max8222

I have vacation jan 6-12 2014. I do not think I can hold a line so I am left to Reserve or VTO. I would like to save most of my vacation for later in the year. If I bid VTO do they automatically subtract out 7x6=42 hrs from the VTO then give me trips or R days to make up the balance, or can i request a trip on a VTO that does not touch vacation and not use any?

The fall back is to bid reserve but I do not have a crash pad so not the best option.

Called futures but did not hear back.

Gunter

Good luck getting the time of day from futures. They got a waiver from our new corporate culture.

If you bid VTO, they will use all the vacation you have for January. Each day is worth 6 hrs. No expansion.

If you bid reserve you get the same days off but at 4:30 or so, if it touches reserve days. If it only touches your off days it will not deduct anything from your vacation bank.

With reserve you can also expand the vacation up to the value of your January vacation.

With either you can move it a few days.

golfandfly

I don't believe this is correct. At least as far as reserve goes. I won't talk about regular lines and vacation since you say that isn't viable for you.

January is a 5 week bid. You will sit 18 days of reserve. If you have 7 days of vacation (and do not extend it), you will sit 11 days of reserve. They will reconstruct your R days so you sit these 11 days. If you choose to extend your vacation to, say 8 days, you will sit 10 days of reserve. Get it? It does NOT matter if your vacation touches your R days.

Summary:

1. If you bid a secondary line you will use 42 vacation hours.

2. If you bid a reserve line and DO NOT extend it, you will use 7 times the R day value, which will be something less than 42 hours.

If you want to minimize the use of your vacation hours, you should bid reserve.

Hope this helps!

FlyBoyd

I'm new to this but I'm pretty sure it's 19 R days in the 35 day (5 week) bid.

golfandfly

You're right! Thanks.

We'll get this right eventually...

olly

Futures will debit your vac hour bank 42 hrs (7 days x 6 hrs/day) then build the rest of the vto with trips or r days predicated on your vto. E.g. If secondary lines are going to be 85.hrs they will target trips to a value of 43 hrs +/- . (85-42=43). Not enough trips for +/- 43 hrs, and they'll fill it in w r days.

If you bid reserve your vac bank will be debited 7 x dray value. (See sig notes or bidpack for r day value). E.g r day value 4:30 x 7 days= 31.5 hours debited, and you'll stand 12 r days (19-7).

The vacation section go the contract provides a clear explanation of how to expand your days off with those 42 hrs. 42/4.5= 9.3 days. So if you bid reserve you could spend 31.5 hours and stand 12 r days, or spend 42 hours and stand 10 r days because the low value of the dray (4:30) in this example.

kronan

You tend to get a bit more bang for your buck bidding reserve if you truly want those days off thanks to the buffers

You get more control over your vacation bank with a line....could use a few vacation hours, or a lot. All depending upon which line you are capable of holding. Eg. If it's a single departure line could use 70+ hours out if your bank
Or, could totally avoid touching any trips and use 0 hours-saving the hours for use later in the year

Only reason to bid VTO is when you have a big block of r days and want to max the blg. 15 days of vacation in a 4 week month is a 90ch blg

FrankTheTank

Also if your VTO contains Rdays, you will not get leveled for vacation like you would with a reserve line.

max8222

Everyone thanks for the help. I was able to speak with planning this morning and she verified that with reserve I have to use the 42 hrs of vacation knocking out 9 days of reserve and then if I want to expand I can. No way to use less hrs of vacation. I was awarded a VTO so will get trips or R days added to bring my month up within the VTO hrs range.
I was hoping for more trips in open time but not a lot there right now. Maybe more will be put in after vacation and training conflicts get put in next week.
Being junior with not a full month of vacation is like having PBS. Your vacation days are protected and thats about it. Having a line makes the world of difference with vacation. Everyone wonders why guys wait so long to upgrade. Well this is one of the many reasons.
Going back to the right seat of the 777 is looking better especially if they start excessing this spring. Friends my seniority in the right seat of the 777 are making more $$ and working about the same but on the days they want. I worked Thanksgiving week and will work Christmas week!

AFW_MD11

the part highlighted & underlined is NOT correct - whomever you spoke to gave you the WRONG info about Vacation on a Reserve line

you DO NOT "have to use the 42 hrs" of vacation - you only have to use 7 days x R-Day value for the month - and even if the R-Day value is 5:00, that still only equals 35 hrs of Vacation bank used. (& I don't think there are any R-Day values in our system for January that even approach 5:00)

sorry that it's too late for you to have been given the correct info (you said you ended up with a VTO line) - you might have decided (with the correct guidance) to bid a Reserve line vs. VTO - you would've used WAY less than 42 Vac hrs

what golfandfly and olly said about Vacation & Reserve are correct

we are in serious trouble if the SCHEDULERS don't even know how it all works!!!

or maybe she intentionally misled you? I'm not sayin'....I'm just sayin'.....trust?