They sort of turn to vacaion days January 1st, but you have until I think the end of March to still use them as PB days. The process after the first of the year cutoff changes though. After Jan 1, you have to P/D the day and then call them and have them change the PD to a PB and that removes it from the bank. After the end of March, its locked into our crappy 3:15 vacation so that's the absolute worst ROI for those days in almost every case.

 

So prior to Jan1 I just put in for a personal drop and it automatically uses one of my pb days? Do reserve rules restrict me from using a pb day?

 

They do. Capped reserve day/days suck!

 

Schedules>PCS>Leave requests>PB days.

If you use them for reserve days they all pay the same. You can use them to drop a 330 trip. Say you have a 6 day trip you will receive pay for the first 2 days of the trip (whatever it pays on days 1 and 2) and the next 4 days will be a no pay drop. You must have adequate coverage to be able to use your PB days.

Scoop

 

I know others have (correctly) answered your questions piecemeal. These Q and A are directly from the Scheduling Reference Handbook, an outstanding publication available on the DALPA website.

Q: Can I use payback days in a regular line month to drop a trip? How will I be paid?

A: Yes, by mutual agreement with Crew Scheduling. You may enter your request in PCS under “Leave Requests” by selecting “Payback Days.” Your pay will depend on the number of payback days available for use. If the number of days available are sufficient to cover the entire rotation, that number of days will be used and you will be paid for the entire rotation. If the number of days is not sufficient to cover the entire rotation, all available payback days will be placed on the days of the rotation, beginning with the first of such days, and you will be paid the value of those days only. You will forfeit any pay or guarantee for the remainder of the rotation. Note that credit resulting from application of duty rigs is always tied to the last duty period of the rotation.

Q: Can I use a payback day to drop a reserve on call day? How will I be paid?

A: Yes, by mutual agreement with Crew Scheduling. You may enter your request in PCS under “Leave Requests” by selecting “Payback Days.” Your reserve guarantee will not be affected by the days awarded. You will be credited a reserve pro rata share for each on-call day dropped.

Q: Can I have payback days added to my current year vacation? How will I be paid?

A: Yes, by mutual agreement with Vacation Planning. Make this request by contacting the Vacation Planning Office. Your vacation bank will be increased by 3:15 per day added, and the days will subsequently be paid as any other vacation days are paid.

Q: What happens to my payback days if they are not used in the current year?

A: If the days have not been used prior to January 1, they will automatically be converted to supplemental (SUPP) vacation days to be used in the subsequent vacation year. If you wish to use the days in January, February, or March, you may enter a request for a personal drop, and then contact a Crew Scheduling supervisor to have the days of the personal drop converted to payback days, if desired.

 

Are the trips dropped with pay and credit? IOW does the credit stay thus not allowing you to WS?

 

Correct. But with the WS pickup limit of ALV + 15 how often does that come into play? In fact I had a particularly clever pilot once tell me that he used PB days to drop a trip... then white slipped the trip he just dropped! I think I bought him a beer just for the cool points.

 

Thanks. Just so I understand this correctly, they trips are dropped with pay and credit (still applied?)

 

Yes that is correct.

 

Does anybody know if FMLA is based on the state in which your based or where you commute from?