yet more vacation

If you look it will tell you that for example with diamond membership you have access to about 3 months time, once accrued.  As I have a lesser membership rank I would get less, but still plenty.  Check how much time you have under settings page.

Everyone gets 2 days a month.

http://support.chess.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/26/0/how-does-vacation-work--how-much-time-do-i-get

@smoeggi - I think we're playing the same guy, I noticed it as well . As a slow player myself, I can't really complain, and personally I don't want him to time-out, but it is very odd that it happened and I can understand your frustration.

Not in the spine, I hope.  Surely even invalids can still possess a highly developed sense of right and wrong?

No, I was just giving you a hard time (in jest).  I agree with the spirit of what you said.

Lol, thanks Vance!

The player probably renewed his membership for a year.  Diamond and Platinum member get 28 additional days vacation when they renew for a year.

Ah, that make sense! The answer, at last! Thank you!

This is not accurate. http://www.chess.com/forum/view/help-support/vacation-time15 "... we no longer give vacation "bumps" for premium memberships."

At this point I would say the random increase in vacation, which I have witnessed, is a bug.

I don't think that the referenced thread is correct.  When I renewed my membership in November 2010 (two months after the thread), I received a vacation bump of 14 days (gold members get less the diamond or platinum).

Note:  I checked to see if I got the bump because of a comment in the following thread.

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/help-support/vacation-auto-vacation-timeout-protection