Source: unitedafa.org 

The 2017 Vacation bidding process will begin on October 29, 2016. In preparation for this process, United will shortly begin clearing out the 2016 Vacation information and loading the initial data for 2017 vacations.

This process will cause any remaining 2016 vacation information to become inaccessible to Flight Attendants. If you have vacation scheduled for the months of November and December 2016 we recommend you go to your VACBID screen in Unimatic and print a copy of your 2016 vacation bid information before it is removed. Alternatively, you will need to contact the Flight Attendant Service Center (FASC), option 4/4, to request the information from the call center representative to retrieve your November and December 2016 Vacation dates in the event you are unable to print a hard copy.

Section 18.E. of the Contract provides the timeline for annual Vacation bidding and establishes October 29 as the date on which the primary vacation bid period opens. Prior to the opening of bids, there are a number of steps to go through. The first step in the process is the development of the Reserve Letter List by which Flight Attendants are assigned reserve rotation letters. These lists are now available in the domiciles. Sometime before Vacation bids open on October 29th, reserve letters and the 2016 vacation accruals will be uploaded in Unimatic.

The number of vacation days accrued and your vacation bidding seniority are based on Company seniority, which may be different from your Flight Attendant seniority. This is outlined in Section 18.B. of our Contract. 

Section 18.C. covers reductions in vacation. Vacation accrual will be reduced for Flight Attendants on Leaves of Absence, except Occupational Leaves, by 1/12th for each 30 days or major portion, on a prorated basis. Also, Flight Attendants in the Partnership Program will accrue vacation at one half (1/2) of the vacation accrual schedule in Section 18.B. Once these vacation accruals are finalized, the Reserve Letter and Vacation accrual information will be loaded into the Unimatic VACBID screens we use when bidding for vacation. This information will be available no later than the opening of bids on October 29th. More information on Vacation Bidding can be found on our website.