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        You are here: Home / Archives for Committees / Scheduling Committee

        Enacting 8.S [Natural Disasters…] Due to Hurricane Matthew Affecting Charleston (CHS)

        October 5, 2016 11:15

        Alaska Airlines management has made the decision to turn the crew out of Charleston (CHS) today in response to Hurricane Matthew. AFA and Alaska Airlines have agreed to enact the provision of 8.S [Natural Disasters…] in order to facilitate their removal. The provisions of 8.S remain in effect until such time when Alaska Airlines is able to resume normal operations to CHS.

        The parties agree to communicate any further changes if Hurricane Matthew impacts additional cities.

        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; and MEC Scheduling Chairperson Jake Jones

        Filed Under: Latest News, Scheduling Committee Tagged With: 2016, 8.S, Charleston, CHS, Hurricane Matthew, irregular operations, irregular ops

        Pairing Construction 101

        August 26, 2016 05:00

        What is involved with pairing construction?

        Approximately one month prior to the bid month, Network Planning provides a Standard Schedules Information Manual (SIMM), which includes all of the scheduled legs in the system on a daily basis for FA 1-Position, FA Combi and FA 3-Position. Each of the legs are formatted as a single line item, such as one leg flight AS 320 SEA-SFO. For October 2016 there were 18,741 single legs in the FA 3-Position used for optimization of the pairing solution. For October pairings, we build the schedules and submit our solutions in the month of August, and in September 2016 we submit pairing solutions for November, et cetera.

        What metrics do the crew planners and AFA pairing analyst input into the solution to build the pairings?

        Most of the time we utilize the same metrics into the solutions but change the parameters. Examples include but are not limited to:

        Hotel costs, per diem, aircraft swaps, minimum layover, maximum duty day, maximum layover, sit premium, soft time (minimum pay rules such as Multi-day Sequence Minimum, Duty Period Minimum, Extended Overnight Rule, Average Duty Period Guarantee), penalties for trip length, hard locks (defined pairings), soft locks (suggested leg combinations), deadhead and other contractual or Federal Air Regulation (FAR) requirements. All of these are built into the optimizer and sent into the system to build the final solution.

        How long does it take to submit a solution?

        It takes approximately 1 – 2 hours each time one run is sent to the optimizer. Pilot and Flight Attendant Crew Planning along with the AFA Pairing Analyst share the optimizer. There are a limited amount of servers available to submit solutions. Typically, the AFA analyst will submit her/his solutions in the evening during non business hours

        How is a solution chosen?

        The AFA Pairing Analyst and each of the Crew Planners submit a solution for consideration. The Crew Planning department filters through the solution and provides a cost comparison document that shows the overall cost of the solutions submitted. This document contains important financial information and is not shared with the public, as it requires the AFA Pairing Analyst to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). The comparison document is used for our joint monthly pairing selection meeting with Director of Flight Operations Planning and Resource Allocation, Chad Koehnke, and Vice President of Inflight Services, Andy Schneider. For transparency the MEC Officers also receive a copy of the comparison document. It is important to note that both AFA and management are working together to review the comparison document, however, management has final selection authority for the pairing solution.

        What happens after the solution is chosen?

        The AFA Pairing Analyst receives confirmation of the solution selection from management. The AFA Pairing Analyst then goes into the solution and reviews each domicile and the pairings created to write the monthly pairings report. It takes approximately 2 – 3 hours to review in depth the final solution of the pairings created. After the report is finalized it is emailed to Crew Planning who then adds in the statistics of the duty periods, calendar days, average TFP per duty period by base and trip length of trip, average sit time, average duty day, average swap and average layover. Kelly Whitacre-Yeager then emails the Pairing Report and Statistics to the Flight Attendants via Outlook.

        The Master Executive Council (MEC) thanks MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones for submitting the AFA pairings solutions while MEC Pairing Analyst Karen Ferrell has been in training. Going forward Karen will be the primary submitting on behalf of the Association. If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions about pairings, contact your local Scheduling Committee representatives.

        In Solidarity,

        Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Satterlee, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green and Brice McGee; MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones and MEC Scheduling Committee Vice Chairperson/Pairing Analyst Karen Farrell

        Filed Under: Latest News, Pairing Construction Tagged With: 2016, pairing construction, pairings

        Trip Trading Freeze Part 2

        August 6, 2016 09:00

        On July 14th in our Trip Trading Freeze communication, the Master Executive Council (MEC) wrote about our frustrations that starting on the evening of September 30th Alaska Airlines management plans to “temporarily” suspend trip trading for up to 78 hours (although management says they plan to open up trading as soon as they believe it is safe to do so). The reason for the trip trading freeze is in order to transition from Jeppesen Maestro/eMaestro to Jeppesen Crew Tracking Enterprise (JCTE)/Crew Exchange.

