How do you earn vacation?
Vacation accrues according to your years of service and the number of months of active service in the preceding year, once you complete probation. § 8.A.1 Less than 12 months of active service in the preceding year means your accrual is prorated. § 8.A.2 You accrue vacation for each contractual month in which you are on active status for at least 15 calendar days. If you were active for fewer than 15 days, you still accrue if you reach at least 40 hours of pay and credit in that month. § 8.A.3
How is vacation paid?
A block of seven or more consecutive vacation days is paid and credited at four hours per day at your rate of pay. Blocks of fewer than seven days are paid at four hours and credited at 3.5 hours per day. Your longevity at the time the vacation is taken decides the rate. § 8.B.1 Premium pay (Lead, Purser, Galley, Speaker, International and CRAF) is paid while you’re on vacation as Section 3 specifies. § 8.B.2
How does the vacation bid work?
You bid in periods of four or more consecutive days. The exception is one block of one, two or three days per year. There is no limit on the vacation days you can bid in a month. § 8.C.1
The primary bid is filed on or before March 7th, based on the previous calendar year’s accrual, and stays open at least 30 days. The vacation year runs from the May to April contractual months. Periods are awarded in seniority order, and results are posted no later than March 15th. § 8.C.2.a The company must offer for bid each month at least 4.5% of the total vacation days at each base in July, August and December, and at least 3% in all other months. § 8.C.2.c
If you weren’t awarded some or all of your vacation, didn’t bid, or have carry-forward days, you can bid on open days in the secondary bid, completed on or before March 23rd. § 8.C.3 If you still don’t get your days, or don’t bid in either round, the company assigns them, starting from December 31st and working backwards in groups of seven days, in seniority order. § 8.C.4 Final results are posted by March 31st. § 8.C.5
What is the monthly rebid?
Vacation days given up because of separation, a leave of absence, periods not awarded, or an earlier rebid are posted for rebid for at least ten days and awarded in seniority order no later than the first of each month, a month ahead. § 8.C.6.a A request to cancel or rebid vacation can’t leave you with an additional block of fewer than four days if you already have one. § 8.C.6.c
Can unused vacation carry over?
Not normally. Vacation is not cumulative and must be taken in the vacation year after the one in which you earned it. § 8.D.1 If circumstances beyond your control stop you taking it, the company looks at each case on its merits and decides whether you can carry the accrual over to open periods the next year. § 8.D.2 Unassigned carry-forward days must be bid in the secondary bid or are assigned. § 8.D.3
What are filler days?
You can hold back 20% of your accrued vacation days, to a maximum of seven days, to use as filler days, which must be taken in the vacation year after accrual. § 8.E.1 Filler days come from a separate pool of vacation slots, never less than 5% of the average vacation days allotted at each base. § 8.E.2 They are awarded for the next month on or before the 8th, right after the monthly rebid. § 8.E.3.b They are paid at the same rate as a vacation day. § 8.E.3.d
Can you sell vacation back?
Each year, each crew base must make available at least 5.5% of the total annual vacation accrual (excluding carryover) for buyback, awarded in seniority order before the annual vacation bid. It is paid in the following year, no later than the first pay period in June. § 8.F.1 After that the company may, at its sole discretion, offer additional monthly buyback, except that in any month it flexes the line maximum upward it must offer monthly vacation buyback for that month. § 8.F.2 § 10.D.11.d Buyback is paid as pay, no credit, above the guarantee for reserves, and doesn’t count toward your monthly maximum. § 8.F.4
Can the company make you work or cancel your vacation?
No. You can’t be required to work during a vacation, and once vacation is awarded the company can’t cancel it. § 8.G.1 § 8.J.4 You may choose to pick up ETB time on a vacation day. § 8.G.2
Trades, transfers and leaving the company
You can trade a vacation period with another flight attendant in your base through the ETB by the 5th of the month before the trade, as long as neither of you ends up with more than one grouping of three days or less in the year. § 8.I If you transfer bases you keep your vacation dates. § 8.H If you leave after finishing probation you’re paid for accrued vacation. § 8.J.2 A vacation period runs from 0000 to 2359 Home Base Time. § 8.J.3
Are these rules in effect yet?
Not all of them at once. Provisions of the 2024 agreement take effect on the first day of the bid month after ratification unless the Implementation Timeline Letter of Agreement (L1) gives them a later date, and until a delayed provision is implemented the matching provision of the prior agreement stays in effect. § L1.A § L1.E
L1’s Attachment A lists the value of a vacation day (8.B.1) and the seven-day filler day maximum (8.E) as taking effect in the 2025–26 vacation fiscal year (May 2, 2025). [[L1.AttA@2]] Removing the 80% lineholder / 20% reserve split for vacation buyback (8.F.2) took effect at signing. § L1.AttA
“A Flight Attendant must bid vacation in periods of four (4) or more consecutive days, provided that a Flight Attendant may bid one (1) block of either one (1), two (2) or three (3) consecutive days per year.”
“Once awarded, vacation shall not be cancelled by the Company.”
“A Flight Attendant will not be required to work during a vacation.”
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