Originally Posted by Spicy McHaggis (Post 2950689)

Our current vacation calendar year is probably one of the dumbest things we have in our contract.

Doing the bidding in September for a Jan 1st - Dec 31 makes a hell of a lot more sense.

Originally Posted by O2pilot (Post 2950732)

It actually doesn't matter when we bid. We are bidding and entire year, and you can choose to take vacation whenever you want. You're just stuck on the award window not lining up from Jan 1 - Dec 31. I prefer the way we bid now. January works out better because I have a better idea of what friends we will vacation with are doing in January in the Spring/Summer, and in September I'd be guessing. Plus the vacation year ending in Dec would mean that a lot of pilots would not take vacation and hope to have Christmas and New Years off, which is why its May-April.

Originally Posted by Spicy McHaggis (Post 2950739)

It does make it difficult to know if you’ll even have vacation in the spring/summer. That makes it difficult to book vacations that need to be booked 6mo-1yr out. In the Sept bidding system this wasn’t a problem. You also know over a year out if you’re off for Christmas.

Originally Posted by Itsajob (Post 2950607)

Then those people don’t get the good stuff. The seniority system rewards longevity and everyone doesn’t get a trophy. Those with the seniority to get the good stuff now put up with the leftovers getting there. Not everyone gets to be a captain, not everyone can fly the 777 or 787, not everyone gets the good vacation slots, and very few can pull off all three at the same time.

Anyway, this doesn’t have much to do with picking United or Delta. Both are great places to be, however they are only as good as their current contract and management team. If I had an offer from both I’d go with the one with a big base that I’d want to live in or that I could easily commute to. Both companies are great places to be and should be around for a long time. Decide where you want to live and enjoy a great ride.

Originally Posted by aileronjam (Post 2950928)

You missed the point... not everyone with better seniority has put in the time to earn it. Some have seniority that wasn’t earned... it was given to them.

Originally Posted by Spicy McHaggis (Post 2950934)

Seniority is a position on a list, not how long one has been on a list. That’s longevity. 80 or 90% after being on a list for 12 years is still 80 or 90%.

Originally Posted by Spicy McHaggis (Post 2950689)

Our current vacation calendar year is probably one of the dumbest things we have in our contract.

Doing the bidding in September for a Jan 1st - Dec 31 makes a hell of a lot more sense.

Originally Posted by aileronjam (Post 2950928)

You missed the point... not everyone with better seniority has put in the time to earn it. Some have seniority that wasn’t earned... it was given to them.

Originally Posted by Itsajob (Post 2950950)

My guess is that long after the last LUAL/LCAL pilot is retired, people will still be bringing up SLI issues. That list was handed down to us almost 10 years ago. Time to move on.