Help centre · For pilots

Leave of absence

Need a break from flying? A leave of absence tells your airline you're away, so you aren't marked inactive while you're gone. This article covers taking leave, coming back, and what happens if you're marked inactive.

Taking leave

1. Open your airline's Dashboard.
2. Scroll to the bottom and open Taking a break?. It shows the longest leave your airline allows (for example "up to 60 days").
3. Choose the date you'll be back in Back on.
4. Add a Reason (optional), such as a holiday or exams.
5. Press Go on leave.

Your leave starts straight away. The dashboard shows "You're on leave until" your date.

The date must be in the future and within your airline's limit. If it's too far away, you'll see a message with the maximum number of days.

Leave is per airline. If you fly for more than one airline, take leave at each one.

If your airline approves leave

If your airline has turned on Leave approval, the button says Ask for leave instead. Your request waits for staff, and the dashboard shows "Your leave request … is waiting for staff."

• You can have one request waiting at a time.
• Press Withdraw to cancel a request staff haven't decided yet.
• You get an email when staff approve or decline it, sometimes with a note.
• Your leave starts when staff approve it, not when you ask.

The airline may also set a yearly allowance. If your request is longer than the days you have left in the last 12 months, you'll see how many days remain. Only the days you actually took count: if you come back early, the rest isn't used up.

Coming back early

You don't have to wait for your date. Either:

• press End leave now on your airline's Dashboard, or
• just book a flight. Booking ends your leave by itself.

What leave does

While you're on leave:

• You won't be marked inactive for not flying, and you won't get "We miss you" reminder emails.
• If your airline has turned on Activity requirements, you're not checked against its flights or hours target.

Your hours, points, rank and flights are never affected by leave.

When your leave ends, your airline's inactivity clock starts again from your return date, not from your last flight.

If you're marked inactive

You can be marked inactive in two ways:

• Your airline marks pilots inactive after a number of days without flying. It chooses how many. You get a reminder email about a week before.
• If your airline has turned on Activity requirements, you're marked inactive when you fly fewer flights or hours than it asks for in its period.

Either way you get an email, and your dashboard says "You're marked inactive".

Being inactive doesn't delete anything. Your hours are safe.

To fly again:

1. Open your airline's Dashboard.
2. Press I'm back.

You'll see "Welcome back!" and you're active again. The Taking a break? card only shows when you're not inactive, so press I'm back first if you want to go on leave.

Leaving an airline for good

A leave of absence is a pause. If you want to stop flying for an airline completely, use Leave an airline on your Profile instead. See Privacy settings for what's on that page.