10.22.21 – November 2021 Monthly Vacation Buyback

Friday, October 22, 2021

November 2021 Monthly Vacation Buyback

Monthly vacation buyback will be offered for the November contractual month. As an exception for November, APFA and AA have signed a Letter of Agreement that modifies language in JCBA Section 8.F.2.

After seeing the minimum hourly constraints placed on many bases for November, it is easy to see that staffing is tight, regardless of what management tells us. Flight Attendants will be left to clean up American’s staffing shortcomings through constant reschedules, adding more disruption to our already chaotic work lives, much like we experienced this summer. Instead of relying on our rescheduling language to staff the airline, APFA Leadership had a choice to make. Either allow vacation buyback for November to ease some of the pressure on Flight Attendants or decline the offer and make the lives of Lineholders and Reserves much more complicated and unpredictable for November. Seven out of eleven crew bases had a minimum line constraint of 70 hours at seniority number one during the PBS run, indicating staffing shortages. APFA Leadership is obligated to explore all options for relief to minimize reschedules and disruptions for our crews.

Flight Attendants with blocks of vacation days originating November 1st through December 1st will be eligible to participate in the buyback. You may only sell back full blocks of vacation days. If you are on Reserve and choose to participate in the buyback, you will be obligated for all Reserve days in that block.

Your vacation days will be paid out at 4.0 hours per day for blocks of seven (7) or more consecutive days, while blocks of six (6) or fewer consecutive days will be paid at 3.5 hours per day, excluding premiums. Selling back your vacation allows you to pick up more time from TTS/UBL, including Red Flag. If you sell back seven (7) days of vacation for 28 hours, the number of hours you may pick up from TTS/UBL will increase by 28. You will be paid for the vacation buyback in your December mid-month paycheck.

To submit your vacation buyback request, click on the Vacation Tab in Crew Portal. Select Monthly Bidding, then click on Vacation Actions. A pencil will appear under the Monthly Buyback column for any eligible block(s) of vacation.

The bidding window for the November monthly vacation buyback opened today, October 22nd at Noon (CDT) and will close Wednesday, October 27th at Noon (CDT). Awards will be posted by Noon (CDT) on Thursday, October 28th.

Information on Monthly Vacation Buyback is located in the VMS Guide on Crew Change. If you have further questions regarding your vacation or the monthly buyback, email [email protected] or call the Vacation Support Desk: 1-800-VIP-CREW, # 8.

APFA Contract & Scheduling Desk

Call or text 817-540-0108
Monday – Friday, 0700 – 1900 (CDT)

APFA Live Messaging
Monday – Friday: 1500 – 2300 (CDT)
Weekends and Holidays: 0900 – 1700 (CDT)
(Link may be found on homepage of APFA.org)

In Solidarity,

Jeff Petersen
APFA National Contract Chair

Marti McMillan
APFA National Scheduling Chair

Renée Mayer
APFA JCBA Specialist

[email protected]