The buffer days are just moved away from the vacation and put somewhere else in the month.

So, in my scenario, they just take the 4 R-days removed for buffers and relocate them in the month - the pilot would sit reserve for 9 days, not 5?

Yes.

Buffers are days where they may not put activities, but the buffers don’t have an intrinsic vacation CH value.

So you just request where they go back into your schedule (but it's ultimately up to skeds) just like any rebuild request associated with vacation/reserve issues?

Yes. You are then only guaranteed the calendar days off that your vacation, buffer, and vacation extension (can’t remember if the correct word with reserve vacation is extension or expansion?) occupy. The rest of the days are “requests”. CRS will not leave a single reserve day sitting by itself either.

From memory here, so someone may correct me if the 2015 CBA changed it, but they have to leave the leftover R days in place and add any back in that are needed either in a new block or attached to a leftover. In other words, if you had a week of reserve in week 1, then had the rest of Reserve in weeks 3 and 4 which your vacation killed all but 2 days that were removed due to buffer, they couldn’t reconstruct all days in week 2. They would have to leave week 1 alone, and add the two days reconstruction on either side of week 1, or the two days in week 3.

Sorry if that’s clear as mud. I know what I mean, but it’s hard to express the contorted process elegantly.

You can also waive the buffers and leave them where they are on each side of your vacation.

No - I got your meaning. Any R-days part of the original line that aren't affected by the vaca or buffers stay where they orginally were. I remember it that way too.

Good point - leaving 2 R-days dangling before vaca on the 777 is about as close as one can get to guaranteed days with pay and no work. Not a lot of 2-day trips. :D

In this scenario, the pilot would get paid for three of the four days that were knocked out by the buffer. The fourth day would be moved to somewhere else in the bid month. The three days that were knocked out by the buffer would count as the vacation extension. The most days that can be knocked out are 10.

What if you have both reserve and training in same month as vacation, and your reserve line falls on both your training and Vaca? Do you get paid for R days dropped by vaca, or since the training is on the line (and should drop the whole R line) does the whole R line drop out and you have to bid your entire RLG on the make up bid, instead of the difference between the RLG and remaining R days after vaca takes the R days out?

I looked at the CBA but couldn’t find Anything.