Was able to drop my entire month with the idea of getting drafted later. Well, nothing very enticing has come my way (I guess we wet leased enough jets for peak this year), so I'm debating whether to just stay home and make it up later. My question for the experts is other than not getting a pay check next month, is there anything else I need to be aware of for taking the whole month off.

Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas!

 

Good question... are you married?

 

No pay=no income taxes

 

who do you work for?

Do you need a minimum number of paid hours to accrue vacation or sick time?

 

Do you need a minimum income to pay (via payroll deduction) for benefits? I'm not sure?

 

Things that can happen when you have a negative mid month paycheck (mid January):

1) your withdrawals for things like Hyatt legal, LTC insurance, etc won't happen. With some things, it will accrue and be deducted next time. But, sometimes weird things happen and you receive a bill in the mail.

2) your ALPA dues can get screwed up. You may owe money and you'll receive a bill in the mail at reconciliation time.

3) if you are filling a 401(k), many times they will suck money out of what has been contributed. I don't understand why, but it happened to me. I had filled mine a couple of years ago, had a zero (negative) mid month around September and I was "uncontributed". Fortunately, the next month refilled it.

4) if you do this type of thing just for one or two months, no problem. But, at some point you might run into problems with hours of service--a guess on my part?

 

I agree with Raptor's list. Then again, most of those aren't that important, except for the hours of service. That might be worth contacting the union or company for a certain answer. Hard to believe you couldn't get something on AVA. Have you tried getting up early and picking up the sick time? Even if there isn't much in open time, there surely is plenty available when sick time opens up, probably for every airplane.

 

I did this regularly 10 years ago when I was still flying in the ANG. Mil leave could be a complete pain in the ass with some of our ACPs, but dropping was not a challenge. I had a zero/negative balance a few months. Raptor's list sounds pretty spot on to me from my hazy recollection.

That was the ONLY issue I ever had. Nobody ever called, emailed, asked what was up, complained about it, or anything else.

For me, the ability to drop a complete month is a huge QOL issue. How many other professions (or even companies) let you do that? I've been a make-up *****, and a carefree work-free pilot....all in the same year. That's one reason I never complain about guys doing extra flying (outside negotiations), because that is what allows the flexibility to go ski, camp, fish, or go to Oshkosh for the month.

As you discovered, however, AVA is a bit tough. You cannot volunteer for a trip that touches a day you had a trip that you dropped. Sorry that didn't work out. I know some guys have been lucky enough to get a lot of draft during certain busy periods, but that has never been my experience. The only time I seem to get draft is when a trip in the field gets revised. My advice (not that anyone asked) is grab it when you can, and enjoy that easy make-up trip when you find it. Don't spend it, but bank it away, and then when you want that month off here or there you can afford it. As a junior guy with not so much vacation, that time off the line was very much appreciated...

 

You get 24 paychecks/year. 11 of those need to be $0.01 or more IN A FISCAL YEAR (June 1- May 31). 1,000 hours of service needed, therefore, 95 hours credit/paycheck * 11 = 1,045.


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Thanks for the insight fellas...I'm with Albie, the flexibility that this job provides is the biggest benefit of all. Fly safe!