Negotiable Off Season Leave
 

My company offers fully unpaid off season leave but hardly anyone takes it because we only end up flying 1-2 days a week and on standby the rest (apart from off days) anyway. When i say standby I got called in twice in 4 months last year.

But does anyone’s company offer negotiable off season leave ?

Such as telling the boss you’ll take a 25%, 50% pay cut etc in exchange for 100% leave or working 1 day a week etc with the rest of the week off ?

My company could probably get through our off season with only 25% of the crew so it wouldn’t make a difference as far as the work is concerned.

However I still can’t see the company being too keen on the idea of officially paying somebody something for nothing even though they are practically paying most of us everything for nearly nothing 4 months of the year anyway.

To put it into perspective I’m salaried and 90% of my flight time last year was within a 6 month period.

Im just looking for ideas on how to approach the subject in the coming months. (If we’re not forced to take unpaid leave anyway due to COVID)

You think that they won't be jumping with joy if you approach them with an unpaid leave request off-season after what was an absolutely miserable season anyway? Having worked for leisure airlines most of my career, I have seen many people take a couple of months of unpaid leave in the winter to go and work on temporary contracts with other operators, fly someone's business jet, do a masters degree, spend extended periods of time with family abroad and whatnot else. In fact, in some ACMI carriers across Europe it's a company policy to assign everyone one or two months off work and off the payroll in the winter. Obviously, this may not be easy to negotiate if there's already a charter programme planned for the winter, but chances are that even if there is, it will not require anything close to the headcount needed in a normal summer.

Jet2 do BOGOF in the quiet winter season, you take 2 months off and are paid 100% for one month. They also do bespoke options and longer winter unpaid leave options too👍🏼

When JFP says 100% for one month, the pay is actually split over the two months off, so you don't end up without pay for one of them!

And J2 offer full pension payments for both months.

Johnny F@rt Pants

Doesn't sound like BOGOF as that'd be two months on full pay in exchange for a months holiday. It's just taking a month holiday and then a month unpaid leave?

No, 1 month off unpaid and one month off on full pay. As detailed your salary is adjusted so that you still get paid in your month off unpaid and you get pension contributions at your 100% salary:D

But you don't have to use any of your holiday allocation from the rest of the year?

No, but it is reduced pro-rata for the time you are off unpaid.

One should expect entirely different concepts for "off season leave" over the next few years, methinks!

The possibility will certainly be there, but most likely it won't be optional in many places. Especially if atypical employment practices take off once again. There's already an example of this with a certain carrier from the Baltic countries whose contract allows for the company to unilaterally assign you up to 2 months of unpaid leave in each 12-month period. Not to mention that some other carriers have swiftly adopted the zero-hour contract concept and it might also be here to stay.