This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants
On Tuesday, May 26, our pre-merger Alaska AFA Scheduling Committee Chairpersons and Representatives met virtually to discuss their ongoing work to represent our Flight Attendants and push for improvements in our workplace. Representing you at the meeting were Rebekah Olds (ANC), Rita Tillou (SEA), Melodie Anderes (PDX), Jaqui Bellenie (SFO), Kanako Yamado (LAX), and Kitty Cohen (SAN). MEC Scheduling Committee Vice Chairperson—Pairing Construction Karen Ferrell, MEC Scheduling Committee Vice Chairperson—PBS Virginia Fritz, and MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones were also present.
The Committee met with Managing Director of Inflight Performance & Crew Scheduling Sara Cook, Manager of Inflight Crew Scheduling Goose Hlaingmyint, Director of Crew Planning Trisha Bennett, Manager of Crew Planning Colin Beard, ITS Technical Product Owner Nathan McFerren and other management representatives from Crew Planning, Crew Scheduling, information technology (ITS), payroll.
The Committee is next scheduled to meet on Tuesday, June 23.
Topics of Discussion
The Committee reviewed several topics during internal AFA-only conversations and when meeting with management. Some items discussed include:
Local Committee Chairperson Discussions
- Pairings Concern: Ongoing issues with pairings.
- Block2Block (B2B)- suggested implementing an audible alarm system for check-in to assist Flight Attendants.
- Charter Operations: Charter timing issues are causing passenger frustration. Recommendations include timely scheduling and rebidding, with a commitment to improve pre-boarding processes. Communication with charter coordinators is planned.
- Redeye Flights: Mention of numerous redeye flights affecting flight schedules.
- D Position Flying: Noted aircraft downgrades affecting pairing operations, leading to reassignments rather than pre-cancellations. The contract had an incorrect citation, and our MEC and management are reviewing examples to determine a path forward.
- Crew Rest Areas: Concerns about long sits at PAE field; questioning the availability of adequate rest areas for crews.
- Reassignment Pay Denial: Issues with reassignment pay being denied for specific city pairings. The Committee continues to discuss these issues with payroll.
- NAVBLUE Issues: Password reset issues were reported, and the PBS Subcommittee has been designated to assist Flight Attendants.
- Pairing Preferences: Desire for more turns, specifically one-day trips with only two legs.
PBS Subcommittee Update
- Bidding Overview June Bidding: High activity was noted even before the bidding period opened. Concerns over high line averages and reserve percentages.
- Bid Awards: Smooth process despite needing to adjust minimums for reserve coverage. Technical issues with the inflight website caused accessibility problems for Flight Attendants, requiring workarounds.
- Bid Protests: Record high of over 200 protests regarding bid awards, primarily due to perceived errors linked to website issues and high line averages.
- Meetings: Multiple meetings held throughout April and May, including low bid research and PBS focus groups.
- Other Updates: Testing of software updates (26.1-MX-UAT) commenced with plans for implementation in July or August.
Pairing Construction and Crew Planning
- July Pairing Selection: Discussions around payroll, hotel, and transportation costs. Flexibility in trip distribution and lengths noted, with management using the optimizer for pairing construction.
- Crew Planning Analysis: July block hours are up to 365K from 347K in June. 20% reserve ratio, 81.1 average line value. Offering no staffing adjustments for July. Pairings are red-eye: ANC 36%, SEA 30%, SAN 27%; lowest is SFO at 12%, LAX/PDX at 20%. The July trip distribution was reviewed for actual and percentages. Commuting SEA/SAN/ANC for 3 days is best; SEA/ANC/PDX for 4 days. PDX/SFO/LAX are the most challenging.
- RAVE Language: Discussion on improving four-day trips and TFP in the optimizer through computer data programming.
IRROPS (Irregular Operations)
- Updates on various duty starts and operational requests due to construction delays and ATC issues, affecting multiple airports.
- Crew connections increased due to delays, with specific minimum rest requirements for certain routes.
- Current IRROPS:
- SAN start of duty for JFK/BOS/IAD/MCO/DCA – construction delays
- EWR is still at 12 hours for ATC delays
- End of duty AM departures for EWR to LAX/PDX/SEA/SFO
- Increased crew connections due to delays
- Required duty start for LAS-ANC – Operational request.
- PHX star flights have 11:30 minimum rest
- 0500 departure GEG-PDX when operating increased to 12 hours rest
- End of duty for DLG-ANC and AKN-ANC for summer TSA mitigation.
- Flight Attendant teaming is still in effect.
Crew Scheduling Report
- Absence Rates: Sick leave at 12.1%, trending down, with lineholders slightly higher than reserves.
- Reserve Utilization: System-wide utilization at 92.4%, with SEA highest at 98%.
