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[pmAS] Follow Up to April Bid Re-Award

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants

On Tuesday, March 13, AFA released information about the April bid re-award that recently took place.  The initial need for a re-award came about after several bid protests were filed based on the original April line awards.  After further investigation, the protests were found to be valid and the error occurred due to programming in the new web app user interface of Navblue PBS.  The programming error affected the bids of 22 Flight Attendants which required that action be taken to properly honor those bids. Resolving the bid protests was bound to have an impact on the previously awarded lines of Flight Attendants beyond those who initially filed bid protests.

After Navblue corrected the necessary programming but prior to running the bid re-awards, Crew Planning and the PBS Committee had the need to perform some administrative work in PBS to ensure that Flight Attendant bids properly reflected those that were originally entered prior to bids closing on March 10th.  Performing this work required that PBS be switched back into the normal bid entry mode so that the necessary work could be done.  The system does not contain the ability to be switched into a “maintenance” or “offline” mode where administrators can work in the system while preventing Flight Attendants from also making entries.  As a result of this, it was also possible for Flight Attendants to log in to the system and make bid entries during the period of time that the administrators were in the system verifying the integrity of original bids.

Section 10.J.4 of the Flight Attendant collective bargaining agreement states that a Flight Attendant must submit her/his bid by 9 AM Pacific time on the 10th of the month prior to the bid period.  Management’s failure to have PBS properly programmed to prevent additional bid entries while the administrators were working in the system has resulted in a clear contractual violation.  At no time did AFA agree to an exception or waiver to this contractual provision.

The MEC had substantial discussion regarding what transpired, including the possibility of requesting that a full re-bid be conducted for the month of April.  The option of a full re-bid was determined to be unfeasible as it would have had a greater negative impact on Flight Attendants, especially those who would be unable to participate in the re-bid (on vacation, etc.) as well as those who had planned their schedules around the F/A-to-F/A and Open Time trading timeline.

AFA will be pursuing resolution to the contractual violation through the grievance process and every other avenue at our disposal.  The MEC Grievance Committee has already filed grievance number 36-99-2-116-18 addressing management’s failure to comply with the contractual bidding timeline.  We will also be calling for a meeting with inflight management to have additional conversation about the new Navblue PBS user interface, the associated programming errors, and the necessary steps that need to be taken to prevent reoccurrence of a similar situation.

In Solidarity,

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

April Bid Re-Award and Trading Timeline

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants

On Monday, March 12, management advised AFA that a programming error was discovered with the new user interface of NavBlue PBS.  The error, related to the programming of the “Duty On” preference in the new user interface, resulted in trips being awarded incorrectly to Flight Attendants despite bid preferences that were submitted properly.  As a result of the programming error, NavBlue was immediately contacted by management and the necessary programming was corrected.

NavBlue made necessary corrections to the PBS programming which were completed earlier today.  Management subsequently worked to re-award bids with the NavBlue programming having been corrected.   Bid awards will be posted at 5 PM Pacific time today and F/A-to-F/A and Open Time trading will begin as originally scheduled.

Bidding and Trading Timeline

All times based on Pacific time

Bid Re-Awards Posted Tuesday, March 13 @ 17:00
Bid Protest Begins Tuesday, March 13 @ 17:00
Bid Protest Final Wednesday, March 14 @ 17:00
F/A-to-F/A Trading Begins Thursday, March 15*
Open Time Trading Begins Friday, March 16*

*Please note that there is no change to the F/A-to-F/A and Open Time trading timeline.

It is AFA’s positon that management has an obligation to ensure Flight Attendant bidding and scheduling systems are fully functional and free of programming errors.  AFA will be meeting with management to review the programming error with NavBlue PBS and discuss the future plans for roll out of the system.

If you have any questions about the bid re-award or trading timeline, please contact your LEC Officers.

In Solidarity,

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

Management Strands Multiple Crews on the East Coast Due to Winter Storm Riley

Your Master Executive Council (MEC) is incensed that management has chosen to strand multiple crews on the East Coast tonight due to Winter Storm Riley. AFA has repeatedly reminded management over the past several extreme weather events that the Association is more than willing to enact CBA §8.S [Natural Disasters…] in order to turn Boeing crews out of affected stations. Instead, executive operations management (i.e. the Director of System Operations and System Operations Control) is consistently waiting to make decisions until too late in the day when all crew recovery options are essentially lost. This goes for Boeing and Airbus crews.

Crewmembers going into a layover are not going anywhere once they have been picked up by hotel transportation and/or the departing aircraft takes off. Note to management: Any beverage cart jockey can tell you that waiting until 5 PM PT / 8 PM ET to ‘call the ball’ won’t cut it—the vast majority of East Coast flights are long gone. When flights are subsequently cancelled for the next day(s), all stranded crew are along for the ride—for better or for worse.

AFA has made numerous attempts in the recent past to get management to be more proactive when assessing potential extreme weather events. We have tried conducting the appropriate conversations going through the proper channels. Obviously that approach isn’t working, so now we’re going to resort to public shaming. Believe us, it’s not what we prefer.

AFA sincerely hopes everything works out for our stranded crews on the East Coast. Please know we would have supported getting you out if we had been consulted in time to do something about it. Now that AFA has been asked about enacting §8.S on the Boeing side, we have approved the provision in anticipation of Winter Storm Riley. Unfortunately, it’s way too late to make any difference.

Just remember: This stranding has been brought to you courtesy of Alaska Airlines management.

