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Harvard Flight Attendant Health Study – Fourth Wave

Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC)

This message is from researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in regard to the Harvard Flight Attendant Health Study. If you have any questions about the study, please contact the researchers directly at fahealth@hsph.harvard.edu.

The Flight Attendant Health Study, launched in 2007, aims to advance knowledge that can improve working conditions for flight crew in the U.S. and internationally.

Flight Attendants are some of the most understudied workers, yet flight crew are exposed to many physical and psychosocial stressors, such as cosmic ionizing radiation, higher ozone levels, stressful interactions with passengers, hypoxia/reduced oxygenation, potentially severe circadian rhythm disruption, and other exposures.

We Need Your Help!

On June 26, the fourth wave of the study launches and we need as many Flight Attendants as possible to participate in order to accurately represent the characteristics and experiences of flight crews.

Our goal is to understand the prevalence of health conditions in current and retired U.S. and international flight crew and the relationship with working conditions – especially in light of the pandemic and its aftermath – in order to solve some of the stressors in Flight Attendant work that lead to early-onset illness and disease.

Please take the survey via this QR code or at bit.ly/fahs and share widely with your colleagues.

Thank you for helping to advance Flight Attendant health by contributing to this important research.

AFA Council 19 (SEA) LEC Vice President Runoff Election Results

Master Executive Council (MEC)

The following AFA Flight Attendant was elected to the office of LEC Vice President representing Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants based in Seattle:

LEC Vice President: Melinda Jorge Henderson

View the certified election results here >>

This officer will serve a term of office starting July 1, 2023 and concluding on June 30, 2026.

Our Master Executive Council (MEC) congratulates the newly elected officer and we sincerely thank all those who stepped forward to run in the election.

Reserve Committee Meeting Recap – 2nd Quarter 2023

Reserve Committee

  • Our AFA Reserve Committee Chairpersons met on Thursday, June 8 to discuss their ongoing program of work to represent and advocate for our Reserve Flight Attendants.
  • The Committee also met with management to review a number of specific concerns that were brought forward by Flight Attendants.
  • Your Local Reserve Committee is available to answer questions, provide clarification, or help to resolve any reserve related issues. Please don’t hesitate to reach out!

On Thursday, June 8, representatives from our AFA Local Reserve Committees met to discuss their ongoing work to advocate for Reserve Flight Attendants. Representing you at the meeting were Heather Reier (ANC), Conner Gallagher (SEA), Meghan Casey (SFO), Kanako Yamada (LAX), and Rebecca Garcia (SAN). Also present was MEC Reserve Committee Chairperson Julie Thornton and MEC Reserve Committee Vice-Chairperson for New Hires & Probationaries Jarod McNeil.

The committee met with Inflight Crew Scheduling Director Sara Cook and Inflight Crew Scheduling Supervisor Derrick Bernard.

The committee is next scheduled to meet on Thursday, September 14th.

Topics of Discussion

The committee reviewed a number of items both during internal AFA-only conversation and when meeting with management. Some items discussed include:

  • Planned Initial Training classes for the remainder of the year. Class 3 started online June 1 and class 4 will graduate this week and be online July 1. Management intends to hire additional Flight Attendants this year. The number of classes and specific number of students in each class is dependent on delivery of new aircraft.
  • Crew Scheduling management changes. Sara Cook is in the process of interviewing for new Crew Scheduling Supervisors as well as a manager to support operations.
  • Issues and glitches with Crew Access affecting Reserve Flight Attendants. Reviewed where known issues are documented and newly added/fixed issues. 
  • Review of upcoming update to Crew Access software. Includes associated fixes to current issues and other improvements, and prioritization for programming fixes.
  • Review of reserve-related scheduling issues that have occurred recently. Includes out of order assignment and incorrect application of personal drop for Reserves.
  • Review of reserve-related issues that have been escalated to the Scheduling Review Board (SRB) and Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) process. Includes multiple calls from scheduling while on a layover.
  • Review of reserve utilization statistics. Reserve utilization is approximately 85% in all bases. Reserve coverage is anticipated to be approximately 22-20% for the remainder of Quarter 2 and Quarter 3.
  • Request for management to decrease the Adequate Reserve Coverage (ARC) minimum. Goal of providing additional flexibility for shifting reserve days. Management agreed to review possible changes.
  • Reminder of the newly updated AFA Alaska Online Support Center. New hire Flight Attendants can report issues, raise concerns, or ask questions.

What the Committee is Working On

  1. Assisting Probationary Flight Attendants Through the Probationary Buddy Program. Answering questions from and providing support to probationary Flight Attendants through an expanded AFA Probationary Buddy program.
  2. Addressing Reserve Contractual Concerns. Researching and investigating reports from Reserve Flight Attendants and actively ensuring management is complying with our contract.
  3. Developing Additional Tools & Resources for New Flight Attendants. Working to create documents to provide user friendly, easy-to-digest resources about the Collective Bargaining Agreement and other job-related information for new Flight Attendants.

