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Change To Open Time and Flight Attendant-to-Flight Attendant Trading Timeline

Effective next bid month (March 2017), both Open Time and Flight Attendant-to-Flight Attendant trading begins on the 15th of the month. All bases will open on the same day (the 15th) with the times staggered by base (all indicated in Pacific Time):

SAN – 9AM PT

PDX – 10AM PT

ANC – 11AM PT (10AM AKT)

LAX – 12 PM PT

SEA – 2PM PT

Again, this will occur in March for April trading. Current timelines are in effect in February for March trading.

This returns the trading timeline to the schedule established in the contract, §12.C.3 [Exchange of Sequences…: Trading Procedures]. You may recall that Alaska Airlines management and the Master Executive Council (MEC) agreed to ‘temporarily” alter the trading timeline when it became clear that eMaestro could not handle trades opening at the same time. The MEC has been assured that Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) has more than enough capacity to handle the contractually mandated trading timeline, so we are defaulting back to the contractual application.

The MEC is currently preparing a separate communication to address all the frustrations with JCA.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green and Brice McGee

Jeppesen Crew Exchange is Going Live for Trading. What’s Next?

Jeppesen Crew Exchange (JCE) is almost certainly going live for trading later today. What exactly does that mean and what should you expect?

First, the Master Executive Council (MEC) recognizes all of the hard work of so many: Your AFA MEC Scheduling Chairperson Jake Jones and the Scheduling Committee, MEC Reserve Committee Chairperson Jarod McNeill and the Reserve Committee, Flight Attendant JCE Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), the Crew Schedulers, Jeppesen programmers and more, all of whom have spent many sleepless hours preparing for the official cutover. Secondly, the MEC thanks all of you in advance for your patience, which is definitely going to be tested over the coming months. Why?

Jeppesen Crew Exchange (JCE) looks, feels and functions with little to no resemblance to eMaestro. We somewhat expected that, but who knew we would be missing eMaestro so soon? The new colors and icons are nice (except what’s the deal with a palm tree for vacation and sick leave?), but in looking at the system in totality we are very, very concerned about minimal functionality. The MEC is hoping that JCE is appropriately programmed to not violate any of our contractual rules, but we are not entirely confident that will be the case. We’ll know for certain very soon. If you believe JCE is not correctly programmed, contact one of your local Scheduling Committee members so that AFA can track the concern and file a contractual grievance if necessary. If you are having any technical difficulties with JCE whatsoever, it is absolutely critical that you generate a ticket with the IT Help Desk: either call 877-238-1077 or email help.desk@alaskaair.com.

JCE Video Tutorials

AFA has done our very best to advocate for additional testing throughout the process, but management has made a decision to proceed despite our objections. At this point in time, the MEC highly encourages you to watch the JCE video tutorials and to take the 3-question quiz so that you are paid 1 TFP for the voluntary training. We also suggest that you brush up on your scheduling-related contractual rules because you can take nothing for granted in JCE until it has been proven.

Otherwise, there is one extremely important piece of information that we would like to highlight: JCE notifications.

JCE Notifications

When you log into JCE, you may notice one or more pop up notifications. These could range from advising you of a change to your report time to a reserve assignment. If you click through the notification, that is the equivalent of Crew Scheduling directly delivering the notice to you. In many ways, this could be a huge convenience for Flight Attendants as well as for Crew Scheduling. However, if you do not want to be “on the hook” for accepting the notification, you need to click the little “X” in the corner of the pop-up. Crew Scheduling will then be required to contact you the old fashioned way.

If you have general JCE-related questions or concerns, contact one of your local Scheduling Committee members (ANC: anc.scheduling@afaalaska.org, SEA: sea.scheduling@afaalaska.org, PDX: pdx.scheduling@afaalaska.org, LAX: lax.scheduling@afaalaska.org and SAN: san.scheduling@afaalaska.org. For reserve-specific questions or concerns, contact MEC Reserve Committee Chairperson Jarod McNeill at jarod.mcneill@afaalaska.org. During this challenging time be assured AFA will continue to advocate to management to do the right thing for our Flight Attendants. We’ll get through this together!

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green, Brice McGee; MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones; MEC Reserve Committee Chairperson Jarod McNeill; and MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson Stephanie Adams

How to Get Ready for the January 30th Jeppesen Crew Access Cutover

Management is going forward with implementation of the new crew tracking system despite AFA’s objections (see “AFA Objects to January 30th Jeppesen Crew Exchange Cutover”). So now what?

