I always used 40% as my guide. Could certainly happen at lower %, but you are contractually protected from coverage >50% of LINEHOLDERS during a holiday month. If you figure 15-20% of pilots on reserve, 1/2 of 80% = 40%. That’s how I came up with my rough gauge. Christmas is seemingly the hardest to get off. Holiday pay will help.

Im around 55-60% in my seat. Bid to fly 4th of July. Not only did I get it off, but I also didn't get a single GS call to fly any trip that touched the 4th. If that's any indicator of how the new holiday pay is going to affect holidays, I think you stand a very good chance of being off on Christmas.

Greenslips over the 24th and 25th will pay spectacularly well. 31:30 pay for 2 days work. With this contract Delta said you may have to work hard, but we will certainly reward you.

Before the pandemic it seemed to vary between 70-80% to be the last one to hold December 24 and/or 25 off on reserve (though in some categories reserve w/Christmas off went way senior). During/post pandemic it seemed to be more around 60-70%. It seemed to just really depend on the size of the category and how well or short staffed it was. Shorter staffed categories will necessitate being closer to 60%.

I’ve seen some really small categories where it was more like 50% to get the holiday off, but that’s rare. The general range that I’ve observed is 60-75%. I bid reserve exclusively during my first year at Delta, and the first time I was ever awarded a REG line was in my 2nd December, because I could not hold the 24th/25th off on RSV. I could hold the days off with a REG line, though.

All my AE bidding is driven by whether or not I can hold Christmas off in the new category, so I tend to watch it. I’ve got a handicapped 78 year old mother who is a widow, and she will spend Christmas by herself if I’m not here to drive her to see the rest of the family.

I’m not so sure. I was willing to fly on the 4th to get the holiday pay. But I will be home on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m sure a lot of more senior pilots feel the same.

I wonder how many will pass on the next couple AEs for this same reason? I would guess some will hold out and start in January after the holidays because now we know for sure which month class will be and there are no more excuses like “I have a family event.” We can plan on vacations being liquidated too BS said.

The next two AEs will be November and December training. Plus there should be wide body openings as we start to prepare for a busy summer 2024!

IBe been told by AA buddies they've had holiday pay for a while and Christmas off goes very junior. I'll be surprised if I work Christmas this year

I've been wondering this too. If they keep with the monthly bids for the long term, I imagine the August and September bids will consistently be the most junior ones of the year.

Maybe..a lot of people (with kids) don't like to train during the summer though also. But Delta also doesn't like to train as much during the summer either due to that being our busiest flying period. It'll be interesting to see if there's a pattern.

Good point too. Last year there was an August AE. Those remarks stated that new planes and summer 2023 was the reason so most new positions. Those included a lot of WBB spots.

It seems like August/September is the start of Summer prep for the next year. This would allow folks to be on the line come January. Really, the summer travel begins during the spring break time frame so the timing makes sense.

Last year’s August AE was massive. I’d expect the same for this year (but half and half split between August and September). Even tho we have monthly AEs, we can still look at last year for trends because 2024 will basically be an exact copy of 2023.

Someone told me we need 18,000 pilots for next year. Is this true?