January 24, 2013

Dear Flight Attendants,

As you may have heard by now, Alaska Airlines has announced another record-breaking year of profit in 2012: $339 million dollars! That translates to another record: a pre-tax operating profit margin of 11.9 cents on the dollar, which is well above the “10 cents on the dollar” figure you have heard discussed at Flight Path and in other Company meetings and communications. This is the third year in a row that the Company has exceeded that goal. Not only that, but the load factor grew to a record 86.6%!

The 2012 Performance Based Pay (PBP) payout also been announced: 8.1% of eligible earnings (which do not include all OPR payouts, 2011’s PBP, per diem and expense reimbursements). This is basically the equivalent of an extra month’s salary. All employees who were active on the payroll as of December 31, 2012 or on an approved leave of absence, are eligible for PBP.  Employees who retired during 2012, are also eligible based on their pre-retirement earnings, if they were eligible for retirement under the Flight Attendant 401 (k) plan rules.

PBP replaced the Variable Pay Plan (VPP) with the Contract Extension in 2009 was paid retroactively to include 2008. (PBP has outperformed the VPP over the years in which Flight Attendants have participated in PBP.) Participation in PBP is contractually-mandated, but all Alaska Airlines employees are now on the same shared rewards plan. The PBP goals are set annually by the Alaska Air Group’s Board of Directors. The historical PBP payout since joining the program in 2008 is as follows: 2008 – 2.6%, 2009 – 8.3%, 2010 – 9.4%, 2011 – 6.7%, 2012 – 8.1%. Considering all the record statistics, we are pleased to see this year’s PBP of 8.1% to be closer to the 2010 payout of 9.4%!

The Master Executive Council (MEC) thanks our Flight Attendants for making significant contributions to Alaska Airlines’ success with our on-board sales and renowned service. In fairness, we also recognize management’s role in providing a vision that has led to the Company’s record-breaking achievements. At the end of the day, the long-term success of the Company requires a collaborative effort between all employees at all levels.

Flight Attendants continue to demonstrate their passion for and commitment to Alaska Airlines. In the spirit of shared efforts and rewards, AFA expects management to recognize and reward our Flight Attendants appropriately as we begin to discuss the “big ticket” items in the upcoming contract negotiations sessions: scope, compensation, insurance benefits and retirement. The next round of negotiations is scheduled for February 5-7, 2013, in Seattle, WA.

Congratulations for a job well done in 2012, everybody!

In solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Terry Taylor, Yvette Gesch, Melanie Buker, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn and Sandra Morrow

“Four Bases, One Voice”

www.alaskamec.org

Your PBS Committee is coming to a base near you! Please take a moment to stop by and ask your committee members questions and/or learn about the upcoming changes to the PBS system.

ANC:  March 6th    9:00am-4:00pm (Inflight)

March 7th    6:00am-1:00pm

LAX:   March 9th    9:00am-4:00pm (Inflight)
PDX:  March 7th    5:00am-1:00pm (Starbucks-C concourse near TSA)

March 9th    11:00am-7:00pm

SEA:  March 8th    9:00am-4:00pm (Inflight-Mezzanine)

March 9th    6:00am-1:00pm

SNA:  March 6th    9:00am-4:00pm (To be determined)

In addition, phone help with Rebecca Asbell or Renee Elson will be available

by appointment only on March 6th, 7th and 8th between 8am-4pm.

Call Rebecca at 503-829-4676 or Renee at 951-288-5961in late February but no later than March 5^th to make an appointment.

Dear Flight Attendants,

Several news outlets have reported that Alaska Airlines flight 819 from Kona to Seattle was escorted into Sea-Tac International Airport by two F-15 fighter jets and safely landed almost three hours ago. A tip was received earlier today that a hijacker may be on board the flight. Upon landing, the man in question was escorted away by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) as well as Port of Seattle police. An investigation into the tipster’s claims is on-going.

The Master Executive Council (MEC) is only reporting what is now public knowledge in the interest of calming rumors. The MEC applauds the professionalism of the entire crew and we are thankful for their safe arrival!

In solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Terry Taylor, Yvette Gesch, Melanie Buker, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn and Sandra Morrow

January 11, 2013

Dear Flight Attendants,

Alaska Airlines Inflight management has now posted sample pairings for the new San Diego Flight Attendant domicile on First Class → World of Inflight → SAN Base Opening. Since management has not yet widely communicated about the the SAN Base Opening folder or the sample pairings, the Master Executive Council (MEC) will help get out the word. Management has indicated an intent to expand the San Base Opening folder to include information such as relocation benefits.

The sample pairings are from the October 2012 flight schedule, which is when management conducted a domicile study to decide whether to open a new domicile. While the sample pairings are not based on the current schedule, management indicated to AFA that the pairings should be fairly representative of what we will see out of SAN. Please keep in mind that actual pairings in the future may not be the same. While management built these pairings based on the October 2012 flight schedule, they did not apply all of the production processes like they would for an actual month for bidding and operations. That is, the sample SAN pairings solution is a very rough sketch of what actual pairings will look like.

Our thanks to management for making this information available to the Flight Attendants!

In solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Terry Taylor, Yvette Gesch, Melanie Buker, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn and Sandra Morrow