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[L-AS] November 2018 PBS Bid Awards

This message is for Legacy Alaska Airlines (L-AS) Flight Attendants

Trouble with the November 2018 PBS bid award

The Master Executive Council (MEC) was informed on Friday, October 12, 2018, that the wrong one-position (“D”) pairing file was loaded into NAVBLUE PBS.  That file did not contain all the one-position flights—in excess of 1000—requiring staffing coverage. Management and AFA were initially going to pursue a re-award under the usual contractual procedure.

However, management advised AFA that a longer than normal lead time would be required to re-open bidding because the correct D position pairing file had to be sent to API for hotel assignments prior to loading into NAVBLUE. Neither party was confident that API would be able to turn the file around over the weekend, so the conservative estimate was for API to finish processing the file on Monday 10/15, bidding to open Tuesday 10/16, bidding to close Sunday 10/21, bid awards to post Tuesday 10/23 and trading to finally open on Thursday 10/25.

Such an extensive delay to first round awards in order to accommodate the re-award would have been unprecedented. The MEC was even more apprehensive because November is a holiday month. However, the MEC was also extremely concerned that Flight Attendants would not be able to exercise their seniority to bid on all known flying if a re-award were to not occur; this would be in violation of Section (§) 10.E.5, which reads, “All known flying, including scheduled and confirmed 14 CFR part 121 charters, will be placed in the PBS program for bid.”

The MEC voted against a re-award via roll call

After vigorous discussion about all the implications, the MEC voted three to two for a re-award (For: C15 SAN/McGee, C18 LAX/Green and C30 ANC/Pinkston; Against: C19 SEA/Taylor and C39 PDX/de’Medici; Abstaining: C35 SFO/Osborne). As is her right under the AFA Constitution & Bylaws (C&B), Council 19 Seattle President Terry Taylor requested a roll call vote, in which an issue may be voted on using the number of members in good standing in each council. The MEC ultimately voted 2934 to 1899 against a re-award (For: C15 SAN/McGee @ 377 + C18 LAX/Green @ 1141 + C30 ANC/Pinkston @ 381 = 1899; Against: C19 SEA/Taylor @ 2317 + C39 PDX/de’Medici @ 617 = 2934; Abstaining: C35 SFO/Osborne @ 821). Council 35 SFO President Melissa Osborne abstained from both votes because the issue did not impact her members; all C35 member are currently Legacy Virgin America (L-VX) Flight Attendants and bidding under the L-VX work rules and related systems.

Implications

Consequently, November 2018 bid awards are now final and trading will commence on schedule. The tradeoff is that the MEC has waived the provisions of §10.E.5 specific to the ‘missing’ D position pairings for the month of November 2018; therefore any potential grievances pursued under that provision would have no standing in these narrow circumstances. Here is the breakdown by domicile of the missing one-position (D) pairings that will go into Open Time prior to the commencement of Open Time trading: 56 in ANC, 148 in SEA, 21 in PDX, 35 in LAX and 5 in SAN.

The MEC knows many Flight Attendants will be glad that November 2018 trading was not delayed until late October, but it is also possible that just as many will be upset by the award and the waiver to §10.E.5. This was truly a no-win situation for AFA and for all L-AS Flight Attendants. However, be assured that your elected leaders will continue to advocate for you under the democratic processes of the AFA C&B to the best of our ability.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee

[L-VX] GDOs, Year-End Overlap Vacation Days and Work Rules v5 Amendments

GDOs and 2019-2020 Year-End Overlap Vacation Days

Vacation bidding for Legacy Virgin America (L-VX) Flight Attendants opens on Friday, September 28, 2018. There are a few changes to how Guaranteed Days Off (GDOs) and year-end overlap 2019-2020 vacation days will be handled in preparation for transition to Alaska Airlines systems and contractual coverage under the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA). You may reference Informational Bulletin 2018-0098 “Airbus 2019 Vacation Bidding” on the Inflight Webpage or the updated “Airbus FA Vacation Bidding 2019” email from Willie Bell (dated 9/20/2018) for more information.

