Get ready for 2027 vacation bidding

Vacation bidding for 2027 is almost here.  You can find the specific language on Vacation Bidding in our contract Article 11: page 123.

Vacation slots for each base will be posted electronically no later than Oct 21st @ 5pm PST

Round 1 bids Open Oct. 1st @ 9am and close Oct 21st @ 5pm. PDT via eCrew.

Round 1 Vacation awards will be posted no later than November 1st @ 5pm

   Allowable carryover:

• 5 years and under 78 hours
• 5-20 years 117 hours
• 20 and over 142.5 hours

Full time accruals:

• 5 Years or less 2.1666 hours
• Between 5 and 20 years 3.25
• Over 20 years 3.9583

Reduced Credit accruals:

• 5 Years or less 1.0833
• Between 5 and 20 years 1.625
• Over 20 years 1.9792

How to calculate your total vacation weeks available:

1.       Look at your paystub. How many vacation hours do you have available. 

2.       Do you have any weeks booked for the rest of 2026? Each vacation week is worth 17 or 2.43 per day.

3.       Are you a full-time or a part-time status Flight Attendant?

4.       As of September 5th, we have 7 paychecks till the end of the year.  Depending on your seniority, your accrual will determine how many hours you can add to your amount listed on your paystub.

Let’s do an example:   Jimmy is a 18-year, full time Flight Attendant with an accrual rate of 3.25.  We know from above that there are 7 paychecks left in 2024. (7x3.25) Which equals 22.75 hours. Jimmy’s last paystub had a total of 103.88 hours and has 2 weeks of vacation booked for the Holidays.

103.88+22.75=126.63

However, we must subtract the weeks booked for 2026. Each week is worth 17 hours.

126.63-34.00=92.63

Then we divide by 17 to get the total weeks available to bid.

92.63/17=5.44   

Jimmy will have 5 weeks to bid in 2027!

 If you find yourself over the allotment on Dec. 31st; One week of vacation; 17 hours will be paid out on January 20, 2027.  After the 17-credit maximum payout, all vacation that is still above the allowable carry over may be forfeited to the company as unused.  

Example: If you have a total of 140 vacation hours and your max carryover is 117 then 17 hours will be paid out on Jan 20th and 6 hours may be forfeited back to the company.

 Notes:

• No less than 60% of the annual accrual, per base, will be put out for bid (Improvement from 40-50% in years past)
• Probationary Flight Attendants may bid for any weeks after their end of probation period. Please reach out to a supervisor to verify this date. Any slots that are bid for in error will be removed after each round of bidding (Improvement from only those FAs that were off probation in October and November of the current year were able to bid for next year’s vacation slots. Also added additional slots to the vacation bid.)
• Payout if Over the Accrual/Carryover Amounts Listed Above - FAs may qualify for the pay out of any vacation that would previously have been forfeited. To qualify, you must bid your full accrual and bid for all available slots in Round 2. Please review the Vacation Settlement for full details. (Improvement from a forfeiture of anything over the 150% plus the 17 hours)
• A Flight Attendant who voluntarily transfers to a domicile in which there are insufficient weeks to replace vacation held in her/his pervious domicile may cash out all or part of any unused vacation.
• Round 2 bids will be held in November and will close on November 22 @  5pm PST

 Please reach out with any questions. 

  Jamie Moore

360-790-0039

[email protected]