Vacation Fly Through and Reserve Guarantee

May 3 - There have recently been some changes regarding affecting how a Reserve’s monthly minimum guarantee is calculated when she/he elects to fly through a period of vacation. 

There have recently been some changes regarding affecting how a Reserve’s monthly minimum guarantee is calculated when she/he elects to fly through a period of vacation. 

At the outset, whenever a Reserve elects to fly through a period of vacation, she/he has made a decision to take pay in lieu of the actual vacation period. The value of the vacation is placed in “Add Pay” and is paid in addition to the Reserve guarantee. However, depending on the timing of when the election is made (Advance or Operational Fly Through) and the number of Reserve days of availability encompassed by the vacation, there may also be a reduction to the minimum: 

Advance Fly Through requests are submitted no later than 1000 HDT on the 5th day of the calendar month prior to the month in which the vacation is scheduled to begin. When a Flight Attendant elects for the Advance fly through and is awarded a Reserve line, the line will be awarded with the originally scheduled days on and/or off as they appeared in the bid packet with no Vacation days. The value of the Vacation days will appear in Add Pay.  Because the Reserve will be fully available for assignment by the company for the full month, there will be no reduction to the Reserve minimum. Vacation is paid in lieu of vacation and the pay is placed in add pay.

Operational Fly Through requests are made by contacting Inflight Admin (FAST) at 1-800-FLT-LINE (option 4, option 2) or via CCS Virtual Chat any time before the Vacation period begins after lines have been awarded. When a Flight Attendant elects for operational fly through after having been awarded a Reserve line, the Vacation days will be removed and will become days free from availability, appearing as “OFF” in the line. (In other words, Reserve days of availability that were part of the originally awarded line will not are not restored.) The value of the Vacation days will appear in Add Pay, however in this case the Reserve minimum will be reduced by the number of Reserve days of availability that were part of the awarded line and were encompassed by the vacation.

For example, Jane is awarded Reserve line 6210. It is a 30-day month and the line was built with 12 days off. Jane has vacation from the 10th to the 16th. Here is an illustration of a portion of the line showing both the vacation and the originally scheduled Reserve (R) days and Days off:

 

09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
OFF	VAC R	VAC R	VAC R	VAC R	VAC OFF	VAC OFF	VAC R	R	R	R

 

Jane then elects to fly through her vacation. The value of the vacation days is moved to her Add Pay (22:45), and each of the vacation days become “OFF” days in her schedule. Here again is the illustration, now showing the fly through with the originally scheduled Reserve days on and off:

 

09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
OFF	OFF R	OFF R	OFF R	OFF R	OFF OFF	OFF OFF	OFF R	R	R	R

 

Since Jane elected to fly through her vacation operationally, the originally awarded Reserve days of availability are not returned to her schedule and are instead considered days off on which she may pick up flying from other Flight Attendants (or as otherwise permitted by the company) consistent with the provisions of Section 8.M. of our JCBA. She will be relieved of her Reserve obligation on her original Reserve days of availability encompassed by her vacation, her Reserve minimum guarantee will be reduced by the value of each of these days (4:20 x 5 = 21:40).

Therefore, her new Reserve minimum will be 56:20, and she will have 22:45 of Add Pay. (Any additional flying that is picked up on days off will then increase the amount in Add Pay and will be paid above the Reserve minimum.)

If you have additional questions, please read our Reserve Review article on Reserve Lines and Vacations or contact your Local Council.