RSV Fly-Thru Calculator

To assist with helping to answer the complex question, "As a Reserve, should I fly through my VAC?"

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On this page:

Reserve VAC Fly-Through: Advance vs Operational

Calculating Operational Fly-Through

Calculator

Reserve VAC Fly-Through: Advance vs Operational

Advance Fly Through

Requests must be submitted no later than 1000 HDT on the 5th day of the calendar month prior to the month in which the vacation is scheduled to begin.
When a Flight Attendant elects for the Advance fly through and is awarded a Reserve line, the line will be awarded with the originally scheduled days on and/or off as they appeared in the bid packet with no Vacation days.
The value of the Vacation days will appear in Add Pay.
There will be no reduction to the Reserve minimum, since the Reserve will be fully available for assignment by the company for the full month.
Vacation is paid out in lieu of vacation days, and the pay is placed in add pay.

Operational Fly Through

Requests are made by contacting Inflight Admin (FAST) at 1-800-FLT-LINE or via CCS Virtual Chat any time before the Vacation period begins after lines have been awarded.
When a Flight Attendant elects for operational fly through after having been awarded a Reserve line, the Vacation days for the Vacation period flown through are removed and will become days free from availability, appearing as “OFF” in the line.
Any Reserve days of availability that were part of the originally awarded line (and were touching Vacation days flown through) will not be restored.
The value of the Vacation days (3:15 per VAC day) will appear in Add Pay, and the Reserve minimum will be reduced by the number of Reserve days of availability that were part of the awarded line and were encompassed by the vacation.

Calculating Operational Fly-Through

This calculator is meant to help you plan whether or not an operational fly-through will be advantageous to you, recognizing there may be several factors to consider, depending on your priorities:

Pay - RSV min guarantee decreases by the number of RSV days of availability touching VAC that is flown through. At the same time, VAC flown through is paid out as Add Pay and so is paid in addition to the new RSV min guarantee.
Time off desired - VAC flown through is replaced with OFF days, so no "time off" is lost when flying through VAC as a Reserve.
Ability to pick up trips- Since VAC flown through becomes OFF days, this allows for additional opportunity to pick up from ads. In most cases, trips picked up from adds will be worth more per day than VAC days (3:15) or RSV days (4:20 or 4:07 for 30 or 31 day months respectively).

Reserves are paid the higher of their RSV minimum guarantee (usually 78) or credit hours flown. Remember that VAC time in your line counts as credit. So when you do an operational fly-through, you are moving your VAC days and credit out of your line and into Add Pay which is paid "on top" of your guarantee or credit. Those VAC days (including any RSV days that were covered by them) become OFF days and your RSV guarantee is reduced by 4:20 or 4:07 for each RSV day affected.

Calculator Results

After you hit "calculate", you will see two sections in the answer:

Without Fly-Through: Shows your starting pay and credit if you do not fly-through. This is done by first comparing the value of your vacation days to your RSV minimum guarantee (we are paid the higher of the two) and then showing you the higher value. That will be used to compare to the "With Fly Through" value.

With Fly-Through: Shows you what your new RSV minimum guarantee will be if you fly through VAC, as well as your Add Pay from VAC, and then adds them together to show you the total month's pay. It will also show you how many new days off are then eligible for pickup from ads.

Comparison - The option that provides the greater overall value in compensation will be highlighted in green with a ✅.

NOTE: Reserve Override ($2 per hour of RSV GUAR/credit) is included in the calculations so you should not include it when entering your Hourly Rate. (You will need to add Purser or language pay to your hourly rate if applicable)

ℹ️ Click to See Base Pay Rates

Calculator

For iPhone & iPad users: If there are any scrolling issues with the calculator, try dragging from the top or far right edge of the screen. This is a known issue with Safari on iOS devices. Works fine on Chrome for iOS.

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