As you all have experienced over the past few days, the cutover to Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) was less than seamless. In fact, the Master Executive Council (MEC) has received feedback from many of you that you believe the cutover has bordered on disastrous.

“Why did AFA allow this?”

Many of you have been asking on social media, “Why did AFA allow this?” AFA definitely did not support the roll out of the program (for more information, see “AFA Objects to January 30^th Jeppesen Crew Exchange Cutover” and Inflight management’s “Crew Scheduling Follow-up” email from February 3, 2017). There were over 400 test scenarios that AFA wanted tested, which were not completed before the roll out. AFA stated to management many times prior to the cutover that Jeppesen Crew Access was not adequately tested for the Flight Attendants and therefore not ready.

AFA has been communicating our concerns with JCA to management for well over a year now. We even made our best effort to address the very issues you are now facing directly with the programmers last autumn in Sweden. As late as 7am PT this past Thursday (the day JCA was turned on for Flight Attendant trading), MEC Scheduling Chairperson Jake Jones once again told management that JCA was not ready for the Flight Attendants. However, management made the decision to go forward even though they knew AFA was gravely concerned about basic functionality. So now here we are!

AFA is pursuing every option

Your AFA officers, committee chairpersons and committee members have heard your frustrations, and we have been working non-stop since 11am Thursday (when the trade freeze ended) to address issues with JCA. We understand the exasperation growing within the group, and we very much share in that sentiment! Please know AFA is pursuing every option to get management to fix issues with JCA as they arise, but you can also help in the effort.

Help AFA in the effort to fix JCA

How can you help fix JCA?

For troubleshooting problems:

• Open a ticket with the IT Help Desk (877-238-1077 or desk@alaskaair.com) whenever you have a JCA problem.
• Email your local Scheduling Committee (ANC: scheduling@afaalaska.org, SEA: sea.scheduling@afaalaska.org, PDX: pdx.scheduling@afaalaska.org, LAX: lax.scheduling@afaalaska.org and SAN: san.scheduling@afaalaska.org) to advise them of the same problem for tracking purposes. If you emailed the IT Help Desk, then you may copy in (i.e. use the “cc:” line) your local Scheduling Committee rather than sending a separate email. Emails sent to these addresses are routed to the base-specific Scheduling Committee chairperson(s) and the respective LEC president.
• Email MEC Reserve Committee Chairperson Jarod McNeill (jarod.mcneill@afaalaska.org) for reserve-specific issues.

For suggestions/concerns:

• Email CSS_SC@alaskaair.com *

* This email address is for sharing JCA issues and suggestions. AFA is hoping responses to this address will improve our chances of action and future improvements. The JCA project group is compiling a “wish list” and keeping track of how many Flight Attendants send in the same suggestion. If there is an obvious error then allegedly it will be addressed “immediately.” If a suggestion/concern is being submitted multiple times by many different F/As, it may improve our chances for a feature upgrade in the nearer future. 

>>> Click here for the most recently updated list of JCA issues that AFA is tracking. <<<

We need all Flight Attendants to follow the procedure outlined above, as it is the best way for AFA to track the issues and for management to become aware of and to fix the problems. Please do not rely on social media to resolve JCA issues; it is not logistically possible for AFA to follow posts for all 4,000 Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants across all social media outlets. It might seem a little old fashioned, but using centralized email is the best means to track JCA issues and concerns.

Thank you for your help in moving the new trip-trading platform forward as quickly as possible!

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green, Brice McGee; MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones; MEC Reserve Committee Chairperson Jarod McNeill; and MEC Grievance Committee Chairperson Stephanie Adams

With the changeover to Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA), numerous expected and unexpected issues have popped up. This survival guide was developed in partnership with your AFA Council 30 Anchorage Scheduling Committee and contains frequently asked questions (FAQs) and tips to help you manage the new program. Please route any questions to your local Scheduling Committee members.

Voluntary Paid Video Tutorials

Use your resources! Please watch the video tutorials–they answer 90% of the questions asked by Flight Attendants in the past few days.

• Take the three-question quiz in order to receive your 1 TFP pay.
• You will receive a confirmation email after completing the quiz.

