1.24.24 – APFA DCA Base Brief – 2024-25 Annual Vacation Bidding

2024-25 Annual Vacation Bidding

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

It is that time of the year for our vacation bidding to open. Round 1 of the annual vacation bidding opens on January 29. Round 2 bidding covers Flight Attendants who still have days left to bid due to not being awarded their selections in the primary bid, failed to bid round 1 or have carry forward days from the previous year. All vacation days will be awarded or assigned by the secondary round.

During the annual vacation bid you may designate up to 20% of your vacation accrual as filler days with a maximum of six filler days per year. If you elect to designate filler days during the annual vacation bid, you can participate in the monthly filler day bid for the months you would like to schedule your filler days. Monthly filler day bids are awarded in seniority order.

Once vacation is awarded, you can trade or rebid vacation throughout the year with other Flight Attendants in DCA or through the monthly rebid process.

Vacation pay is a daily rate based on the number of vacation days in a block:

≤ 6 days are paid and credited 3.5 hours per day
≥ 7 consecutive days are paid and credited 4.0 hours per day

Vacation pay is also based on your longevity when your vacation is taken. You can maximize the value of your vacation days by bidding for a period after your annual pay rate increase.

You can request up to four Vacation Extension (VEX) days per vacation block if you have seven or more consecutive vacation days. There are no blackout dates for VEX days, and they are not seniority-driven. VEX days may be placed before, after, or split in any combination on either side of a vacation period. They may also be placed in the bid month prior to your vacation or carry into the next bid month. VEX day requests must be entered two months prior to the bid month you would like the VEX days to be placed or two months prior to the bid month in which your vacation starts – whichever is earlier. VEX days are unpaid and uncredited; they are used as a placeholder to prevent PBS from assigning
you a sequence or a reserve day. Once the PBS award is final, they become regular days off, and you may pick up a trip on those days, if desired.

Only ETB can be utilized to fly over vacation days. Reserves can also fly over their vacation and be paid above guarantee. Line holders and Reserves will receive both pay for vacation and sequences flown.

DCA has 12,255 vacation days to bid, (+)196 days (year over year). This increase is due to headcount and new hires receiving vacation.

The DCA Annual Vacation Day Matrix for 2024-2025 shows increased bid days for June through December 2024 and January and February 2025 with decreases in March and April 2025 (year over year). Of course, we will ask for additional vacation days in the summer months and over the holidays. The vacation days added to January and February we would like to see those added to March and April to smooth them out.

DCA Preliminary Vacation Day Matrix

DCA Preliminary Vacation Filler Day Matrix

The final vacation matrix will be published once the annual vacation bid opens. DCA Vacation buyback was awarded at 10% or 1269 days. (56 bidders). Systemwide vacation buyback at 14.1% or 75,018 days.
Vacation buyback was awarded to all who applied.

Annual Accrual

Vacation is accrued monthly in the calendar year: January 1 through December 31. The number of vacation days you accrue is contractual, based on your years of active service:

Your annual accrual will show on the AVBA summary page via Crew Portal > Monthly Bids > Vacation > Annual > Summary. You may view your 2023 accrued sick hours and vacation days in Crew Portal by selecting “Last Year SK/VC Accrual – (HISK/L)” under the FOS Screens.

Check the “AAC SK/VC” Column in the HISK to verify if you have accrued sick and vacation for the month.