Voluntary Paid Computer-Based Training (1 TFP)

Alaska Airlines management developed Crew Access Instructional videos in partnership with the AFA Scheduling Committee and other Flight Attendant Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) selected by AFA. You can access the videos here: http://www.aagtechnologyuniversity.com/as-inflight/crewscheduling/learning-roadmap.html. Although this computer-based training (CBT) is not required, AFA advocated for the training to be paid and management has agreed to do so.

If you watch all the video tutorials and score 100% on the three-question quiz within 30 minutes of starting the quiz, you will be compensated 1 TFP. AFA highly encourages everyone to take advantage of this paid resource!

Quick Reference Guides

Quick reference guides are located on the same web page as the links to the video tutorials. There are four helpful topics:

Base Sits and Voluntary Unpaid Classroom Instruction

Management is working with the MEC, the AFA Scheduling Committee and the Flight Attendant Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to arrange base sits in all domiciles as well as voluntary unpaid classroom instruction in select locations. Management will communicate the details shortly.

Please keep in mind that the AFA Scheduling Committee members and SMEs are available as friendly peer resources. They can certainly pass along feedback to management about the new Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) system, but they are not responsible for implementation nor are they “experts” on JCA due to limited training. They also have had no opportunity to practice on a fully functional system prior to live launch.

Upcoming trip trading freeze and the associated contractual grievance

In order to implement the new crew tracking system, all Flight Attendant trade will be suspended starting at 8pm Pacific Time on Monday, January 30, 2017, for up to 78 hours. AFA filed a contractual grievance on the issue in August 2016 (see “Trip Trading Freeze Part 1” and “Trip Trading Freeze Part 2” for more information). The MEC believes we are on the cusp of finalizing an acceptable settlement agreement to resolve the contractual grievance. Stay tuned for additional developments hopefully early next week!

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green, Brice McGee; MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones and MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson Stephanie Adams

AFA Objects to January 30th Jeppesen Crew Exchange Cutover

Alaska Airlines management is a “go” to implement the new crew tracking system on January 30th

Alaska Airlines management held a “Go/No-Go” meeting earlier today to determine whether or not the new crew tracking system will be implemented on January 30th. Stakeholders from multiple divisions and labor groups indicated if they were “go” or “no-go” for cutover. Unfortunately, management made the decision to proceed with implementation despite AFA’s objections. This means eMaestro will be turned off at 8pm Pacific Time on January 30th for up to 78 hours in order to be replaced by Jeppesen Crew Exchange (JCE).

AFA recommended “no-go”

Master Executive Council (MEC) Scheduling Chairperson Jake Jones recommended “no-go” on behalf of AFA:

AFA does not support the implementation of a product that does not meet our current user functionality or better and is not contractually compliant with our 2014 agreement. While we appreciate the dedication and hard work of Alaska management and Jeppesen, we represent the contractual compliance of our collective bargaining agreement for nearly 4000 flight attendants. We still have a lot of work ahead to meet the minimum requirements AFA needs in order to support implementing the product.

Inflight executive management recommended “go” despite concerns within the division

Director of Inflight Crew Scheduling Kieran Whitney recommended “no-go” based on concerns the system has not received enough testing to ensure acceptable functionality—particularly with regard to Open Time trading. The manager of Inflight Crew Pay also expressed concern, citing that there are 25 identified bugs and no additional automation with the new payroll system; however, ultimately she recommended “go.” Despite these concerns within her own division, Vice President of Inflight Services Andy Schneider recommended “go.”

Inflight executive management’s explanation

When AFA asked Andy for an explanation, she wrote:

I truly understand the on-going concerns held by both AFA and Kieran. I based my “Go” decision on a few key pieces of information. First, Jeppesen (the company responsible for the system) has committed to us that all critical system issues will be fully addressed before January 30th. Secondly, at the beginning of this project AFA comprised a list of must-have issues and all of these have been successfully addressed. I would like to make it clear that if critical items are not corrected by the 30th or any new critical issues are identified then we will certainly reevaluate.

