Some guy

Fellas, need help quick...

I have vacation from Jul into Aug. Would like to remove five carryover R-days in August by sliding my vacation to the right. Submitted the request to slide 5 days, but when I checked the bid summary page there was a warning stating that I had exceeded my expansion limit, and my request would be rejected (note: I did expand my period three days to the left in Jul). So with that in mind, I resubmitted my request to slide it only two days, and I no longer get the warning. Is this because we are only allowed to expand or slide a vacation period a total of five days either way? I'd really like to get those five days removed but don't know how. I can't expand/extend in Aug because I was awarded a VTO (not by choice). I've read the contract, but as usual it's not very clear.

Thanks in advance,
SG

matty

It kind of sounds like you might be confusing sliding, expansion and extension. 7.G of the contract talks about it pretty well.

How many total days of vacation did you have? 3 days in July and how many in Aug? If you had 3 days in July, then I would assume you have at least 4 days in Aug. That means you are only needing to knock out one day of your 5 day carryover block of r days. The 48 buffer should take care of that.

MrSuupafly

If you have a VTO you can only slide your vacation. Line holders can slide and expand, reserves can slide and extend.

4A2B

Agree with others that there appears to be a little mixing of terms.

* assuming you are a reg line holder *

Sounds like you actually knocked out the R days by touching actual R days (via slide) there is really no limit on the number of "days" you can expand it is strictly a CH calculation. (disclaimer, see the CBA as the actual vacation can only be expanded in the month it occurs unless it has been awarded or slid to touch more than on bid month then you can expand into either month). You need to treat the vacation as 1 period either way and the CH limit applies in total, so you need to do the math (Vac days * 6 +6) to find your expansion limit then subtract the hours already removed for vacation in the previous month and that would be your total expansion availability.

Slide has no limit on credit hours touched and the only buffer you have is international duty free ones. Expansion is strictly math and must be consecutive trips, no leapfrogging. In theory you can expand for 3 weeks or more in one direction if you stay below your limit.

If you can get the terms straight then vacation will be easy. I suggest you use it all and take max time off, remember we are still over staffed from what I hear.

b. A vacation expansion shall not cause a vacation conflict that
exceeds the credit hour value of the original vacation period
by more than 6 CH. All days in the expanded vacation
period shall be consecutive.

c. A pilot may not expand his vacation period to conflict with
a trip(s) that begins outside the bid period of his vacation
as awarded or slid. However, a pilot awarded vacation that
extends into the next bid period may expand within either
bid period.

Example: A pilot awarded a 7 day vacation period in week
1 of August may slide his vacation back so that it overlaps
both the August and July bid periods. He may then expand
his vacation period to hit trips in either July or August in
accordance with normal expansion rules.

Some guy

Appreciate all the responses...

I believe I have a pretty good understanding of all the vacation terms (buffers, expand, extend, slide, etc), so let me try to explain this better. What is confusing me is the warning I got from VIPs when I put in my request to slide right five days in August. I get the following message on the Bid period processing summary: "Warning: you have exceeded your expansion limit, this will be rejected." Yet I didn't expand!

However when I shorten my slide request to two days, I no longer get the warning. Could it be a glitch in the system? At any rate, I'm just not sure what the warning is referring to and hence my post to the vacation experts here.

I'd call Futures but they don't come to work until Monday and the Conflict window closes a 7 tomorrow...

Thanks again,
SG

4A2B

Just curious, are you saying you did not slide in JUL? Secondly are you saying under the slide option (assuming you did not slide in JUL) that it will not allow you to slide more than 2 days or that it just gave you the warning that it would be rejected?

I would think it is a glitch because you should have no restriction on sliding 5 days, no matter what it hits. Sometimes the screen you are on is the issue are you entering the number in the slide window or the expansion window?

Seems like it is treating it as an expansion only, did you do the math? Would the "3rd" r day put you over the total expansion limit for your number of vacation days (adding all trips removed for VAC or EXP in July already)?

Curious what you find out in the morning, must be an anomaly?

Some guy

To answer your questions...

1. I did not slide in July (I did expand 3 days though).
2. It will not let me slide more than 2 days in Aug. If I do, I get the warning.
3. Yes, I entered the request to slide in the "slide window."
4. Yes, I did the math and "if" I had requested to expand more than 3 R-days in Aug, that would put me over the limit.

So I think you may be right, I believe the system thinks I'm requesting an expansion versus a slide and is generating the warning. I'm hesitant to put in a slide greater than 2 days, but I'll probably do it and grieve it later if I get burned. That is unless you are anyone else sees something I'm missing...

Thanks again,
SG

KnightFlyer

I think once you extended in July, any other subsequent vacation adjustments are tied to the extension CH limit (days*6 + 6) for that vacation week.

I would believe the error msg and submit the max slide that doesn't give you an error. Call them Mon 8am and talk to them. If it really is a glitch I'm sure they'll work with you to fix it.

Does the vacation buffer help you get rid of some of the c/o R days?

pinseeker

The problem is that when you expanded your vacation, you tied yourself to the +6 hours limit for expansion. When you slide your vacation there is no limit to CH, but you only get rid of trips you touch. From what I understand about your situation, it sounds like the total of the trips/R-days you touch with your slide plus the trips you got rid of with your expansion total a greater amount of CH's than the vacation period +6 CH limit for expansion, hence the warning.

Some guy

Ok, I'm following what you guys are saying about the credit hour limit and I think you're right. I will exceed my limit (Vac CH +6) if I slide it more than two days, so I'll just stick with that, and hope I can drop/move those remaining R-days.

Thanks for clearing that up for me!
SG