FAQs

Call or email IT (877-238-1077, help.desk@alaskaair.com) if you encounter any technical issues. Send the ticket number and all info to your local Scheduling Committee. Issues include, but are not limited to:

• Incorrect TFP totals
• Peoplesoft phone numbers not updated in JCA
• Sit Pay, Pay Protection, or Sick Leave not showing up in trips or TFP totals
• Rosters not syncing to Outlook calendar

If you have JCA concerns or requests that are not IT issues, email your local Scheduling Committee members.

Contact Info

Reserve

Self-assignment

Please review CBA §11.E.1 [Reserve Self-Assignment].

The reserve self-assignment period for AM and PM Reserves is 10am-2pm PT the day prior to report (9am-1pm AKT). ER Reserves may not self assign.

If you self-assign a trip, you are still contactable during your normal availability.

• Crew Scheduling can change/take your self-assigned trip if necessary pursuant to §11.E.1.e:
  • If you self-assign APSB, it does not count toward your 4 APSB per month as it relates to Section 11.F.14.
  • Only APSB assigned by Crew Scheduling counts toward your 4 per month
• APSB cannot be self-assigned on JCA at this time – call CS to self-assign APSB.
• You still receive the Reserve premium pay if you self-assign a trip.

Reserve trading, advertising and splitting blocks/days

Management has estimated it will be one month until reserve trading, advertising, and splitting blocks/days will be programmed.

• Management is working on a message board for Reserves to advertise trades.
• Until that time, email ReserveDesk@alaskaair.com for reserve trading.
• AFA has filed a grievance due to this lack of programming.

Open Time Codes

TO/DD/CP codes in eMaestro are TO in JCA, TX/no code in eMaestro are no code in JCA. To view the code, click the trip info, then click the second drop-down menu. Trade codes are still subject to CBA §12.E.1.a.

Tips for Navigating JCA

Use “Homebase,” “Open time,” “Trade,” and “Grab” in the Trip Pool to look for certain trips

• When looking for out-of-base trips, make sure your “Homebase” icon is not selected
• LAX only: To find co-terminal trips only, deselect “Homebase” and filter for the desired co-term(s). (This is being addressed.)
• The Filter will filter through any trips in the list you have selected
• You may select multiple lists at the same time
• FA trips have a green line or half line on the left, Open Time trips do not
• Grab Only – a Present in the right corner
• Trade Only – Arrows in the right corner

Premium will show up as a green number in the right corner of a trip, where the Present or Arrows are located. 1.5 = 1.5X pay, 2 = 2X pay, etc. However, once you pick up a premium trip there is no longer an indication it is a premium trip once it is on your roster (issue is identified and being worked on).

Open days on the calendar view will be white, closed days have diagonal gray stripes

To find the name of the FA who advertised a trip in the Trip Pool, use the Trip Info tool from above. If you advertise a trip, please post your name in the notes!

The automatic setting when advertising a trip is Trade and Grab. You must deselect an option if you do not want it

When you advertise a trip, you will not see it in the Trip Pool. You will see a green line on the side of the trip in your Roster (half a green line indicates a sipped portion is advertised)

Reports on Demand

Printable version of trip – Hamburger Menu, Reports, Reports on Demand, Trip Info

Printable version of line* – Hamburger Menu, Reports, Reports on Demand, Published Roster

* You may use this option to view previous months as well, just change the date

Attendance points – Hamburger Menu, Reports, Reports on Demand, Attendance Points

Open Time Notifications

• To set up text notifications for your phone, go to FA Website, Scheduling & Bidding, Other Schedule Options, Open Trip Notifications. Click the first link and make sure “Crew Access Notifications” is selected
• In Crew Access, go to Hamburger Menu, Settings, Allow SMS Notifications
• Watch this video for help on setting up Filter Subscriptions

AFA is working hard behind the scenes to answer any questions and hold management accountable. The Master Executive Council is still working on a separate communication to address all the frustrations with JCA, but we wanted to get you this valuable information as soon as possible. We hope many positive changes will be made in the coming days and weeks so that JCA will be more user friendly. Thank you for your continued patience during this change!

Please send any questions, concerns, and ideas to your local Scheduling Committee members.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green, Brice McGee; and MEC Scheduling Chairperson Jake Jones