1.27.25 – Primary Round of 2025-26 Vacation Bidding Now Open

2025-26 Vacation Bidding Now Open

Monday, January 27, 2025

The Primary Round of Vacation Bidding opened today, January 27 at 12:00 PM (CT). The Primary Round of Vacation Bidding will close on Wednesday, February 26 at 12:00 PM (CT). Primary Round awards will be posted no later than Monday, March 3 at 1200 PM (CT).

Please note: Your 2025-26 Annual Vacation Primary and Secondary Vacation Awards/Assignments are based on your crew base of record as of January 1, 2025.

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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

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Annual Accrual

Vacation is accrued monthly during the calendar year: January 1 through December 31. The number of vacation days you accrue is contractual, based on your years of active service (2024 CBA 8.A.1). During the annual vacation bidding process, vacation accrued in 2024 will be awarded for dates that fall in the 2025-2026 vacation fiscal year (May 2, 2025 – May 1, 2026).

Vacation pay and credit is a daily rate based on the number of vacation days in a block:

• Vacation days in blocks of seven (7) or more consecutive days will be paid and credited at four (4) hours per day at your rate of pay.
• Vacation days in blocks of less than seven (7) consecutive days will be paid at four (4) hours and credited at three and one-half (3.5) hours per day at your rate of pay.

Vacation pay and credit is based on your longevity when your vacation is taken. You can maximize the value of your vacation days by bidding for a period after your annual pay rate increase.

Your annual accrual will show on the AVBA summary page via Crew Portal > Monthly Bids > Vacation > Annual > Summary. 

You may view your 2024 accrued sick hours and vacation days in Crew Portal by selecting “Last Year SK/VC Accrual – (HISK/L)” under the FOS Screens.

Check the “AAC SK/VC” Column in the HISK to verify if you have accrued sick and vacation for the month.

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Q1: My summary page in AVBA shows an accrual of 35 days and 7 max filler days. Does this mean I have a total of 42 vacation days?
A: No, you have a total of 35 days. The number of max filler days displayed on the summary page is based on your total days accrued.

Q2. What are Filler Days?
A: Filler Days are accrued vacation days you may set aside during annual vacation bidding. It is important to note Filler Days are not in addition to but are a part of your yearly accrual. If you set aside Filler Days during the annual vacation bidding period, you may bid for them two months prior to the month you want to use them. The bidding period opens at 12:00 PM (CT) on the 11th and closes at 12:00 PM (CT) on the 20th of every month. 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 more day(s) to an existing vacation block.

Q3. What are Unscheduled Days?
A: Unscheduled Days are vacation days that are cancelled due to leaves of absence, such as a medical leave. Unscheduled Days were eligible for rebid in the Monthly Rebid. If you did not rebid them during the current vacation cycle, they were converted to Carry Forward Days.

Q4: What are Carry Forward Days?
A: Carry Forward Days are any unscheduled vacation days from the prior fiscal year’s vacation cycle you did not use. You may bid your Carry Forward Days during the Secondary Round of vacation bidding. Your Carry Forward days will not be displayed in your accrual until the Secondary Round of vacation bidding opens on March 3.

Q5: Can I split my vacation as many times as I would like throughout the fiscal year?
A: The AVBA system allows for a lot of flexibility when bidding for vacation days. Your vacation days may be split into many different combinations. A single vacation block can even encompass two contractual months (e.g., a vacation scheduled from June 27th to July 5th). It is important to remember the limits of splitting your vacation days. You may only be awarded one vacation block of either one (1), two (2) or three (3) consecutive days. All other vacation blocks must be four (4) or more consecutive days (2024 CBA Section 8.C.1.).

Q6: Why would I use a descending date range?
A: A descending date range allows you to prioritize your bid starting with a later date going in reverse chronological order. For example, if you want to prioritize the end of December over the beginning of December for a seven day block, you would enter 12/31/2025 as your start date and 12/02/2025 as your end date. The system would look at 12/31 going backwards for seven days, then 12/30 for seven days, until it can award you a seven day block.

Q7: As a Lineholder with a block of less than 7 days of vacation that will be paid at 4.0 hours per day but only credited at 3.5 hours per day, what does that mean for PBS bidding and my TTS max?

A: In PBS, your existing credit will only include the 3.5 hours per vacation day. The additional 0.5 hours (30 minutes) per day will be paid on top of any awarded hours. Since the 30 minutes per day is no credit, it will not impact your TTS max.

Example: You have 6 days of vacation in the bid month. You will be paid for 24.0 hours of vacation time (6 days x 4.0 hours). However, you will only receive 3.5 hours of credit per day for a total of 21.0 hours (6 days x 3.5 hours). That means the 3.0 hours of pay no credit will be paid on top of any hours you are awarded through any of the scheduling systems (PBS, TTS/UBL, ETB).

Q8: As a Reserve with a block of less than 7 days of vacation that will be paid at 4.0 hours per day but only credited at 3.5 hours per day, what will that mean for my Reserve guarantee and Reserve Calling Out of Time (RSVCOT)?

A: The 3.5 credited hours will go toward your guarantee and your RSVCOT. Since the additional 0.5 hours (30 minutes) per day is pay no credit, it will be paid on top of your guarantee and will not go toward your RSVCOT.

Example: You have 6 days of vacation in the bid month. Similar to Lineholders, while you will be paid for 24.0 hours of vacation time, only 21.0 hours will go toward your reserve guarantee and RSVCOT. The 3.0 hours of pay no credit will be paid above your Reserve guarantee and will not be applied to your RSVCOT.

If you have any questions regarding your accrual or bidding process, you may email [email protected] or open a ticket on the Support Tab on Crew Portal.

In Solidarity,

Jeff Petersen
APFA National Contract Chair
[email protected]

Marti McMillan
APFA National Scheduling Chair
[email protected]