We Want to Hear From You!

Do you have feedback for the committee, concerns you’d like to share, or items that you’d like brought up with management?  Please let us know!  Your Local Reserve Committee is your voice to management.  You can open a support request on the AFA Alaska Online Support Center or contact us directly using the information on the Reserve Committee page of the AFA Alaska website.

AFA Alaska News in Review – June 9, 2023

In This Edition

2023 AFA-CWA & Union Plus Scholarships Awarded

Originally posted June 9, 2023

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA Scholarship Fund provides financial assistance to dependents of AFA Flight Attendants who will be attending a college or university.

This year’s AFA-CWA Scholarships:

  • $2,500 winner Madison Hruske, child of Stephen Hruska, Alaska AFA Flight Attendant
  • $1,000 winner Soma Eugene Lattea, child of Junko Lattea, United AFA Flight Attendant
  • $500 winner Noah Lum, child of Winiford & Kendall Lum, Hawaiian AFA Flight Attendants

Alternate – Sydney Amelia Grace Reardon, child of Melissa Spraker, AFA Spirit Flight Attendant

Additionally, Union Plus awarded two scholarships to AFA-CWA:

  • $500 winner Dianne Escalona, United AFA Flight Attendant
  • $500 winner Adin A. Williams, child of Shonna Schroedl, Alaska AFA Flight Attendant

Congratulations! We’re so proud of you.

Read More >

Next Week’s Events

Monday, June 12 – Thursday, June 15Contract Negotiations
Tuesday, June 13Quarterly Human Rights Committee Meeting

See the MEC Event Calendar >

Find Us on Social Media

You can find the most up-to-date official information on our AFA Alaska social media accounts.  Click below and follow so you can stay connected!

2023 AFA-CWA & Union Plus Scholarships Awarded

AFA International

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA Scholarship Fund provides financial assistance to dependents of AFA Flight Attendants who will be attending a college or university.

This year’s recipients of AFA-CWA Scholarships:

  • $2,500 winner Madison Hruske, child of Stephen Hruska, Alaska AFA Flight Attendant
  • $1,000 winner Soma Eugene Lattea, child of Junko Lattea, United AFA Flight Attendant
  • $500 winner Noah Lum, child of Winiford & Kendall Lum, Hawaiian AFA Flight Attendants

Alternate – Sydney Amelia Grace Reardon, child of Melissa Spraker, AFA Spirit Flight Attendant

Additionally, Union Plus awarded two scholarships to AFA-CWA:

  • $500 winner Dianne Escalona, United AFA Flight Attendant
  • $500 winner Adin A. Williams, child of Shonna Schroedl, Alaska AFA Flight Attendant

Congratulations! We’re so proud of you.

Joint Contract Negotiations Session 7 – September 2025

Our JNC made significant progress in shaping our JCBA, successfully reaching a Tentative Agreement on Section 13 – Uniforms. Key provisions include enhancements to uniform standards, ensuring protective measures such as no surnames on name tags, and valuable items from the Hawaiian CBA, like a lunch tote and a 22-inch rollerboard. While we continue discussions on various sections, including Air Safety Health and Security, Training, and Commuter Policy. We appreciate feedback from the 2,207 Flight Attendants who participated in our recent Vacation Survey.

Refreshed Inflight Mobile Device (IMD) Distribution

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants Management has recently informed our Master Executive Council (MEC) that they are distributing new Inflight Mobile Devices (IMDs) to Flight Attendants with devices nearing the end of their lifecycle. The specific schedule for this distribution will be communicated by management separately. Flight Attendants with the oldest devices […]

Scheduling Committee Meeting Recap – September 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Tuesday, September 23, our pre-merger Alaska AFA Scheduling Committee Chairpersons and Representatives met in person at Alaska Airlines Corporate Headquarters to discuss their ongoing work to represent our Flight Attendants and push for improvements in our workplace. Representing you at the meeting were Heather Reier (ANC), […]

Meet Our Pre-Merger Alaska Committee Chairperson & Representatives

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants We’re excited to introduce the first group of pre-merger Alaska MEC Committee Chairpersons and Representatives for the upcoming MEC Officer term. They’ll begin transitioning into their roles over the next few months and officially start their terms on January 1, 2026. Below, you’ll find brief biographies that […]

Inflight Service Committee Meeting Recap – 3rd Quarter 2025

On Thursday, September 18, our AFA Inflight Service Committee Chairpersons met to discuss their ongoing efforts to represent our Flight Attendants and advocate for improvements in our workplace. Although our Inflight Service Committee has now merged, meetings with management continue to focus primarily on the Alaska or Hawaiian brands individually. This particular meeting was centered […]

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