Agreed 100%. It's absolutely insane that we have to pick our vacation so far out. I barely know what I'm doing next week, let alone 4-15 months from now. I would love to have a week that is "banked" for us to use at any time. I would rather not see a limit on set on their use, but rather be able to use it day-by-day, anytime through the year.

UPS can chose to bank 2 weeks of vacation and use it throughout the year. They can use as few or as many as they want at any time up to 5 days prior to a trip. The company does set limits on their use, much like our coverage/APD requirements. The only downside is that if it's not used, it gets paid out at the end of the year...I'd rather not see an option to sell back any vacation.

Below 30% the primary won't get you a summer vacation either. Stringing weeks together is a bad strategy for reserve.

Interesting, I have always been able to get a summer week even when quite junior. My category had early June and late August weeks available after the first round. I agree however we need a better distribution of weeks available.

I've never held a week between memorial day and labor day, ever. I bid them top priority every year.

I hate to corroborate sailing here, but I got a week in June and I’m pretty junior in category. It wasn’t the right week in June, but beggars, choosers etc.


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'>>Below 30% the primary won't get you a summer vacation either.<<

One "solution" that some guys have figured out...

--Get on a WB with 6 day (or longer) trips.

--Drop two of them over the summer with IVD days...there's a month (or close to it) off. You will take a pay hit in those months, fly it back as best you can while kids are in school. (I ask myself.."When will your son be eight years old again?")

I understand that some guys are after every dollar they can make so this won't work for them, but it works for others. I don't think the company thought about how this language could hurt them.

I've done the same thing with the APD for years, it was the only way until the IVDs came along. There are ways to get time off but vacation (the subject of the thread) is not evenly available through out the year. The disparity is 5 weeks available per period in the summer versus 25 in January and February. I understand there's more flying in the summer but not 5X more.

That’s not how math works, though. In a hypothetical base/cat of 100 pilots, you may have a surplus of 25 pilots in February. It doesn’t take 5x the flying to reduce that surplus to 5.

I have recently moved from FO to CAPT and the summer vacations do not seem to be as highly prized in the left seat.


Purely anecdotal, but if you think about it there are probably a few reasons:


The more any category is filled with Geezers, think WB CAPT, the less likely they are to have kids in school thus not chasing the summer vacations.


The Geezers have limited time left and often see summer as Prime GS'ing time. Think $$$$$$$.


Disclaimer: I intend no slight in any way to the Geezers among us - In fact I hope to be one of them eventually.


Scoop

The widebody guys I know view it differently. They want GS’s but many trips are hard time. They plug in vacation in the summer to free up block to GS.