American Airlines pilot VMS/Vacation Bidding PVD Eligibility, Trade Limits, and Missing Days

Posted by Tough-Astronomer-127@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 10 comments

I’ve spent the last few days deep-diving into the CBA, APA guidance, and VMS user guides, but I’m still hitting a wall on a few specifics. I’ve asked several CAs on the line, but the consensus is usually, "I just take what they give me," or "The old system was better."

I’m hoping someone with a black belt in VMS can help me (and future pilots) understand a few things:

PVD Eligibility: Every month I check the PVD tab in VMS, and the "Eligible for PVD" box is consistently blank. Is there a specific window when this populates, or is it normal for this to remain void until a certain seniority or contractual trigger is met?
Vacation Trade Limits: I ended up with a week in September that I'd like to move up. In the trade tab, is there a limit on how many times you can "ladder" trades? For example, can I trade September for August, and then immediately try to trade that August slot for July with a different pilot?
Vacation Day Accounting (7+4 vs. 14): I was expecting 14 days for the 2025-26 year. I was awarded 7 days and see 4 float days in my bank. That leaves 3 days unaccounted for. Are these held in a different "bucket," or is there a common reason why the total wouldn't equal the full 14?
VEX Days: Can float days be utilized as VEX (Vacation Extension) days? Furthermore, do VEX days have to be attached to a primary vacation week, or is there a way to use them as standalone days elsewhere?

Appreciate any insight. I’m just trying to understand the "why" behind the VMS logic so I can stop bidding blindly.

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554TangoAlpha@reddit

Ask your union

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fishbait32@reddit

Hello,

PVDs are taken from NEXT years vacation bank to be used for this year. I believe once you actually take a PVD it may populate in that PVD tab. I've only taken a few PVDs in my time here and never bothered to look at that tab. You can buyback those PVDs with any remaining vacation time to make yourself whole for next year if you so choose to. Otherwise remaining vacation time gets paid out around February of the following year. Company opens up buybacks near the end of the year I believe. More info can be found on Compass document "Vacation" or the Comply365 document "Vacation Management System".
Per the VMS document in Comply365, "There is no limitation to the number of times a vacation may be traded as long as it meets the trade guidelines". So yes, you can trade multiple times.
Vacation is awarded in 7 day blocks. You floated 4 which leaves 3 in your "banked" bucket which you can use for PVDs throughout the year or keep in there to get paid out by the company. The floated and banked vacation days all go together but only the floated time can be used when at company discretion opens up additional vacation slots for your base/fleet for a specific week within a month. For example in the past they have sent out CCI messages saying they were offering vacation weeks for DFW 777 CA and FO for week XYZ within a month. If you were a DFW 777 CA or FO that had 7 days available in your floated vacation you could then bid on that vacation week if you wanted to and see if you would get awarded it.

From my understanding is that floating in the vacation bidding process can take away from the amount of vacation weeks the company has to offer. Some sort of math is done for all the days the pilot group floats their vacation can reduce the amount of vacation weeks in the bid. If you didn't want to use all of your vacation time you can float the minimum amount of days it would take to get you under a full 7 day block of vacation. So if you had 14 days of vacation time you could bid for 1 week in round 1 which would leave 7 days left to bid. But if you floated 1 vacation day in round 1, the remaining amount of vacation you have is 6 which isn't a full week therefore it goes in to your banked vacation. Which again you can use to pay yourself back for any PVDs you use this year, or save and get paid out for its value the following year.

No, VEX floated days can not be used as VEX days. VEX days have to be attached to your vacation week in succession from either end of your vacation bank or both ends. The VEX tool on VMS website is a check box system that only allows you to select days adjacent to your vacation days without skipping days. Word of caution, VEX days come out of your minimum days off in the month. For example as a Reserve pilot you get 12 DFPs in a 30 day month and 13 DFPs on a 31 day month. VEX days subtract from those numbers so you still need a legal bid which may mean working multiple 6 day reserve blocks to make a legal schedule. They aren't "extra" days off. Its just a way to force PBS to give you those days off no matter what your seniority number is.

You just need to decide how many vacation weeks you want to actually use in the following year. No matter what you will be awarded 1 week in Round 1. The following rounds you could bid for another week but risk getting a week you didn't want. Or you can choose to float some vacation and bank the rest. That way you aren't forced to take a vacation week in a month you wouldn't want.

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Tough-Astronomer-127@reddit (OP)

Firstly, thank you, kindly, for your thoughtful response.

This is somewhat a part of my inquiry that I can't quite pin down. I couldn't find the answer to my first question in any of the guidance material in comply or in the APA compass doc for the how to request a personal vacation day. I think I'm lacking specificity in my inquiry.. so I'll just directly ask, how do you request a personal vacation day? The "guides" aren't closing the loop for me.
That answers that, unsure how I missed that verbiage, but then again I think I'm going cross-eyed and reading too far in to some of this.
Good copy, makes sense. I think each float proffer has managed to be on an aircraft or base that is not mine. I suppose those go senior as it is anyways?

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fishbait32@reddit

Of course! It definitely is confusing and we only bid vacation once per year so even I have to freshen up on it.

PVDs can be used to drop sequences from your schedule if TTS allows it. You can drop a trip unpaid (uncredited), or paid with either a PVD (which pulls from next years vacation bank) or VCBK which is this years vacation bank. You can also pick to use a PVD by the day or by the hours option. If you read the APA Vacation document under Personal Vacation Day there is all the guidelines on picking Hours vs Days option and what it means for you.
Vacation float proffers that the company puts out are usually going to be in the slow months aka fall/winter. They have no reason to offer valuable months like summer time. So usually they are months that senior pilots don't want. I think last time a vacation proffer for my fleet and base was a October where they offered every week within the month which was nice. I actually did need a week in there and managed to get it which was neat for being rather junior. So its possible.

I would NOT count on the company offering additional weeks of vacation to proffer for in the year as a good bidding strategy for wanting to float vacation or not. It really comes down to whether or not you want to use all of your vacation time or not / what weeks you can hold.

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wilburpilot@reddit

Hey dude, if you’re a new hire, reach out to your APA Compass sponsor, they’re at your disposal for questions like this. If they’re not responsive, shoot me a DM.

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TwinCessna@reddit

I honestly cant even judge you for reaching out to random internet strangers for help. Everything about AA/APA is the most confusing s$&@ on earth.

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Tough-Astronomer-127@reddit (OP)

Confusing indeed. Ask 5 different people, get 5 different answers. It's reddit, the right person will find this post and hopefully give feedback. Then the next guy with this inquiry will find it. Everything else is just noise.

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PVD Eligibility: Every month I check the PVD tab in VMS, and the "Eligible for PVD" box is consistently blank. Is there a specific window when this populates, or is it normal for this to remain void until a certain seniority or contractual trigger is met?
Vacation Trade Limits: I ended up with a week in September that I'd like to move up. In the trade tab, is there a limit on how many times you can "ladder" trades? For example, can I trade September for August, and then immediately try to trade that August slot for July with a different pilot?
Vacation Day Accounting (7+4 vs. 14): I was expecting 14 days for the 2025-26 year. I was awarded 7 days and see 4 float days in my bank. That leaves 3 days unaccounted for. Are these held in a different "bucket," or is there a common reason why the total wouldn't equal the full 14?
VEX Days: Can float days be utilized as VEX (Vacation Extension) days? Furthermore, do VEX days have to be attached to a primary vacation week, or is there a way to use them as standalone days elsewhere?

Appreciate any insight. I’m just trying to understand the "why" behind the VMS logic so I can stop bidding blindly.

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