- Fatigue Reports: Noted fatigue incidents for both AS and HA, with overall trends of concern.
- Reassignments and Deadhead Conversions: System-wide reassignments noted, with significant numbers in specific bases.
- Specific Data:
- Sick Leave – Absent rate for May is trending about 12.1%. Trending down in the overall count. Lineholder are 12.5%, and reserves are 10.5%.
- Sick online 80 Flight Attendants and canceled 20 flights
- Reserve Utilization – System is 92.4%, SEA is highest for May at 98%.
- Premium Pay – Awarded: 85%; contractual: 15%. Significant days were Mother’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, and Memorial Day. For June, we have 24% reserve coverage. Management moved people to reserves instead of offering SALs. They are looking at cost-saving tips for contractual premiums, conversions, premiums, daily last flights, adding more personal drops, increasing TSN, and providing flexibility. They need to perform well in sick leave to help staff the operation. Launching initiatives to reduce over-duty premium. The high cost of fuel and the need for greater efficiency are driving these cost initiatives across all departments.
- Personal Drops/TSN/Flexibility – Creating goals and incentives to produce flexibility.
- Reassignments 10.R.4 – System-wide in May was 478, SEA was 191 compared to the other bases.
- Deadhead conversions 10.X.7 – system-wide at 219
- Fatigue – Total is 18 for the month. 12 reserves and 6 lineholders. We ended with 21 in April 2026.
- Crew Schedulers – 2 in July, 1 in August, 3 in late August. 6 awarded positions are on hold due to a 120-day hiring freeze.
Information Technology (ITS) Updates
- Friendly reminder: Please ask Flight Attendants and AFA Representatives to create Cherwell tickets for all ITS-related issues so we can track them. Use the ITS help desk to file the concerns.
- NAVBLUE/PBS:
- Release 26.1.883 UAT Testing – In Progress.
- Automation Updates:
- 261 Test cases automated out of 269 [97% completed] – Web automation.
- 234 Test Cases automated out of 269 [86% completed] – iOS automation.
- Open Time Trade Analysis:
- 93,696 total trades, both legal and illegal
- 91,940 (98.1%) of the total trades (illegal + legal) had a response time less than 10 seconds
- 1756 (1.9%) completed in a response time greater than 10 seconds
- May’s trade volume was higher than April’s.
- Transaction times remained steady.
- JCTE Releases:
- Upcoming Releases
- JCTE 10.0 MR24 – 6/2
- FER bug fixes
- Bid Period Drop Down Menu Selection Replaces Calendar Date Selection for Published Roster.
- Published Roster for another crew member pulling the current bid period + 2 bid periods in the past.
- Alert for schedulers to add when a Flight Attendant is contacted more than once during their rest period, and did not receive 10 hours rest prior to the second call, and has not received 10 hours rest since the second call
- Fix for min/max TFP text messages and min/max duty period text messages.
What The Committee Is Working On
- Resolving Pyramiding Pay Disputes: Discussions are ongoing through the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) process to clarify payment rules for over-duty pay and day-off violations. Our Grievance Committee is filing grievances regarding several concerns with pyramid pay. These discussions are still ongoing with Labor Relations management.
- Vacation Bidding: Representatives from the Committee met with management to discuss the new vendor, AI Crew Solutions. It was determined that when a Flight Attendant either doesn’t hold a bid or forgets to bid, they will be allowed to bid in the 2nd round of vacation. The current process assigns slot 1 and slot 2. We will provide educational material and information when bidding begins next year on the new platforms. We have additional meetings to discuss implementation and buddy bidding. We are currently testing and reviewing the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) environment.
- Flow Charts: These are posted on the AFA website to help guide you through contractual understanding and irregular ops here: 2025-2028 AFA Alaska CBA Reference Documents 01.26.2026
- Block2Block (B2B) Contactability: Implemented on February 1, 2026. Please familiarize yourself with the contractual language and bulletin bundle. Every Flight Attendant must check B2B at the end of every duty period (not trip) and make positive contact if a message is sent prior to block-in of the last flight of the duty period per §8.Q.2.e.
- Chime (Microsoft Teams): Implemented on February 9, 2026. This will allow Flight Attendants to contact Crew Scheduling for additional resources. Please refer to the letter of agreement and the bulletin bundle.
- Compensation: Follow up on crew pay issues and reassignment policies.
- Pairings: Continue to address pairing and scheduling concerns with management.
- Software: Monitor upcoming software implementations and their impacts on operations.
We Want to Hear From You!
Whether you have feedback for the Committee, concerns to share, or items you’d like brought up with management – don’t hesitate to let us know. Your Local Scheduling Committee is here to be your voice to management. You can easily open a support ticket on the AFA Alaska Online Support Center or directly contact us using the information provided on the Scheduling Committee page of the AFA Alaska + Hawaiian website.