        A trip-trading freeze of this type would be a contractual violation of CBA §12.C.1. [Exchange of Sequences: Trading Procedures]: “The Company will provide and maintain a real-time electronic system for processing sequence trades, pick-ups, drops and give-aways.” That is just one violated provision of many.

        The MEC has spent months attempting to negotiate provisions that would help take the sting out of such a major contractual violation and benefit the operation. The MEC has been trying to achieve an eleventh hour agreement that would be acceptable to our members over the past few weeks. At this point we are completely fed up with management and AFA is filing a grievance on the issue.

        Trip-trading freeze negotiations

        The MEC would like our members to know exactly how this all went down. When we first learned about the trip-trading freeze, the MEC fairly quickly realized this would cause disruption. However, we could not accept up to 78 hours of contractual violations. Of course the MEC started negotiating provisions on behalf of our members that would recognize how impactful this contractual violation would be as well as to minimize operational exposure. It could have been a “win-win” for all parties.

        Paid drop coupons or the equivalent

        The MEC’s opening position was one day of paid drop coupons or the equivalent in straight compensation for every Flight Attendant on the payroll for every partial day impacted by the trip-trading freeze (approximately three). Management was absolutely shocked we would open on a position that costs approximately $1 million per day. We told them the proposal was to get their attention and to give us a counter proposal. Negotiations continued.

        “Super Reserves”

        On the operations side, the parties fairly swiftly honed in on a “Super Reserve” concept that allowed Flight Attendants to be on voluntary call with no requirement to call back. This would help supplement the regular complement of Reserves during the cutover. If flown, a “Super Reserve” would receive the greater of 8.0 TFP or actual flying per day—all at premium pay. The only outstanding issue to be resolved was whether premium was double time (2.0x) or triple time (3.0x)—or somewhere in between. The parties also agreed to a liberalized process for resolving attendance points if Flight Attendants were granted Management Drops pursuant to Section 32 Attendance Policy during the cutover.

        Positive Space Tickets, et cetera

        Back to management’s “counter proposal.” Management refused to counter anything. The MEC attempted to be “more reasonable” (from management’s perspective) by suggesting every Flight Attendant receive an additional complement of positive space tickets (PST) to supplement our current allotment. We even gave them additional options by signaling that we were open to considering a bump to our Employee Choice travel credits. Nada. Management was concerned about setting a precedent for other employee groups asking for pass-related benefits due to contractual violations.

        Attendance points credit

        Earlier this week the MEC made a last-ditch proposal in which every Flight Attendant receives a credit of two attendance points (including up to two additional bank points if applicable) effective on or around the cutover date. This proposal was completely no cost and fully discretionary within Inflight (as in there would be no need to seek outside approval from executive management). Inflight management rejected the proposal as “too rich” but that they would consider perhaps one point.

        What management thinks you are worth…

        Inflight management has stated all along they believe the other provisions (the “Super Reserves” and a liberalized points forgiveness policy for Management Drops issued during the cutover) were good enough to make up for the contractual violation. This is what management thinks you are worth in relation to this unprecedented impact to your flexibility: Alaska Air Group will spend several billion dollars to purchase another carrier, but Inflight management can’t give us something that doesn’t cost a penny!

        Grievance filed

        So…that is why the MEC is done with management for now, and we’re filing a grievance.

        >>> Click here to read Grievance No. 36-99-2-24-16: Suspension of Flight Attendants Trades and Denial of Related Contractual Provisions <<<

        Considering how Inflight management is behaving these days, the MEC anticipates more grievances coming in the future.

        If you have any questions or concerns, contact your LEC president.

        In Solidarity,

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

        AFA Grievance No. 36-99-2-24-16 Suspension of Flight Attendant Trades and Denial of Related Contractual Provisions

        Filed Under: Grievance Committee, Latest News, Scheduling Committee Tagged With: 2016, grievance, JCTE, trading

        Open Time Trial Cancellation

        July 21, 2016 17:00

        The Master Executive Council (MEC) has surveyed Flight Attendants’ satisfaction with Open Time for several months (May, June and July), and it is very clear from the survey results that the new system is strongly disfavored. (See “Open Time Trial Survey Results – July 2016” for the latest results.) In our opinion, dissatisfaction with Open Time has been made worse by the disappointing programming challenges leading up to full implementation of the new system combined with the continuing connectivity problems in eMaestro.

