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Fast Fact Friday
Vacation Bidding 2026 – Round One Reminders
Friday, July 18, 2025
REMINDER #1:
All Flight Attendants, whether “active” or “inactive”, probationary or off of probation, junior or senior, should bid in Round One of the 2026 Vacation Bidding process.
REMINDER #2:
The first preference will allow you to decide if you should be awarded two slots in the same bid month. Please note, this preference is automatically toggled to “NO”.
Example A: I have Preference 1 toggled to “NO”. Even though my first two slots on my bid are JUN 1-7 and JUN 8-14, I will not be awarded these two slots because they both fall in June.
Example B: I have Preference 1 toggled to “YES”. My first two slots on my bid are JUN 1-7 and JUN 8-14. If my seniority allows, I can be awarded both of these slots.
Preference 2
The second preference will allow you to decide if you can be awarded slots in back-to-back bid months. Please note, this preference is automatically toggled to “YES”.
Example A: I have Preference 2 toggled to “YES”. My first two slots on my bid are JUN 1-7 and JUL 1-7. If my seniority allows, I can be awarded these two slots in back-to-back bid months.
Example B: I have Preference 2 toggled to “NO”. My first three slots on my bid are JUN 1-7, JUL 1-7, and APR 1-7. Even if my seniority would allow for me to be awarded both JUN 1-7 and JUL 1-7, I will not be awarded those slots because they are in back-to-back bid months. Depending on my seniority, I could be awarded JUN 1-7 -or- JUL 1-7 and APR 1-7.
If you do not change the pre-established preferences, they will remain in their default settings (“NO” to Preference 1 and “YES” to Preference 2).
REMINDER #3:
If you have less than seven (7) days of accrued vacation, you will still bid for and be awarded a 7-day slot. The number of days you have accrued will start on day one of the awarded slot.
Example: I have five (5) days of accrued vacation and am awarded JUN 1-7. My vacation would be adjusted to a 5-day slot from JUN 1-5.
IMPORTANT NOTE: There are contractual options to slide an accrued vacation slot when you have five (5) or fewer days of awarded vacation. (Article 14.5.A)
REMINDER #4:
The final 2026 Vacation Bidding submission is the one that will be used for your award. This means that you can go in and update your bid as many times as you’d like… up until the July 21, 2025 deadline at Noon CT.
REMINDER #5:
If you forget to bid in Round One, or don’t bid enough choices based on your seniority, you will not be automatically awarded an unbid slot. As long as you have remaining accrued vacation days for 2026 that have gone unawarded, you will continue to bid through the future rounds of 2026 Vacation Bidding. If you have unawarded but accrued 2026 vacation after Round Four Awards are completed, you will be assigned left-over vacation slots to ensure you have been awarded your total accrued number of days. Keep in mind that if this happens, you will have unlimited trading privileges with those awarded vacation slots using Vacation Open Time and Vacation Trading with other Flight Attendants.
BIGGEST REMINDER – #6:
Vacation slots with greater than 7-day (i.e.,14-day, 21-day) cannot be broken up into slots with a lesser duration later using Vacation Open Time nor Vacation Trading.
I am awarded a 14-day vacation slot on JUN 1-14.
Example A: I can go into Vacation Open Time (or Vacation Trade with another Flight Attendant) and trade for an available DEC 10-23, which is another 14-day slot.
Example B: I cannot trade my 14-day slot for a 7-day slot on JUN 3-9 and another 7-day slot on OCT 25-31.