I've only ever once been denied a request for annual leave, and I don't recall anyone I've told the story of that to ever having had a similar experience. One

I've only ever once been denied a request for annual leave, and I don't recall anyone I've told the story of that to ever having had a similar experience. One place I worked had spelled out explicitly in the employee handbook that "if you want to take more than three weeks off consecutively, please give us at least two weeks' notice". They also discouraged people from scheduling holidays to accommodate deadlines on the basis that the deadline was probably going to shift, so it wouldn't help.