8.26.21 – Monthly Vacation Buyback Available for the October 2021 Bid Month

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Monthly Vacation Buyback Available for the October 2021 Bid Month

The Company will open Monthly Vacation Buyback for the month of October per JCBA Section 8.F.2. Vacations that are completely in October are eligible. Vacations that originate in October and carry from October into November are eligible. Vacations that originate in September and carry into October are not eligible.

Per the Contract, the Company may make the vacation buyback available by base, so some bases may see more or less buyback than other bases. Monthly Vacation Buyback for October will open Thursday August 26th, at Noon (CT), and will close on Tuesday, August 31st, at Noon (CT). You may submit a ballot via the Vacation Management System (VMS) on Crew Portal. Buyback awards will be posted by Wednesday, September 1st.

Once in the Vacation Management System, select the ‘Vacation Actions’ Tab:

Monthly Vacation Buyback awards will be posted in the monthly buyback tab in VMS. If you are awarded vacation buyback, the designated vacation days and any VEX days attached will be removed and you will be able to bid trips on those days in PBS.

Here’s the fine print:

• Vacation buyback will be paid at your pay rate (excluding premiums) in your normal mid-month November paycheck on November 15th.
• Blocks of seven (7) or more days will be paid at four (4) hours per day. Blocks of less than seven (7) days will be paid at three and one-half (3.5) hours per day.
• If you were considering changing your Reserve Rotation, but could not because of your October vacation, this may be a good opportunity to use the Monthly Vacation Buyback and then bid onto Reserve. (If you have more than three days of vacation in a contractual month AND you bid onto Reserve that month, it would not count as your rotation per JCBA Section 12.A.3.b.)

In Solidarity,

Jeff Petersen
APFA National Contract Chair
[email protected]

Marti McMillan
APFA National Scheduling Chair
[email protected]

Renée Mayer
APFA JCBA Specialist
[email protected]