While any launch of this scale has some level of risk, I feel strongly that we are at greater risk every day we remain on eMaestro. I do not doubt that this transition will have its bumps and I thank you in advance for your patience. I’m confident that the new system will be a great improvement for all of our Flight Attendants. Based on everything I heard from our IT team, system engineers, Flt Ops partners and project team members, I am optimistic that we will be ready to deliver a new, mobile and modern system to our Flight Attendants on January 30th.

AFA’s rebuttal

While it is true that all “must-have” issues brought forward by AFA have been addressed, JCE currently lacks many “extremely desirable to have” items. Despite many months of best effort by the Scheduling Committee to help debug JCE, in AFA’s opinion there was not enough time to adequately test a final version prior to the decision date. Consequently, the AFA Scheduling Committee and the MEC are gravely concerned about the JCE cutover—not only with regard to Flight Attendant perception and satisfaction but with overall system functionality as well. We all agree that eMaestro needs to be replaced, but AFA strongly believes the new system needs to be put through additional development and testing prior to live launch.

What now?

AFA recommends Flight Attendants prepare themselves for the inevitable. The next MEC membership release to be published tomorrow will address how to get ready for the January 30th cutover. We also have an update regarding the upcoming trip-trading freeze (see “Trip Trading Freeze Part 1” and “Trip Trading Freeze Part 2”) and the associated contractual grievance. In the meantime, be assured that AFA will actively monitor the cutover and is prepared to take appropriate action should any contractual obligations not be fulfilled.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green, Brice McGee; MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones and MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson Stephanie Adams

Useful Contractual Provisions During Irregular Operations

Weather in the Pacific Northwest is impacting the operation across the system this week. Your Master Executive Council (MEC) reminds you that the contract stays in full force during irregular operations. Here are a few useful contractual provisions that are often invoked during irregular ops:

  1. Assignment cannot be built over 10.5 hours. – §8.E. (Except 4k – §10.DD.)
  2. Re-assignments cannot be built over 12.5 hours. – §8.E/§10.R. A minimum of 10 hours rest must be built into any remain over night (RON) at the time that the new trip is given. – §8.J.
  3. If you are unable to fly your sequence as scheduled for more than two hours due to weather, mechanical or to suit Company convenience, you may be eligible for Stranded Pay. – §21.N. If stranded to a RON with a duty period commencing on a scheduled day off see also §9.D.1.d.
  4. Unscheduled overnights – §10.R.7.
  5. Minimum days off – §10.E.1.a.
  6. General block and ground delays are generally paid automatically at 0.5 TFP per hour. You must manually submit for block delays that exceed one hour, that cross midnight or if you are deadheading. – §21.J.
  7. If your duty day exceeds 12.5 hours you will receive “double out” rest at the end of your sequence. If you choose to waive “double out” rest and complete the scheduling obligation that would have been dropped by such rest, you receive 1.5x the rate of pay. – §8.H.
  8. If you are on a multi-day sequence and receive less than 9:30 rest at RON as measured from release to report, you will receive 2.5x premium for flights flown for the entire sequence. However, if your sequence has a Sequence Interruption Point (SIP) and Crew Scheduling (CSKD) removes you at the SIP, you will be pay protected for the remainder of the sequence at straight time. If CSKD attempts to contact you after your debrief and prior to your next report in order to adjust your report time, you are not required to be contactable pursuant to §8.Q until your scheduled report time.  If you contact CSKD and your layover is adjusted so that you receive 9:30 rest or greater, the 2.5x premium does not apply. – §8.K.
  9. You cannot be required to work a trip that has a duty day projected over 14 hours while you are at a Flight Attendant domicile or co-terminal. – §8.G
  10. If you are on duty at 4:29 AM local time you cannot be required to remain on duty past 8:30 AM initial departure station time of that duty period (wherever your pairing started that duty period)–except for APSB. Other “Night Rule” provisions may also apply if you are on duty at 4:29 AM local time. – §8.I.
  11. If you are pay protected due to weather, mechanical or to suit Company convenience, you may pick up additional flying on the day(s) you were pay protected, and you will receive both pay protection and the value of the additional scheduling obligation. – §21.M.
  12. If you are unable to make it to work due to impassable weather conditions, you may request a management drop, which is without pay and attendance points are assessed if the drop is granted. – §32.C.14.

If you have any questions contact one of your Local Executive Council (LEC) officers or Scheduling Committee members.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green, Brice McGee; MEC S/T-Elect Linda Christou; and MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones

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