Reserve Committee
- Our AFA Reserve Committee Chairpersons met on Thursday, March 9 to discuss their ongoing program of work to represent and advocate for our Reserve Flight Attendants.
- The Committee also met with management to review a number of specific concerns that were brought forward by Flight Attendants.
- Your Local Reserve Committee is available to answer questions, provide clarification, or help to resolve any reserve related issues. Please don’t hesitate to reach out!
On Thursday, March 9, 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 Heather Reier (ANC), Teran Eason (SEA), Anthony Eskander (PDX), Meghan Casey (SFO), Kanako Yamada (LAX), and Rebecca Garcia (SAN). Also present was MEC Reserve Committee Chairperson Julie Thornton. The committee also met with Inflight Crew Scheduling Director Sara Cook and Inflight Crew Scheduling Manager Matthew Trujilo.
The committee is next scheduled to meet on Thursday, June 8th.
Topics of Discussion
The committee reviewed a number of items both during internal AFA-only conversation and when meeting with management. Some items discussed include:
- Planned Initial Training classes for the remainder of the year. Class 3 and Class 5 were canceled, however management still intends to hire additional Flight Attendants. The number of classes and specific number of students in each class is dependent on delivery of new aircraft.
- Increase in requests for assistance with PBS and bidding from new hires. Exploring ways to provide additional training and support in this area.
- Crew Scheduling management changes. Sara Cook was promoted to Director of Inflight Crew Scheduling and four new Crew Scheduling Supervisors are onboarded. Management is in the process of hiring an additional manager to support operations.
- Issues and glitches with Crew Access affecting Reserve Flight Attendants. Reviewed where known issues are documented and newly added/fixed issues.
- Review of upcoming update to Crew Access software. Includes associated fixes to current issues and other improvements, and prioritization for programming fixes.
- Probationary Flight Attendant support through the Probationary Buddy Program. Buddies are very busy supporting new Flight Attendants. Reminder to refer Probationary Flight Attendants to their Buddy for contractual questions.
- Increase in lineholders picking up reserve days. This resulted in some increased flexibility for Reserve Flight Attendants.
- Review of reserve utilization statistics. Reserve utilization is approximately 82% in all bases. Reserve coverage is anticipated to be approximately 21-20% for the remainder of Quarter 1 and Quarter 2.
- Request for management to decrease the Adequate Reserve Coverage (ARC) maximum. Goal of providing additional flexibility for shifting reserve days. Management agreed to review possible changes.
- Review of contractual language related to Reserve Flight Attendants calling in well.
- Reminder of the AFA Alaska Online Support Center. New hire Flight Attendants can report issues, raise concerns, or ask questions.
What The Committee Is Working On
- Assisting Probationary Flight Attendants Through the Probationary Buddy Program. Answering questions from and providing support to probationary Flight Attendants through an expanded AFA Probationary Buddy program.
- Addressing Reserve Contractual Concerns. Researching and investigating reports from Reserve Flight Attendants and actively ensuring management is complying with our contract.
- Developing Additional Tools & Resources for New Flight Attendants. Working to create documents to provide user friendly, easy-to-digest resources about the Collective Bargaining Agreement and other job-related information for new Flight Attendants.
We Want to Hear From You!
Do you have feedback for the committee, concerns you’d like to share, or items that you’d like brought up with management? Please let us know! Your Local Reserve Committee is your voice to management. You can open a support request on the AFA Alaska Online Support Center or contact us directly using the information on the Reserve Committee page of the AFA Alaska website.
