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Fast Fact Friday
December Record Improvement Bonus
Friday, November 28, 2025
Q1: “I’ve heard people talk about the December Record Improvement Bonus. What is it?”
Article 32.7.B has an additional opportunity for record improvement on top of the other three quarterly record improvement options! If you are active and have perfect attendance in the month of December, you will reduce your attendance point total by an additional one (1) point. This record improvement is applied after any applicable quarterly record improvement (Article 32.7.A), and will be applied in addition to other forms of record improvement.
Q2: “Can this additional one (1) point of record improvement be ‘banked’?”
Absolutely! The December Bonus can be banked up to the attendance bank maximum of -7 points.
NOTE: The December Bonus is the only way to bank the maximum of -7 attendance points.
Q3: “Does Southwest Airlines Inflight Attendance and Leave apply the December Bonus before or after any applicable quarterly record improvement?”
The December Bonus will be applied to your attendance points bank after any applicable 4th quarter record improvement has been applied.
Example 1: You start the 4th quarter with -4 attendance points. In OCT-NOV-DEC you are active and have perfect attendance. At the end of the quarter, Perfect Attendance During a Quarter will be applied and your attendance points bank will go to -6. You qualify for the December Bonus as well, so after the quarterly record improvement reduces your points total to -6, the additional December Bonus point will be applied, reducing to the maximum “bank” of -7.
BREAKDOWN
START OF DECEMBER: -4 Attendance Points
POINTS ACCRUED DURING OCT-NOV-DEC: 0 Attendance Points
QUARTERLY RECORD IMPROVEMENT: Perfect Attendance During a Quarter (Article 32.7.A.2) = -2 Attendance Points
DECEMBER BONUS: -1 Attendance Point
START OF NEW YEAR: -7 Attendance Points
Example 2: You start the 4th quarter with one (1) attendance point. In November, you get sick and use your approved INT FMLA to excuse an absence. Even though you have an absence and thus do not have perfect attendance, you still qualify for the No Chargeable Occurrences During a Quarter record improvement which reduces your points total by two (2) points. This record improvement is “bankable” up to a maximum of -2. At the end of the quarter, Inflight A&L applies this record improvement, taking your points bank to -1. You have a perfect December and qualify for the December Bonus. Your attendance bank will then be reduced by an additional point and you’ll start the new year with -2 attendance points.
BREAKDOWN
START OF DECEMBER: 1 Attendance Point
POINTS ACCRUED DURING OCT-NOV-DEC: 0 Attendance Points
QUARTERLY RECORD IMPROVEMENT: No Chargeable Occurrences During a Quarter (Article 32.7.A.1) = -2 Attendance Points
DECEMBER BONUS: -1 Attendance Point
START OF NEW YEAR: -2 Attendance Points
Example 3: You start the 4th quarter with three (3) attendance points. In OCT, you get sick and use your quarterly PIN to excuse the absence and accrue no points. Unfortunately, in NOV you get a Failure to Report (FTR) and accrue one (1) point. You have perfect attendance in DEC. This quarter comes to a close with four (4) points in your attendance bank. In this situation, you were active the entire quarter but did not have perfect attendance and had a chargeable occurrence. You only accrued one (1) point and ended the quarter with four (4) or fewer points, thus qualifying for the 4th Quarter Record Improvement Bonus. At the end of the quarter, Inflight A&L applies the 4th Quarter Record Improvement Bonus, which reduces your attendance points bank to zero (0). With perfect attendance in DEC, you also qualify for the December Bonus and will begin the new year with -1 attendance points.
BREAKDOWN
START OF DECEMBER: 3 Attendance Points
POINTS ACCRUED DURING OCT-NOV-DEC: 1 Attendance Point
QUARTERLY RECORD IMPROVEMENT: 4th Quarter Record Improvement Bonus (Article 32.7.A.3) = Reduces Attendance Bank Total to zero (0) Attendance Points
DECEMBER BONUS: -1 Attendance Point
START OF NEW YEAR: -1 Attendance Points
Remember: When calculating your record improvement for the 4th quarter, first apply whichever record improvement option from Article 32.7.A is applicable and reduces your attendance points the most. Then apply the December Bonus (Article 32.7.B) if you are eligible.
Q4: “If I use my PIN in December, would I still be eligible for the December Bonus?”
No. Even though your absence was excused by a quarterly PIN and you did not accrue attendance points (making it a non-chargeable occurrence), you still missed scheduled work. Perfect attendance means that you reported to work as scheduled for all assignments. An MBL for which no points are accrued, bereavement leave, and jury duty are the only attendance infractions that would not prohibit this bonus record improvement.
NOTE: The answer to this question would be the same if the Flight Attendant used INT FMLA, a Doctor’s note, or an applicable State Leave to excuse their absence.
Q5: “Isn’t there something special about perfect attendance in December which applies to our sick bank accrual too?”
There is! Article 16.1.B states that we will accrue sick bank at a rate of 1.5x if we have perfect attendance in the month of December.
Example: I work 100 TFP (straight-time pay only) in the month of December and have perfect attendance. Instead of accruing 10 TFP for my sick bank, I will accrue 15 TFP.