinking after the first round those in the bottom 1/3 won't get any vacation awarded in rounds 2-3-4 and will be forced to float.


I am gonna wait and see what happens.

You can only float in round 1.