Click here for the Transitioning L-VX GDOs and Year-End Overlap Vacation Days MOU >

Virgin America Inflight Teammate Work Rules v5 Amendments

L-VX Flight Attendants are currently working under “Virgin America InFlight Teammate Work Rules v5” (“Work Rules v5”) as modified by other letters of agreement. AFA and management acknowledged that some disparities existed between the work rules reflected in Work Rules v5 and the work rules in actual practice as of the date of ratification of the AFA Alaska Airlines-Virgin America Merger Agreement on April 3, 2018.

In order to memorialize all known work rules that were previously communicated by various historical Work Rule Amendments, InFlight Reviews or standalone email communications to all L-VX Flight Attendants, the parties agreed to targeted amendments of Work Rules v5.

Click here for the Virgin America Inflight Teammate Work Rules v5 Amendments >

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee

Horizon Air Aircraft Incident – Update 4

AFA has mobilized EAP and officer resources to support you. If you or one of your colleagues needs to talk to an EAP representative, please call the AFA Alaska EAP at 949-470-0493.

Staffing is extremely tight at all bases for both Boeing and Airbus operations. Consequently, premium trips are available throughout the system. If you are willing and able to fly today, picking up an Open Time trip would definitely help out the operation. Thank you for considering!

Flight Attendants have been asking for guidance regarding what to say to passengers when approached about yesterday’s incident. AFA offers the following talking points as a general guide:

  • Safety is and will remain #1 at Alaska Airlines.
  • Alaska Airlines has created a blog page for official updates: https://blog.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/horizon-air-aircraft/ (All inquiries for information should be referred back to the blog. Media inquiries should be referred to ​Alaska Airlines Media Relations at 206-304-0008; please do not speak to the media.)
  • Our hearts are heavy for the friends and family of the individual involved and for all those affected by the incident.
  • Whenever tragedy touches one member of the Alaska Airlines family, it impacts us all.

You do not have to memorize the talking points. Per CEO Brad Tilden’s “A message on yesterday’s incident,” he says, “You all do an incredible job of living our values and interacting with our customers every day, and we encourage you to be yourselves and share any information that has been made public (via the blog).”

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee

Horizon Air Aircraft Incident – Update 3

Alaska Airlines has created a blog page for official updates regarding the Horizon Air aircraft incident: https://blog.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/horizon-air-aircraft/

AFA has mobilized EAP and officer resources to support you. If you or one of your colleagues needs to talk to an EAP representative, please call the AFA Alaska EAP at 949-470-0493.

This will be the final MEC update tonight regarding this incident.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee

Election Notice: Alaska + Hawaiian MEC Officer Elections

The term of office for our current Alaska + Hawaiian Master Executive Council (MEC) Officers will conclude on December 31, 2025. The voting members of the MEC (LEC Presidents) will elect new MEC Officers at the November Regular MEC meeting. This communication serves as notice of the election in accordance with the MEC Policy and Procedure Manual. […]

SEA Domicile Negotiations – September 2025 Update #2

This message is for pre-merger Hawaiian Flight Attendants Negotiations Update Our SEA Domicile Negotiating Committee met with the company on September 11 to review their response to our September 5 proposal.  We feel that it is important to acknowledge the challenges within our company as Alaska management is struggling to understand our Collective Bargaining Agreement […]

Reserve Committee Meeting Recap – 3rd Quarter 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Thursday, September 11, 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 Conner Gallager (SEA), Anthony Eskander (PDX), Meghan Casey (SFO), Kanako Yamada (LAX), and Rebecca Garcia (SAN). Also present […]

Celebrating Hispanic-Latinx Heritage Month

September 15 marks the start of Hispanic-Latinx Heritage Month in the United States, a vibrant celebration dedicated to honoring the rich contributions and diverse cultures of Hispanic-Latinx Americans. Spanning a full month, this observance—also known as National Hispanic Heritage Month—has its roots in Hispanic Heritage Week, which was established by legislation signed into law by […]

Hotel Committee Meeting Recap – September 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Monday, September 8, our AFA Local Hotel Committee Chairpersons met in person in Seattle to receive an update about current layover hotels and transportation providers and discuss concerns with management. Representing you at the meeting were Dori Marron (ANC), Jarod McNeill (SEA), Ila Christy (PDX), Hilary […]

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