Representing the Flight Attendants of Alaska + Hawaiian
The ORD hotel is no longer offering crews the 50% discount off food. This was a promotion that was being offered by the hotel. The discount will revert to the contractual 20% discount with crew ID.
Construction will be going on at ORD to the upper ramp. During the construction, all pick-up and drop off will be at the lower ramp, where all of the hotel shuttles pick up.
Please contact your Local Hotel Committee
Many of us are excited to soon resume service to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), but for the crew who are laying over there, their stay in suburban Virginia may not be so exciting. Despite an official recommendation by the AFA Hotel Committee for another property, management has selected an inferior hotel for crew accommodations.
When a layover hotel in a new city needs to be selected or a hotel contract is up for renewal in an existing city, members of management and the AFA Hotel Committee visit the prospective hotels. Each hotel is evaluated for safety, cleanliness, quality, and to ensure it will meet the needs of our Flight Attendants. The Hotel Committee issues their official recommendation to management, who makes the final decision.
Despite an official recommendation from the Hotel Committee and the urging of the MEC, management has decided to ignore the AFA recommendation for the IAD layover hotel. Under the new contract, when management selects a hotel that the Hotel Committee disagrees with, the MEC can request a written explanation from the division leader detailing the reason why the hotel was chosen (§34.A.1.c)
In an email from the MEC, Vice President of Inflight Services Andy Schneider was asked to provide her detailed explanation in accordance with the contractual language. The response, provided by Director of Crew Strategy & Administration Chad Koehnke, cited cost savings, payment discounts, and contractual terms that favored the company as the reasons for choosing the selected hotel over the preferred hotel recommended by AFA. The message that has been sent to our Flight Attendants is clear: sorry, you’re just not worth it.
If you happen to be flying an IAD trip and have feedback to provide about the new layover hotel (or any layover hotel in any city), be sure to share it by writing a feedback report in CrewCare. Reports submitted through CrewCare are automatically routed to the ALPA and AFA Hotel Committees as well as management—they will hear what you have to say. You can access CrewCare by following the link on the main page of the Flight Attendant website or by visiting http://www.alaskaaircrew.com.
In Solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt
Note: To protect crewmember privacy, hotel names are not mentioned in this post as this article is posted on the AFA Alaska website. Information about crew hotels is available in the FA Crew Hotel Info conference in FirstClass.
As you may be aware, Hurricanes Iselle and Julio are rapidly approaching the Hawaiian Islands. According to the National Weather Service, hurricane conditions are expected to develop on the Big Island by this afternoon. As the path continues moving up the Hawaiian island chain, the storm is expected to lose some strength with tropical storm conditions spreading to Maui tonight and Oahu and Kauai on Friday. You can read the current statement from the National Weather Service at http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/pages/HLS.php.
Inflight management has repeatedly assured us that there is no danger to our crew members flying to the Hawaiian islands or laying over there at this time. Regardless of these assurances, your MEC and LEC Officers are continuing to closely monitor the situation. Purely as a precaution, we are offering a list of tips to help crew members in the affected area be prepared should conditions deteriorate. You can view these tips at http://afaalaska.org/hotel/safety/hurricane.
As always, your LEC Officers and EAP representatives are standing by and available to assist you. You can find LEC Officer contact information at afaalaska.org under “Local Councils”. EAP contact information is at afaalaska.org/eap.
In Solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Becky Strachan, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt
