This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants
On Thursday, June 4, representatives from our pre-merger Alaska AFA Reserve Committee met to discuss ongoing work advocating for Reserve Flight Attendants. Representing you at the meeting were Conner Gallager (SEA), Anthony Eskander (PDX), Kanako Yamada (LAX), Adrian Alcantara (SAN), and MEC Reserve Committee Vice Chairperson—New Hire & Probation Meghan Casey (SFO). MEC Reserve Committee Chairperson Julie Thornton facilitated the meeting.
The Committee met with the Manager of Inflight Crew Scheduling Goose Hlaingmyint, Managing Director of Inflight Performance & Crew Scheduling Sara Cook, and Director of Inflight Crew Scheduling Terrance Chariandy.
The Committee is next scheduled to meet on Thursday, September 3.
Topics of Discussion
The Committee reviewed several items during internal AFA-only discussions and meetings with management. Topics discussed included:
- Formalizing New Hire Onboarding
- Desire for new hire onboarding improvements while in training. Discussion on ways to improve new hires’ first day, week, and month at base. All Committee Members expressed a desire for a base orientation to improve new hire transitions.Class 2-26 graduated last month and started online in ANC on June 1.
- At this time, management is stating there are no other classes planned for this year.
- Addressing Reserve Pay Anomalies
- Noticing an increase in AM Reserves who are being assigned APSB shifts that end after 12:00 and are not being converted to ER prior to the assignment.Encouraging Reserves to check Rainmaker for any APSB shifts that ended after 12:00, and if the APSB also ended after the daily last flight, Reserves should be paid 3x for the APSB shift. If a Reserve believes pay is missing, reach out to your Local Reserve Committee Chairperson.
- Procedure to guarantee daily last flight pay: Flight Attendants are encouraged to call and explicitly request a release from APSB after the daily last flight has departed to ensure they are denied, which guarantees 2x pay. If the last flight of the day is delayed, some Flight Attendants may not qualify at the end of the day.
- Requesting More Flexibility for Reserves
- Management agreed to review decreasing the ARC minimum and awarding more Personal Drops and Bulletin Board Drops.
- Evaluating Contractual Interpretation Disagreements
- Any disputes that are not resolved with Crew Scheduling Supervisors are then escalated to Scheduling Review Board (SRB) or Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) for further discussion.
- Discussion of recent Reserve issues regarding double out rest, day rooms, and removal of self-assignment prior to report.
What The Committee Is Working On
- Developing Additional Tools & Resources for Reserve Flight Attendants: Reserve Survival Guide and Reserve 101 are updated and will be uploaded to the Inflight Website and AFA Website. Working on developing videos for common questions & answers for Reserves.
- Assisting Reserve Flight Attendants with Pay Concerns: Answering questions and providing clarification to Reserve Flight Attendants regarding Reserve Guarantee and premium pay contractual provisions.
- Addressing Reserve Contractual Concerns: Researching and investigating reports from Reserve Flight Attendants and actively ensuring that management complies with our contract. Reminder to Flight Attendants about the AFA Alaska Online Support Center to report issues, raise concerns, or ask questions.
We Want to Hear From You!
Do you have feedback for the Committee, concerns to share, or items you’d like brought up with management? Please let us know. Your Local Reserve Committee is your voice to management. Open a support ticket on the AFA Alaska Online Support Center or contact us directly using the information on the Reserve Committee page of the AFA Alaska + Hawaiian website.
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