Holiday Request System
 

Hello all,

I work for an airline in the Netherlands and I’m currently in a workgroup that is exploring the options for a new Holiday request system.

Our initial requirements are:

• A system that works with penalty points if you request off days in a high demand period.
• A system that basses allotment to the person with the lowest penalty points
• A system that can give users, instant, insight to the change that somebody has to actually receive the requested days off.
• A system that you already use, and with which you are happy!

Any tips on good working systems are appreciated.

If you don’t know the system manufacturer and you don’t want to mention your company online, please send me a private message.

Thanks for all your wisdom!

Regards,
Willem

We have a system, where every holiday day is given a number of points, up to 20 max in high season, xmas/easter holiday, and 1 for low season days.
The following year, pilots are given a ranking, the top one being the one with the lowest total points down to to the highest, with the pilots on top getting priority in the bidding phase for the holiday.
We can make up to 20 bids for the holiday year, and the results are published after a few weeks.
A few weeks after the bidding phase, we have an open phase, where the leftover holiday days are up for grabs, with no consideration for the ranking.
Pilots joining mid year are given an average position in the base rank for their position (FO/CPT).

The system is delivered by AIMS.

Thanks for your answer. This is really helpful.
We are currently looking at IBS as a supplier, but I'll look into AIMS.

Regards,
Willem

Is there anybody else with similar info?

easyJet use AIMS. It is a disaster. BUT, some of that is down to the rule sets easyjet impose coupled with roster patterns and Aims inflexible software. This makes a two week holiday with your family and a fixed roster pattern an unthinkable ask.

eg to get a two week holiday in a fixed roster pattern in Aims you need to place two bids for the the two blocks. The way AIMS then awards leave the chances of you getting the two blocks granted are very very slim. I’m 23 years in and it did for me once. Beware.

The system works well or not depending on the restrictions set by the company and based on how many days of holidays are made available.
I have never had problems to get holiday in easyJet.
When I was on a fixed roster it was enough to get a block of 5 days of leave to get 13 days off (4 off/5 lve/4 off). Getting two consecutive blocks of leave in the summer is not easy.

Of course if you want three weeks in August it might be difficult, but I have managed consistently getting more than a months off in low season the last couple of years.

We use AIMS and it works fine. As mentioned above every day of the year has points allocated to it. What points you use this year determines your 'seniority' next year - lowest points gets ranked highest. So if you bid for only 1-pointers, you're guaranteed to get everything you ask for next year. If you do the same again you'll stay on top every year; if you bid for Xmas, Easter, summer holidays etc you'll get them all - but you'll probably be at the bottom of the seniority list next year. If you play the system you can have everything you want every other year, or everything you want from a more limited selection every year. Or somewhere in between. Once the bidding is complete and leave is allocated you can then see what's available and live-bid for anything remaining with instant approval. They have a calendar and every day has a number reflecting how many leave spaces there are. Right now I could take the whole of July if I wanted to. I think it works very well.