3.02.26 – Primary Round of 2026-27 Vacation Bidding Awarded/Secondary Round Open

Primary Round of 2026-27 Vacation Bidding Awarded

Monday, March 2, 2026

The Primary Round of vacation bidding has been awarded. To view your award details, go to Crew Portal > Monthly Bids > Vacation > Annual > Summary. To view your award details, click on the Show Detail button.

Please note: Your 2026-2027 Annual Vacation Primary and Secondary Vacation Awards/Assignments are based on your crew base of record as of January 1, 2026.

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Secondary Round of 2026-27 Vacation Bidding Now Open

The Secondary Round of vacation bidding is now open. The Secondary Round allows you to bid for any remaining vacation days not awarded in the Primary Round of vacation bidding. Additionally, any carry forward days are bid in the Secondary Round. You may only be awarded from the remaining dates available at your base. The Secondary Round vacation matrix is posted in Crew Portal > Monthly Bids > Vacation > Links. You will be awarded at your seniority until all your vacation days are awarded, or the system is unable to satisfy any more of your preferences. All vacation days will be awarded or assigned upon the completion of the Secondary Round of bidding.

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Annual Vacation Bid and Award (AVBA) System Access

To bid for vacation, go to the Crew Portal. Once logged in, click on:

• Monthly Bids > Vacation > Annual > Bidding Ballots  

Click Here for the APFA Vacation Bidding Basics

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Vacation Fiscal Year

The vacation fiscal year includes the May to April contractual months, from May 2 (beginning of May bid month) to May 1 (end of April bid month).

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Q1: What happens if I cannot hold my vacation bid in the Primary or Secondary Rounds?
A1: The assignment process uses the remaining vacation days not awarded in the primary or secondary award. The remaining days are assigned in seniority order according to the following logic:

1. Reverse chronological order starting with December 31 through May 2, then
2. Reverse chronological order starting with May 1 through January 1

Vacation days are assigned in blocks of seven (7) days. If you have less than seven (7) days remaining, or there are no seven (7) day blocks left, the assignment is made to the first block that matches the amount of your remaining days. However, based on availability during the assignment process, your remaining number of days may not be awarded as a single block.

Q2: Can I change my vacation days that were awarded in the Primary Round during the Secondary Round?
A2: No. Primary Round awards are final. You will have the opportunity to change vacation days once the Vacation Monthly Rebid (MRB) process begins.

Q3: What is a Filler Day and why would I want to designate Filler Days?
A3: Filler Days are accrued vacation days that you decide to set aside during the annual vacation bid. You may set aside up to 20% (or a maximum of seven (7) days) of your vacation days as Filler Days. These days are subtracted from your accrued vacation days. If you designate Filler Days during the annual vacation bid, you will bid to schedule the days during the monthly Filler Day bids throughout the year. You may want to utilize Filler Days to bid to have a holiday off that you cannot hold in the annual bid or to add one more day to an existing vacation block.

Q4: What are Vacation Extension (VEX) days and why would I want to use them?
A4: VEX days allow you to “extend” your vacation block with additional unpaid days. VEX days are a pre-planned absence and will prevent PBS from awarding you trips or reserve days of availability which touch the VEX days. ​VEX days carry no value for pay or credit. Since VEX days are only “placeholders” in PBS, they will not show on your Crew Portal calendar.

If you have seven (7) or more consecutive vacation days, you are eligible to designate up to four VEX days in conjunction with the vacation block.  You cannot designate more than four VEX days per bid month. This is true even if you have more than one, separate seven-day (or more) vacation blocks in the month. There are no blackout dates for VEX days, and they are not seniority driven.

​Up to four (4) VEX days may be placed before, after, or split in any combination on either side of a vacation block. (“Up to four” means you have the ability to designate less than four (4) VEX days in conjunction with your vacation block). VEX days may start in the bid month prior to your vacation or carry into the bid month following your vacation, as long as they directly precede or follow the eligible vacation block.

VEX days may be entered up to two months prior to the bid month you would like the VEX days to be placed or up to two months prior to the bid month in which your vacation starts – whichever is earlier.

Important things to consider when deciding whether or not to designate VEX days:

For Lineholders: VEX days will prevent the award of any trip that touches the VEX days. That means that if the report or release of the trip touches a VEX day by even one minute, PBS will not award the trip.

For Reserves: VEX days will count toward scheduled Golden Days. Use caution when designating VEX days during Reserve months. Since they are Golden Days, they may limit the legal reserve days off patterns PBS is able to award you.

PBS will honor the designated VEX days unless the program cannot produce a solution honoring the days. 

Q5: My accrual information seems incorrect. How do I make sure I am looking at the correct year’s accrual?
A5: To ensure you are viewing the correct accrual information for the 2026–27 vacation cycle, make sure you are on the right tab. For your 2026-2027 vacation accrual, navigate to Annual > Summary within the Vacation Management System. After reviewing your 2026–2027 accrual information, if you still have questions, please contact the Vacations Department by submitting a ticket through the Support tab (Crew Portal > Links > Support > Support Tab > Select System Vacation > Select Form Type: Annual Vacation).

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If you have any vacation questions, please open a support ticket by going to Crew Portal > Links > SupportTab > System (Vacation)/Form Type (Annual Vacation).

In Solidarity,

Jeff Petersen
APFA National Contract Chair
[email protected]

Marti McMillan
APFA National Scheduling Chair
[email protected]