The system I got in the Pink airline is a holiday system, where you can bid for specific days/periods, we have a certain amount of holidays per year. You can give priority to holiday periods. I get the impression it is based on a ''first come, first serve'' basis. Which seems fair in my personal opinion. Also depending on how big/busy your base is. I am in a smaller base, so generally you can get the holidays you request. Next to this in some bases you can get a fixed 14/7 schedule, which I got. So I can plan ahead quite far regarding off days. I managed to combine some with my requested holidays and have quite some days off in August for example.
1. Best aspect I think is that you can choose your own periods and give priorities. Even when not approved, the base captain might help you find a solution.
2. Worst part is that off course when you aren't quick enough with planning your holidays for christmas etc. too many people might have requested the same and you get stuck at the back of the que with potentially having to spend Christmas and/or new year stuck in your base...
3. Due to the nature of my schedule I could be able to be say yes depending if the event would fall within my off week of that month.... otherwise its going to be a holiday request which takes time to be approved.
All in all, it really depends on the base, requested period, personal roster etc.... people in a much busier base might have a totally different opinion about the system than me...