Gspeed

Two questions:

1. My extra vacation day that was awarded due to the sick usage numbers was tagged onto the end of my second week of vacation that’s in March of 2019. Can I have them move it to the beginning of my Dec. 30 block?

2. No matter where it ends up being placed, can this extra vacation be used as an IVD at any point in time?

Thanks all.

Jughead135

1). No. Special rules 1 Dec - 10 Jan apply. (Otherwise, you could move it to another vacation period until 31 Mar.)

2). Yes. In addition, you get an extra “block” of IVD—ie, you can pull that trigger up to three times, for up to a total of five days.

Gspeed

Ah yes, I forgot about #1. Thanks.

One more n00b question. A week of vacation that's awarded during the primary or secondary vacation round cannot be rebid in subsequent rounds, correct? The only way to do so is to use the vacation move-up provision or PBS slide?

Jughead135

Correct, though, don’t forget your SLIDE or VACATION ANY options. Those won’t move the vacation out of the bid period, but can move/change the days within the bid period if doing so works better for you.

Gspeed

I’ve used slide effectively already it is a powerful tool for us to have!

Can you give any insight as to how the Vacation Any can be effectively used? I’ve read over the language a bunch of times but have struggled to come up with a scenario that would be beneficial to me. Most pilots I chat with about it know nothing on how it works and just refer to it as a “Northwest thing.”

Jughead135

Only two scenarios I can think of:

1) You want to bid a specific trip(s) in a vacation month, but you can't do so with the block of vacation you have. "VACATION ANY" is the only way to break up (within a given bid month) a vacation block--used judiciously with PREFER OFF parameters, you would hope to get the exact days off you want, just not all together (and not blocking the trip(s) or other days you want to be able to work).

2) For the uber-junior, where it's a foregone conclusion to be hit with coverage over (say) Christmas: I've heard claims that VACATION ANY, combined with tactical trip bids, can get one some day(s) off over/near the actual holiday. It will NOT dodge the coverage monster; but, it may be a way to feed the beast better than would otherwise result (again, as in #1, because it "breaks up" the days and can give you a day(s) off where you might not get it with a SLIDE, due to coverage).

tunes

I thought IVD was a max of 2 times for a total of 4 days


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Jughead135

In general, it is--unless you (your combined category) wins the sick leave contest. The extra 1 (or 2) VAC days (a) can be used as an IVD, resulting in a total of 5 (or 6) IVD days available; and (b) correspond to one (or two) extra IVD drops.

14.K.4.a. & b.

FlightCrewTools

You can also get the phone number here and talk to a live person:

The timing (which bid period) you make bank transactions can matter, in a few corner cases. I learned this one by surprise a few years ago...

My bank was at the max of 60:00. The plan was to buy the 10 vacation days and also add back 10ish hours in the same bid period. The problem is 12.N.9 says deposit transactions will be processed before any others. Since I was already at the max, I was unable to add any time. Had I purchased the 10 vacation days in the previous bid period, like I should have, there would have been enough head room to deposit that extra 10 hours.

It wasn't a huge deal, but I probably wouldn't have busted my hump WSing that extra 2 days if I had known. Normally the only reason I'll fly that much over 80 is to stuff time in the bank. Logic would say the two transactions would offset, but the PWA lays out the order they are processed so it wasn't allowed. Live and learn.

FlightCrewTools

This is a good one that I didn't know about. Unfortunately my category was too sick this year, but maybe next year. Thanks for pointing it out anyways.