I am personally in the any two weeks camp. The vast majority of pilots here don't want two consecutive weeks of vacation because it is pointless to have two consecutive weeks of vacation. If we started bidding for what we intended to actually use, these stupid shenanigans with bidding and trading to your cartel buddies or sugar daddies would stop and you would see a more equitable spread of vacation throughout the list.
I am all about seniority. The super senior should absolutely get the weeks of vacation they desire. They can do that, however, without block bidding 5 weeks of summer vacation that they will not use just to turn around and trade them out of seniority to their buddies. I once flew with a guy and watched him trade into a summer week for 5 buddy passes. Wtf? How is that any different than paying someone cash?

Surely you can't be serious.

YES YES YES 1000 TIMES YES!!! But jeebus forgive that I suggest such a thing on the line or the forums. How dare I take away their little cottage industry of using vacation weeks as currency... [emoji35]


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I kept hearing how much better everything was done at AirTran compared to what is done at SWA. So if that is the case I thought I would throw out the idea of how they did vacation bidding.
In reality I believe that 2 weeks of block bidding or bidding any 2 weeks in the 1st round would be fair.

1,001 FO's can hold captain and are bypassing right now. Plug captain is now at 61.9% seniority as of Sep 1 vacancy bid. Interesting...

For those with class dates and applying, the new-hires hitting the line and done with IOE went to BWI, MDW, OAK, MCO and it still looks like one should be able to hold anything within 2-3 months from hitting the line with the exception of ATL.

ATL is rapidly approaching the bottom of the AirTran FOs. There were a few 6 digit guys who got in there this bid. I would say a couple more good months like this and all the tran guys who want back will get there. Many of them have moved to other bases. ATL is finally growing a bit, albeit slowly.
Once this happens, ATL is going to start going a lot more junior. I wouldn't be surprised to see it even out into a Denver type of base in the next couple of years.

What, if anything, is stopping the bottom ~60% of the seniority list from fixing this? Or do you guys think this is that what's likely about to happen with the vote in November? From the outside looking in it seems like a no brainier to vote in a new system that, while still allowing the most senior to get the vacation they want/deserve, is more equitable across the board.

It's going to change. There is no doubt. It isn't even the bottom 60 percent. It's more like the bottom 70-75 percent.
The union proposed a change a few years ago in a very "old swapa" way of doing things. They put out a survey. It was the modern equivalent of "Saddam yes or Saddam no?" and was (not shockingly) found to be inconclusive. Enough guys called BS to have the new regime put out a well thought out and researched education piece and set up a vote that will actually impose the will of the majority.
I am still relatively junior and I don't expect a summer week or Christmas. That will come in time. I just hate the current system as it stands. It is (in my opinion) corrupt and not being used as it was intended.

Good to hear common sense is hopefully about to prevail.

It may not matter. Even if the group overwhelmingly votes to change the company may come back and ask for concessions in exchange. Especially if they determine that doing so will increase their costs. Plus whatever burden costs they have in reprogramming the scheduling software to the new system.

Hopefully they wouldn't fight us on this, but if recent history is any indication, nothing is free.


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