Vacation Bidding Now Open

Date: October 24, 2020

As we discussed in our last E-Lines, Vacation bidding opened today, October 23^rd and will close on October 31. We encourage everyone who wishes to participate to bid during this first round of bidding to ensure you have a positive outcome on the days you’d like to hold.

Buy Back Vacation Change

If you elected to participate in the Vacation Buy Back, you need to be aware of Section 12.D.7. of our Contract that provides that Vacation Buy Back shall not be utilized during a Flight Attendant furlough.

While we remain hopeful that Congress will enact the CARES Act, Vacation bidding opened today and there was pre-work with regard to allocations that needed to be completed in the days immediately prior to bids opening.  Regrettably, Vacation Buy Back cannot be completed because the furlough issue is not resolved and the company needs to include the appropriate number of vacation days in the allocation tales.  Vacation Buy Back has been backed out from the vacation screens and any days initially specified for Buy Back are now included in your vacation allocation for bidding.

For this reason, we strongly encourage you to view any updated vacation allocation, which may have recently changed, to bid during this first bid period.  

What Happens if I Don't Bid for Vacation?

If a Flight Attendant does not submit a vacation bid in the first round of bidding, they will be considered a No Bid. No vacation will be assigned during the first round of vacation bidding. You will, however, be required to bid all of your accrued days in the second vacation bid round. If a Flight Attendant does not submit a vacation bid in the second round of bidding, she/he will automatically be assigned a vacation. Keep in mind, the vacation you are assigned will be after the second-round vacation awards have been completed for all Flight Attendants submitting a bid. The assigned vacation will be made in seniority order from December backward through January, with the largest block of days being assigned first.

What if My Bid is considered an Insufficient Bid?

When a Flight Attendant submits a vacation bid and is unable to hold any of her/his selections, she/he is considered an Insufficient Bid. In this instance, vacation is assigned in seniority order from December backward through January after that round of vacation has been awarded to all bidders. The assignment shall be based on the number of days in your bid with the largest block of days assigned first.

2021 Flight Attendant Vacation Timeline

For additional information regarding 2021 Vacation bidding reference the 2021 vacation page on Unitedafa.org.