Scheduling Committee

• Our AFA Scheduling Committee Chairpersons met on Tuesday, May 24 to discuss their ongoing program of work to represent Flight Attendants interests related to lineholder scheduling.
• The Committee also met with management to receive updates and discuss issues and problems that Flight Attendants are experiencing with scheduling, pairings, and bidding.
• Your Local Scheduling Committee is available to answer questions, provide clarification, or help to resolve any lineholder scheduling-related issues.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out!

On Tuesday, May 24, our AFA Scheduling Committee Chairpersons met 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), Rita Tillou (SEA), Melodie Anderes (PDX), Virginia Fritz (SFO), Natalie Codd (LAX), and Kitty Cohen (SAN). Also present were MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones, MEC Scheduling Committee Vice Chairperson—Pairing Construction Karen Ferrell, MEC Scheduling Committee Vice Chairperson—PBS Adam Clarey, MEC Grievance Committee Payroll Representative Kiara O’Bryant, and MEC Reserve Committee Chairperson Julie Thornton. The committee met with representatives from inflight base management and other management representatives from Crew Planning.

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:

• Reassignments for line holders and reserves – avoiding cancellations.
• Long wait times for hotels/transportation and concerns with API (the company’s hotel sourcing vendor).  When these situations occur, continue to file CrewCare reports and remain in contact with Crew Scheduling. 
• Pre-cancellations and the ability to email in order to waive pay.
• Flight schedule changes and cancellations (reduction in planned schedule) for June, July, and August.  Management indicated that reserve percentages will remain high. 
• Possibility of allowing Personal Drops and/or raising the threshold sequence number (TSN).
• Line averages and Reserve coverage.  Management is planning to lower averages to 75 TFP and increase reserve coverage to above 20% in all bases.
• Pay Protection is compared on a day-by-day basis and excluded from the Spring Incentive Premium.
• Crew Access queues were explained in recent bulletin 2022-0046 Bulletin Bundle April 18, 2022 (AAG sign-on required).
• Irregular operations quick reference information.  Our AFA Scheduling Committee has put together a quick reference guide that can be accessed here: https://afaalaska.org/scheduling/irops.
• Flight Attendants who are experiencing fatigue should report or call in fatigued if unable to perform duties or safely operate.  Refer to the Fatigue Risk Management Plan (FRMP) Letter of Agreement for more information.
• Expecting an update to Crew Access on June 6, 2022.
• Crew Access/NAVBLUE/T-Mobile/Block2Block – data, statistics, pending updates and requests to improve. 
• Commuting while on reserve and being in base at the start of reserve availability period.  Not being available in base at the start of the availability period is considered by management to be time card fraud, even if a Flight Attendant has self-assigned a trip or APSB with a later report time.

What The Committee Is Working On

1. PBS Base Sits.  Conducting virtual meetings, trainings, and in-person meetings in preparation for the sunsetting of NAVBLUE ClassBid PBS.  
2. Reassignment Flow Chart.  Scheduling Committee Members reviewed a draft of the reassignment flow chart and it has been moved forward to the final stages of review and approval.  Refer to sections 10.R and 10.R.5 of our CBA.
3. Scheduling Quality of Life Improvements.  Reviewing ways to improve Trip Length Distribution (TLD) and other quality of life options.  Working with management to develop a quality of life survey to determine Flight Attendant scheduling priorities. 
4. Review of user guides and links of Flight Attendant website.  Ensuring information is still accurate in existing resource materials, links are still active and working, etc.
5. Updating Crew Access videos.  Working with management and ITS to update the Crew Access instructional videos to reflect updates and changes to the user interface.

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 Scheduling 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 Scheduling Committee page of the AFA Alaska website.