3pm Update

Dear Seattle Flight Attendants, 

As of 3pm today Seattle Open Time has been up and working since 2:33 pm. At this point, several days remain open and active trading appears to be working well. However, the initial concern with the system failure is still my main focus. 

I have discussed the failure with Director of Crew Scheduling, Kieran Whitney, who reports that a corporate system update around 2pm today may be the culprit. I am awaiting futher information and will prepare a detailed blast for you in the upcoming days. 

In the meantime, I have registered my complaints with the company for failing to provide a system that allows Seattle Flight Attendants (and Flight Attendants system wide) their contractual right to trade trips. They are working on a solution for next month and will be sharing the information with you, as well.

Rest assured, I will continue to press the issue with the company to ensure that contractual Open Time procedures are afforded to all Flight Attendants every month. 

In Solidarity, 

Laura Masserant 

LEC President~ Council 19

Click the link below for some helpful Reserve reminders……

Reserve TidBits September 2015

PBS BASE SITS
Members of the PBS Committee and Crew Planning will be in the bases in October and November to help with holiday bidding and questions about pairings. Here’s the schedule:

Oct 5th SAN 930a-130p

Oct 6th LAX 6a-1p

Oct 7th PDX 615a-130p

Oct 8th SEA 5am-1pm

Nov 5th ANC 9am-3pm

Nov 6th ANC 5am-1230pm

Nov 9th SEA 5am-1pm

Local AFA Scheduling Committee members may be assisting as well.

Hope to see you!

FIRST ROUND OF VACATION BIDDING IS OPEN!

Refer to bulletin: #2015-0212 for more information

First Round: September 8, 2015 – September 22, 2015 (midnight); awards posted by
September 28, 2015
If you have enough days to bid two (2) or more openings and you only bid one (1) opening, you will be assigned your second block of seven (7) or more days. Do not leave yourself less than seven (7) days to bid in the second round.

1 – 13 days: must bid all in first opening
14 – 20 days: bid in one or two openings
21+ days: bid in one or two openings in the First Round; may leave seven (7) or more days for Second Round

***The remaining days available for the Second Round on your bid form when the Second Round opens.

Second Round: October 2, 2015 – October 15, 2015 (midnight); awards posted by October 23, 2015

Bid remaining days after First Round in up to four (4) openings. Again, each opening must contain at least seven (7) days.
***If you forget to bid in the Second Round, you will be assigned after all Second Round bids are awarded.

Vacation Trading will start October 28, 2015.
You will have until October 31, 2015 to trade January 1-4, 2016 vacation days.

NEW OPEN TIME PROCESS

Refer to Bulletin #2015-0210

New OPEN TIME key points:

Start date for trading/dropping trips is the 15th of the month. This date is for both FA-to-FA trades and OT trades.

New start times for each base:

• SAN-9am PT

• PDX-10am PT

• ANC-11am PT

• LAX-12pm PT

• SEA-2pm PT

Out of domicile pick-ups start on the 17th of each month.

Calendar will still show a white background for an open day and gray for a limited day just like before.

You can now drop a trip into Open without trading, if the day is open.

Starting Sept 15th for Oct Flying, only the day on which the trip reports has to be open in order for the trip to be traded or dropped

4K sequences will be processed within the system, no need to contact Crew Scheduling after Sept 15 for OCT sequences.

COUNCIL 19 LOCAL AFA BASE MEETING: OCTOBER 21ST

SEA TAC CONFERENCE CENTER

SEOUL ROOM

1PM TO 4PM

Parking in garage paid for if parked on Levels 1, 2, 3, 5, or higher (not level 4).

In solidarity,

Your Council 19 AFA LEC Officers and Council Representatives:

Laura, Jake, Linda, Stephanie, and Adam

A letter from your LEC President,

Laura Masserant

Seattle Flight Attendants~

As some of you may know, my family and I are moving to Crete, Greece. next month. For those of you who have not heard, my husband has accepted a Security Specialist position at Souda Bay Naval Station on the island of Crete. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience one of the many deployments my husband has been assigned throughout our 19 year marriage, together, as a family!

What does this mean for our Seattle base?

We are awaiting the government to process our flight information. However, we have asked to travel on September 18^th.  My September schedule is: BSE (Beyond Service Training) Aug 31-Sept 1, in the AFA office Sept 1-3, FADAP (Flight Attendant Drug and Alcohol Training) from Sept 9-11 in Baltimore, Recurrent Training on the 15^th, and attending the Sept MEC Meeting on the16-17.

The MEC scheduled monthly meetings through December. It is my intention to commute back for those meetings, and to be available in Seattle for a 2-week period during this time.

October: I will be arriving in Seattle on the 13^th  for the MEC meeting on the 14^th -15th. I am scheduling an AFA Local Base Meeting for October 22, 2015 (mark your calendars!).

November: I will be arriving back in Seattle on the 8^th for the MEC meeting on the 9^th-10^th.

December: MEC meeting is the 14^th~ I anticipate coming back to Seattle prior to this meeting and leave just after.

While I am in Greece, it is my intent to continue to do AFA work and be available to you. Seattle has been afforded the unique opportunity as we have an office to work out of~ thanks to the generous support of the MEC! The LEC Presidents in our other bases do their work from their home offices. It is not a requirement of the LEC President position to log time in the AFA office.

Section 27 P (AFA Collective Bargaining Agreement) does stipulate the necessity of the LEC Presidents to be available, during normal office hours, every week in case we need to meet with management. To ensure that I am adhering to the contractual language in regards to the LEC President company business pay, I will only be filing for CB pay for the time I am in the Seattle base. During the time I am in Greece one of the other LEC Officers will be designated to meet with management, if need be.

Again, while I am in Greece I will continue to do my AFA work that I do today. The majority of the work I do is via phone calls, emails, and text messages. I will continue to use the same cell phone number, 360.633.5905, and I will implement an international calling plan that allows me to send and receive calls, text messages and email. Crete is currently 10 hours ahead of Seattle and will fall back to 9 hours this fall. While I am in Greece you will have 24 hr access to an AFA rep!

For the past 4 years your LEC Officers and LEC Chairs worked hard to ensure that we are always available to you, and I don’t wish to see this change. Council 19 has a fully trained team of grievance reps that will attend meetings with management during the time I am out of the country. I choose to participate in grievance work because it is a passion of mine, but again, this work is not a requirement of the LEC position. I have been able to get out and fly an average of once a month since this past spring, and I believe that it is important I continue this practice throughout the rest of my current term~ which is just under 2 years (July 1, 2017 begins the new LEC Officer term).

This past year the MEC office changed from a traditional fax line to a Ring Central fax line. This means that any time you send me a fax at the following number, 206. 457.2622, it arrives via my email account. I can send faxes to you through the same system. In addition, your SEA LEC Officers have a Ring Central phone number, 206.457.2010, that rings my phone first.  If I cannot answer the call it moves through the officer list until someone is able to pick up the call. If we are not able to answer any call right away, it is our policy to return calls within 24 hrs. However, at any given time, there is usually an LEC Officer available to you within a few hours of your call.

If you have any questions or concerns I hope that you call me so we can discuss. I also look forward to seeing you October 22 at the AFA Local Base Meeting.

In Solidarity,

Laura Masserant

LEC President- Council 19 Seattle