        Consequently, the MEC has notified management that we are cancelling the Open Time Trial pursuant to CBA §12.F.9 [Exchange of Sequences: Open Time Trial: Cancellation of Open Time Trial].

        As outlined in §12.F.9.a., Open Time will revert “back to book,” which was the system in place in the 2006-2010 contract as modified by the “Withholding Open Time” arbitration award (AFA No. 6-99-2-18-11 [“Withholding Open Time”]). The roll back will occur when Jeppesen is able to program the new Jeppesen Crew Tracking Enterprise (JCTE) Crew Exchange with the old Open Time trading rules.

        Management’s estimate for going “back to book” is sometime between February and July 2017. We are anticipating a specific estimate from management in the near future. In the meantime, Open Time trading will remain under the new system.

        Based on overwhelming feedback from the members, the MEC is requesting that we begin negotiations on a successor Open Time system as soon as possible. Negotiations will proceed with your current Negotiating Committee: MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Kristy Stratton, Lisa Pinkston and Christina Frees. The MEC sincerely thanks Jake Jones for his service on the past two Negotiating Committees. Jake recused himself from the committee. AFA Senior Staff Attorney Kimberley Chaput will join the committee for Open Time negotiations.

        Keep in mind the recently selected Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) is a different committee that will negotiate a combined contract pursuant to the Alaska Airlines-Virgin America merger.

        “It’s painfully obvious the Open Time Trial is not working for the Membership,” said MEC President Jeff Peterson. “Let’s keep in mind this new system was always designed as a trial, which is why the parties agreed to an ‘opt out’ clause. The MEC sincerely thanks everyone for taking part in the surveys and sharing their comments, which has given us a lot of material for upcoming negotiations. Flight Attendants want a simplified system without all the confusing codes and a much-improved ability to trade day-for-day or greater that is not necessarily tied to day-of-departure. AFA is committed to delivering a workable Open Time system to our Flight Attendants that is supported by a comfortable majority of our group.”

        You will be hearing a lot more about Open Time in the coming months as negotiations progress.

        If you have any questions or concerns, contact your Local Executive Council (LEC) president.

        In Solidarity,

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

        Filed Under: Latest News, Scheduling Committee Tagged With: 2016, History of Open Time, Open Time, OT

        Open Time Trial Survey Results – July 2016

        July 21, 2016 16:59

        The Open Time Trial survey results for July 2016 are now available.

        Survey completion information

        458 surveys were completed and 7 were partially completed. If a Flight Attendant submitted more than one survey, only the last submission was counted. This is a substantial reduction in the number of participants compared to past surveys.

        Survey overview

        The results continue to show a clear need to improve general understanding of the Open Time Trial and a strong dissatisfaction for the current system.

        Understanding of the Open Time trading codes

        62.5% of respondents do not understand or are still learning the Open Time trading codes (TO/DD/CP/TX/no code) and how to trade sequences in Open Time based on those codes. This is a significant drop from past months.

        AFA Alaska has produced an Open Time trading codes quick reference guide (see “Understanding Open Time Trading with the Codes” for additional information.)

        >>> Click here to view the “Open Time Trading with the Codes” quick reference guide in a Portable Document Format (pdf). <<<

        Understanding of the estimated time frame for making any programming changes to Open Time

        A majority (57.7%) reported they understand the time frame involved for making any programming changes to the Open Time system.

        Based on membership feedback the MEC has made a determination to go “back to book”:

        • Reverting to the former Open Time system could take approximately one year. This is because the new JCTE crew management system would need to be reprogrammed with the rules for the former OT system. (It is currently programmed with the new OT rules.)
        • AFA will start negotiating a new system as outlined in CBA§12.F.9 [Exchange of Sequences: Open Time Trial: Cancellation of Open Time Trial]. Implementation of a replacement OT system would likely take a minimum of nine months after reaching an agreement with management.

        Strong dissatisfaction with the Open Time Trial

        74.5% indicated they are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the Open Time Trial. 81.6% of respondents would prefer to revert “back to book” to the old Open Time system (based on IT limitations) and begin negotiations on a new system; whereas 18.4% would prefer to keep the current system.

        Detailed survey results

        >>> Click here to view the detailed AFA Alaska Open Time Trial Survey Results for July 2016. <<<

        AFA Alaska has informed management of our intent to go “back to book.” More information to follow!

        In solidarity,

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

        AFA Alaska Open Time Trial Survey for July 2016 Results Summary

        Filed Under: Latest News, Scheduling Committee Tagged With: 2016, Open Time, OT

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