Vacation Time?

[bsh932]

How much vacation time does the average commercial airline pilot receive each year? One of the reasons that I want to be a pilot is that I don't want the typical 9-5, 2 weeks vacation a year lifestyle. I want to have time to enjoy my flight benefits and travel.
Hom much time can I expect to have off?

 

[English]

Two weeks a year until you have some seniority. At Eagle, once in your fifth year, ya get a whoppin' three weeks.

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

There are a lot of studies that show how increased vacation time increases the productivity of the organization and the individual-the company makes more money.

Unfortunately, most US companies are stupid and haven't figured it out. The are only 2 1st world countries with little or no vacation time: US and Japan.

The US gov't should pass a law stating that if you employ someone, they should get a minimum of 4 weeks paid vacation per year. If the organization wants to give more that's their choice.

Most European countries give four. Some are as little as 2, and some have 6, but 4 is the average.

Cliff
GRB

 

[banned username 2]

My company just changed our vacation policy... we will get 4 weeks and 2 days for the first 8 years of employment, and 5 weeks and 2 days after 8 years... after 15 years it goes to 6 weeks and 2 days....

 

[cxcap]

Please let us know next time your company is hiring falcon capt.

 

[charley varrick]

My company just changed our vacation policy... we will get 4 weeks and 2 days for the first 8 years of employment, and 5 weeks and 2 days after 8 years... after 15 years it goes to 6 weeks and 2 days....

Falcon Capt,

Why do you tease us so much? Next thing you know, you're gonna say that your company will pay for you to move.

The US gov't should pass a law stating that if you employ someone, they should get a minimum of 4 weeks paid vacation per year.

atpcliff,

The last thing I want is for the gov't to spend our money trying to determine how much time off we deserve.

 

[banned username 2]

Why do you tease us so much? Next thing you know, you're gonna say that your company will pay for you to move.

Well actually, for the guys they have hired from out of town, they did supply a nice move package... I was local so no package for me...

You asked...

 

[TurboS7]

Something I never had for the first 30 years of my professional career.

 

[jointops]

Well,

Vacation at JetBlue is based on how much Personal Time Off (PTO)you've accrued from the previous year. We earn 9 hours a month. If you don't use that then you can bid for whatever you have in the "bucket" for the next year.

However, with our bidding software we're able to maximize our productivity. As a result, you can have an awarded monthly bid with numerous days off and then save that PTO for something else.

I had the first 10 days of Oct awarded to me in my monthly schedule with a total month consisting of 82 hours of flying. This included 3 days of training (which obviously pays less than an actual trip. Additionally, I had 6 more days off in the month.

If you can work your bid to have X amount of days off at the end of the month and then add to those for the beginning of the next month, easily a trip trip to Europe can be had at no cost to your "bucket" of time.

The down side to not having a bid vacation in the system and waiting to see what you're awarded is the inability to plan your schedule in advance. Since I've only been in the company for 6 months, I'd rather have that PTO as a backup and take a gamble on planning our skiing when my schedule can accomodate time off.

Happy landings,

 

[DoinTime]

There are a lot of studies that show how increased vacation time increases the productivity of the organization and the individual-the company makes more money.

Unfortunately, most US companies are stupid and haven't figured it out. The are only 2 1st world countries with little or no vacation time: US and Japan.

Unfortunatley the productivity of a pilot can be measured by how many hours they have been at work. There is no increased productivity related to the 'quality' of time they spend at work unlike our office counterparts.

Yes, the US and Japan do not have the large vacation banks that the Europeans have but looking at the past few decades the US and Japan have proved themselves to be the world economic superpowers and their citizens share more wealth then almost any other country in the world. Does anyone else see a correlation?

Pinnacle pilots get one week for the first two YOS. Two weeks from years 3-5. Three weeks from years 6-14 and four weeks for anything over that. Pretty miserable but when bid into your schedule every one week off usually yeilds at least two weeks of not having to come to work.

 

[wil]

I'm in my 2nd year at ASA and have 2 weeks of vacation. But how you bid your schedule is key! I'm on vacation right now and it started last monday 10/21 and will end 10/27. But I finished work on 10/17 and the 28th through the 31st are off days so I have an essence 14 days off! And, next month I have 14 days off including thanksgiving! Of course I can pick up a trip to increase my income but you can average13-15 days off per month if you want. You can trade your trips, drop and add, really customize your schedule. Some months are better than others depending on open time etc. God bless and fly safe- Wil

 

[Andy Neill]

At SkyWest, vacation time (and user time) is accrued at a rate that increases with longevity. A new pilot starts earning vacation time at a rate of .0385 hours per hour of flight duty. In other words, if he has flown 1000 hours in a year, he would have accrued 38.5 hours. Additionally, he will accrue user time at the rate of .0193 hrs/hr. for a total (with vacation time) of 57.8 hours a year.