In Solidarity,

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

[pmAS] Additional Transportation Options Between Domiciles/Co-Terminals/Out Stations

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants

Due to several recent flight diversions and how crew member transportation was handled in those situations, AFA has worked with management to clarify what options Flight Attendants have for transportation in these situations.  A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed with the Company putting this clarification in writing.

If your flight is diverted and passengers and crew members are transported by ground, you have the contractual right to be transported separately from the passengers per §22.B of the Flight Attendant collective bargaining agreement.  The new MOU gives you the additional option to use the transportation provided for passengers in such a situation if you choose to do so.

If you have any questions about the MOU, please contact your Local Council Officers.

In Solidarity,

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

[AS] Pending Compensatory Grievance Settlement

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants

AFA is pleased to announce the remedy for Grievance #36-99-2-4-17 Open Time Trips Withheld from Open Time and Premium Pay Removed. On July 5, 2017, AFA and Alaska Airlines management mediated the remedy with Arbitrator Horowitz.

AFA waited for months while management researched which premium trips were removed from Open Time on the four days in question. Once management provided the correct data, the parties agreed to exclude any trips that were picked up and paid at premium as well as any trips that were flown by Reserves. (See grievance and mediated remedy below after the signature block.) The parties determined the aggregate TFP value of all the remaining trips and converted the Company’s premium pay liability on those trips to the straight time TFP equivalent.

The aforementioned calculations resulted in 21,150.64 TFP, which AFA asked management to divide among all Flight Attendants on payroll as of the last blanket withholding date of April 21, 2017.

This equates to a minimum 5.2 TFP payout per Flight Attendant.

There was a small TFP remainder that will be distributed in occupational seniority order in increments of 0.1 TFP until it is gone. Therefore, Flight Attendants at the top of the seniority list until about the 28-year mark will receive 5.3 TFP.

This compensatory settlement will be on the upcoming paycheck dated January 19, 2018.

Good news!

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green, Brice McGee; MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson Stephanie Adams, MEC Grievance Committee Member Christina Frees, MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones and AFA Senior Staff Attorney Kimberley Chaput

Grievance No.: 36-99-2-4-17- Violation of §9.E. & §12.E. All Open Time Trips Withheld from Open Time and Premium Pay Removed. This grievance alleges the Company’s violation of Collective Bargaining Agreement Section 9.E. [Junior Available//and Premium Open Time/Premium Open Time] & 12.E. [Exchange of Sequences/Open Time], past practice and all related sections of the Collective Bargaining Agreement when on or about February 9, 2017, and on or about February 16, 2017, all Open Time trips across the entire system were withheld from Open Time and premium pay was removed. This is an ongoing violation, and this grievance intends to include all future violations. Details: The Company agreed it violated this provision of our CBA. This grievance also includes a violation in March and on April 21, 2107. Settlement: The Company will research the trips that were offered as premium and were then withheld from open time. They will then back out any of the trips that were picked up and paid at premium as well as any of the trips that were flown by reserves.  They will pay the 0.5x or 1.0x additional premium (i.e., 1.5x – 1.0x straight time = 0.5x, or 2.0x – 1.0x straight time = 1.0x) as applicable, to be distributed equally in TFP among all non-management flight attendants on the seniority list as of the date of each incident. If the Company cannot calculate the number/payment with a reasonable margin of certainty, the parties will discuss other methods for obtaining an acceptable remedy. A flight attendant who is on leave at the time of the distribution will receive the payment on the first 20th paycheck after returning to service.

Register Now: Reserve Webinar – Thursday, August 6

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants As a follow-up to our June 23 save-the-date announcement, we’re excited to share full details and open registration for our August pre-merger Alaska Reserve Webinar! If you’ve ever wondered, “Can they do that?” when Crew Scheduling calls with a reserve assignment or schedule change—whether you’re a Reserve Flight […]

AFA Committee Focus Month: Membership Engagement

July marks our latest AFA Committee Focus Month, and we’re excited to spotlight our Membership Engagement Committee. In May, we kicked off this initiative by showcasing the exceptional work of our EAP/Professional Standards Committee—illustrating how our committees serve and support us every day. Our Membership Engagement Committee is here to make sure every Member feels genuinely […]

Joint Contract Negotiations Session 16 – July 2026

The JNC has been actively negotiating key sections of the contract, focusing on vacation, sick leave, and temporary duty assignments. A tentative agreement was reached on Section 37 (Temporary Duty Assignments), ensuring financial protections and fair treatment for Flight Attendants during temporary assignments. These ongoing discussions demonstrate a commitment to integrating the best benefits from both Alaska and Hawaiian CBAs for all members.

Human Rights & Equity Committee Meeting Recap – 2nd Quarter 2026

On Wednesday, June 24, our AFA Human Rights & Equity Committee Chairpersons met to discuss their ongoing activism to raise awareness and create positive change within our workplace and community. Your representatives attending the meeting were Nyachan Chuar (ANC), Yan Yan Teague (SEA), Aaron Miller (PDX), Trista Vanta (SFO), Louise Borras (LAX-pmAS), Bruni Agosto-Pinal (LAX-pmHA), […]

Inflight Service Committee Meeting Recap – 2nd Quarter 2026

On Thursday, June 11, our AFA Inflight Service Committee Chairpersons met with management to represent our Flight Attendants and advance meaningful improvements in our workplace. Your representatives at the meeting included Naomi Parcell (ANC), Ross DeJong (SEA), Todd Horn (PDX), Raymond Ramirez (SFO), Johanna Thomas (LAX pmAS), Gary Manoi (LAX pmHA), Andrew Malone (SAN), and […]

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