Taking Time Off
 

I have found many reasons to leave my desk job and make the jump to the regionals. One benefit that will be sorely lost is paid time off for the holidays and four weeks paid vacation.

I imagine each regional has its nuances for taking time off, but how has it been for you requesting time off? Should I plan to kiss it good-bye for a while? Would it be realistic to plan a week with the family after 9-12 months?

Thank you.

Republic has 2 weeks paid vacation for your first year. Your paid days off accrual increases slightly each year. Vacations are bid twice a year for the next six months. So like everything else, your seniority will determine how likely you are to get vacation on the week(s) that you desire. Other than that, we have golden days off (GDOs). These are basically a mechanism to lock in a group of three days off before the regular month bid is run. You can use them twice a year. They don't get you additional days off that month, they just make it much easier to get a few days off that you really want. Between GDOs and regular days off, I was able to string together a week-long stretch of time off without using vacation last year. That was with about six months on property.

I plan on taking at least 7-10 days off in a row every month without touching my vacation time. The vacations are saved for summer where I can take 15+ days off in a row.

A good contract with good schedule flexibility will let you do that.

Awesome. But can a 3-month FO do that?

In DAY and CVG you can do that about 3 months after finishing IOE. Possibly sooner if not as soon as finishing IOE with as much hiring as we are doing now. CLT could take closer to 6 months.

Ive been with my regional for 2 years and Ive had a total of 4 days vacation.

Working for Envoy, living in base and bidding reserve can eventually get you lots of time at home. Reserve utilization is done in reverse seniority order, which enables senior people to sit at home A LOT. Granted you have to show up at the airport at minimum 2 hours after receiving a call.

Why are you still at Mesa then ?😆😅😆😄😃😂😁😀😆😅😄😃😂😁

OP, this is a very difficult question for anyone to answer here..every airline is different, it's all based off seniority/contract...

I'm at RAH, and I can tell you, I'm home more than I'm gone. I'm sitting reserve in Pittsburgh and flew only 5 days last month, but usually I fly a little more than that. If I wanted a line, I would be gone a lot more obviously.

What WILL change is the fact that you don't know your schedule more than a month in advance which makes it difficult to plan some life events..you can obviously bid the days you want off but nothing is guaranteed especially when you're junior. As for vacations, at my company you get 2 weeks but you have to take the full 7 days at a time twice a year-you can't split your vacation days up really and the dates you request are all based on what you can hold seniority wise.

Overall, between my experience and my friends at other airlines, you should have more free time than someone with a 9-5 m-f job, and for the most part people that don't are choosing to work extra. Do I get burned out some months, yes, but I know I have a lot better schedule than someone that sits in a cubicle all week-even if I had a line. Usually given 2-4 days off at a time, and those are your full days off-don't have to bring work home with you! Good luck!

I have some responsibilities that require a days travel each way, what should I look for in a contract to make the situation tenable? I probably need to make a trip once every three months, 5 days total may be doable, 7 - 10 would be magic... short notice and flexibility is fine, but trips are too far to cut short. Won't be forever.

Depends on the company and domicile. You would probably get a better answer asking the question in the thread for the regional(s) which have bases where you plan to live.

In general not a lot of CONTROL over schedule for the first 6-9 months, but you may get plenty of time off waiting for training or on reserve. But hard to plan around that. You should typically have 2 weeks vacation available after 12 months.

But vacation is not necessarily the only option, you can usually bid for some number of days off in a row and use that instead of or to supplement vacation. More seniority makes that easier. The downside to bidding days off is that you don't know for sure until the month prior. Actual vacation allows you to do long-term planning.

Shouldn't be a problem, unless you get stuck on reserve bidding hard lines which probably don't have more than four days off in a row. That would depend on the company and the domicile.

Also there's a work around since you only need travel once a quarter...bid 4-5 days off at the end of one month and then do the same at the beginning of the next month. Only limitation there is that it won't work if there's a big holiday during that timeframe (unless you're senior in base).

BTW...if your travel is for military reserve duty then you don't have to worry about the time off. They just have to give it to you, plus travel days, plus enough time to rest before and after travel.

I'm not familiar with all airlines, but I believe Envoy, PSA, and Piedmont only get one week of vacation after 12 months. Due to recent concessionary contracts, pilots get significantly less vacation today than in the past. It's pretty difficult to get time off.

Restoring some of the lost vacation would go a long way to repairing the abysmal quality of life.

Average of 15/30 days off. Versus many jobs which get 8/30 off. And there is zero physical labor involved. But it's abysmal?

Where do you work? At my job, it's tough to get more than 11 days off each month, often less. 15 days of just doesn't happen. Yes, the quality of life is abysmal. Obviously, your employer is much better. I am looking to move up to greener pastures.

I work at same company and I've been here less than 6 months, not in the most junior base, and I have 15 days off, 12 in a row, making 4 hours over guarantee. Life could definitely be much, much worse.

Not an issue at PSA......At all.

Funny how what you read on the internet vs. what you hear on the line is the complete opposite.

I haven't taken actual vacation time yet, but I have been able to bid days off I want and get a large chunk off to go vacation as I please. As a result I have just over 4 weeks of vacation time saved up. Just under 2 years at my regional.

Some folks will do this, bank the vacay and then use it or cash it in at the higher rate after they upgrade.

Are you saying it's difficult to get time off at PSA? If yes, you are doing it wrong.

Unless you're senior and only do plum locals and standups, the opportunity cost of being on the road eats pretty deeply into those 15 days off.

By the time I catch up on all the stuff I missed while I was gone, 15 days off is about a wash with 9-5 jobs. At 18 days off I start to feel good about life.

If you're single and are attracted to FA's then being on the road may not be so bad, but people with families pay a price.

I hear ya. I opted to move so as not to have to commute, but not everyone wants to do that.

What "plum locals and stand ups"? They've been almost non-existent for a long time...:confused:

Not trying to be an ass, but when you got into the career you did know that travel and time away from home is all part of being a pilot? I have family too, and yes it sucks being gone, but I usually have more quality time with my family than the 9-5 stiffs in my neighborhood. In fact most of the folks I know work more like 10 and 12 hour days and other than dinner with the family have very little personal time until the weekend. A few years back I had the best flying job out there in term's of quality of life... average 7 days a month flying, very few overnights, never weekends or holidays. Sadly, that job doesn't exist anymore.

For Pilots flying for the regionals, are there special provisions to allow a pilot to take a leave of absence without pay to fly 3-4 months (in a row) out of the year for the Government, non-military. Drug eradication program.