The hours are used to cover flight hours in the scheduled flight assignment from which you are vacationing. If I had a schedule of 85 hours a month in 17 duty days, I would have enough vacation and user time to cover 11.5 of those days.

Vacation time accumulation maxes out at .0769 hours/hr and user time at .0385 hrs/hr for a total of .1154 hrs/hr or 115.4 hours over the course of a year. That would be enough for about 23 duty days or the equivalent of 6.5-7 weeks.

 

[dsee8driver]

Vacation..

At my company we accrue depending on how many hours worked the previous year BUT the max is 14 days untill the 5th year of employment where it goes to 21. Since we owe the company 16 days out of 28 if you bid correctly you can have a whole month off. (Bid a line that falls in between your vacation) I usually use vacation to get some overtime pay since each vacation day is worth 2 hrs over guarantee if you bid so you vacation falls on days off you can get up to 28 hrs over guarantee pay. At 74.00 hr it is not too bad. If you really need to plan a vacation during other time you can stay on open reserve and work untill you earn enough .guaranteed days off to do whatever you wanted to do. We earn .8 of a day for each day worked on open reserve and you cannot be junior manned.

 

[typhoonpilot]

bsh932

At USAirways it goes like this:

1 through 2 years of service------- 16 days
3 through 4- ------------------------ 18 days
5 through 6 ------------------------- 20 days
7------------------------------------- 23 days
8 through 9 --------------------------24 days
10 through 11----------------------- 26 days
12------------------------------------ 27 days
13 through 15----------------------- 28 days
16 through 19----------------------- 29 days
20 through 24 -----------------------35 days
25 plus -------------------------------40 days

With 18 vacation days in a row one could resonably expect to be off for 4 to 5 weeks with good bidding. Like the other guys have said, you can usually attach days off on either end of any vacation period to extend it for a much longer time.

In the current environment past perfromance is no guarantee of future results. Vacation is an easy target for productivity improvements.

Typhoonpilot

 

[CCDiscoB]

Getting back to Falcon Capt.

I'm patiently waiting for him to spill the beans and tell us where he works. He's been very careful about that. He's got the perfect corporate job. I'd rest easy knowing it was in Montana or some place like that.

 

[LittleDeuce]

vacation

I have been on "vacation" since December 2, 2001!

 

[SDF2BUF2MCO]

For comparison purposes outside the biz, our company offers two weeks after one year, 3 weeks after 5 years, 4 weeks after 15, 5 weeks after 20. Nine paid holidays a year.
If you're in (mis)management or a technical position, they offer a decent relo package. Pays for the entire move by a name brand moving company, points on your loan, closing costs and fees and related taxes, real estate fees to sell your home, 10% of your annual salary as a move bonus to cover any outside incidentals, the temporary housing stuff, etc. Only problem is sometimes the moves are voluntary (Louisville) and sometimes involuntary (Buffalo and Orlando). Not going to get any sympathy on this board about having to move too much though!
Regarding Falcon Capt.'s company, my bet is a company like GE or Allied Signal/Honeywell.

 

[banned username 2]

Getting back to Falcon Capt.

I'm patiently waiting for him to spill the beans and tell us where he works. He's been very careful about that. He's got the perfect corporate job. I'd rest easy knowing it was in Montana or some place like that.

CC.... Sorry to disappoint... it isn't the "Perfect" job... it is a good job and I'm certainly not complaining.... And I plan on staying a long, long time.... And unfortunately it is a long way from Montana... a real long way....

 

[cxcap]

What company is it?

 

[flywithruss]

Vacations

I work in a single-aircraft corporate operation, and my company has an excellent benefits package, of which a pretty good vacation policy is part. For the first five years, two weeks per year, increasing a day a year to three weeks at year ten, and increasing a half-day a year to four weeks at year twenty. After ten years, one week may be carried over, and after twenty, two weeks may be carried over.

Being a two pilot, one airplane operation, I am on call most of the time, so I don't have the airline option of using regular off days for vacation. However, we usually have some sort of upgrade or major refurbishment scheduled for our airplane every year or so. This past year, it was new paint ... the airplane was down five weeks, so I had an instant five-week paid vacation, above and beyond my alloted vacation time. In the coming year, we are looking at two to three weeks of down time for avionics upgrades ... so, another couple of weeks over and above alloted vacation time.

And give Falcon Capt a rest ... he has good reasons (as do I) for choosing not to discuss his employer on a public forum. I for one am happy that I'm in a quality corporate position at my experience level, I'm thrilled that Falcon has an excellent career-level position based on his posts, and I'm hopeful that as my experience advances I'll be fortunate enough to find a similar career-level job in the future.

R