Reserve Committee
- Our AFA Reserve Committee Chairpersons met on Thursday, December 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, December 9, representatives from our AFA Local Reserve Committees met to discuss their ongoing work to advocate for our Reserve Flight Attendants. Representing you at the meeting were Haley Hirsch (ANC), Conner Gallagher (SEA), Megan Zablan (PDX), Meg Casey & Camile Caldwell (SFO), Kanako Yamada (LAX), and Joe Coneglio (SAN). Also present were MEC Reserve Committee Chairperson Julie Thornton, MEC Reserve Committee Vice Chairperson—New Hire & Probation Jarod McNeill, and MEC Vice President Brian Palmer. The committee also met with Inflight Crew Scheduling Duty Manager Kiana Shaw from management.
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:
- Review of reserve utilization statistics for November 2021. Utilization rates are substantially higher than management’s goals. They are aware that they are working Reserve Flight Attendants hard.
- Clarification about how Crew Scheduling handles situations when a Flight Attendant calls in and indicates they are tired or exhausted.
- Review of reserve coverage levels. Coverage was increased for December 2021 and is expected to remain at the increased level through the first quarter of 2022.
- Issues and glitches with Crew Access that are affecting Reserve Flight Attendants.
- Clarification about how Airport Standby (ASPB) assignments are placed into Open Time (OT) for self-assignment and whether or not management is contractually compliant.
- Concerns that Crew Scheduling may be calling Reserve Flight Attendants more than once during the first 9 hours of domicile rest.
- Procedures used by Crew Scheduling to award Personal Drops to Reserve Flight Attendants.
- Review of 2022 initial training classes and how the Committee will be supporting our new hire Flight Attendants.
What The Committee Is Working On
- Pushing Management to Give Relief to Reserve Flight Attendants. Advocating for improvements in flexibility through reasonable Adequate Reserve Coverage (ARC) numbers to allow for shifting/repositioning and increased personal drops.
- Getting Ready for New Hire Flight Attendants. Preparing to support new hire F/As through presentations during initial training, participation in base orientation, and expanding the reserve buddy program.
- Addressing Reserve Contractual Concerns. Researching and investigating reports from Reserve Flight Attendants and actively ensuring that management is compliant with our contract.
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 find our contact information on the Reserve Committee page of the AFA Alaska website.
Charlotte Comito says
While I’m not surprised, I am disappointed that you would continue to advocate for increased reserve coverage, giving no hope in the forseeable future for many of us to get off reserve after 4+ years. You make one very big erroneous assumption, that when you have increased numbers of reserves, crew scheduling will call out a “fresh” reserve rather than tagging an onerous, albeit legal, amount of additional flying onto a reserve already out on the line, and thereby relieving the overworked FA. That doesn’t and won’t happen. Crew Scheduling will always use a reserve out on the line to the maximum legal capacity available rather than calling out another reserve. Adequate Reserve Coverage (ARC) is a theoretical resolution that may (probably not) allow flexibility, ie, drops, personal drops for lineholders first and perhaps a pittance for reserves. Let’s analyze after December, shall we?
I know my posting here will not make an iota of difference in how you will comport yourselves anymore than it did when I contacted my own LAX reps. You should all be sentenced to bidding reserve.
Brian Palmer (MEC Vice President) says
You absolutely hit the nail on the head that Crew Scheduling frequently chooses to tag Reserve F/As who are already working and maximize their duty period even when the LTFA is filled with other Reserve F/As who are available. It is incredibly disappointing that management does not exercise their discretion and make the decision to better balance the workload amongst Reserve F/As when they have the ability to do so. The Reserve Committee consistently pushes management to reduce the use of tagging because of the significant impact it has on F/A quality of life. Changes to the ARC and increased personal drops are two additional areas where management has discretion and the Reserve Committee is advocating for improvements.
At the end of the day, it is on management to do the right thing and make meaningful changes to provide relief to our Reserve F/As. The Reserve Committee will continue to make every effort to get them to do so.
Lenny Dewitt says
Brian, you’re not getting it. If you want to agree with us, agree with us at a company meeting. I’m not paying you $600 a year to agree with us and then get in bed with Alaska management. Over 4 years on reserves is ridiculous. You know they’re not going to do the right thing. I need you to do the right thing. This buck passing has got to stop. You guys encouraged FAs to accept a 1.5% pay raise at a time when inflation was over 3.5% and now it’s over 6%. The CSAs have recently gotten some hefty pay raises, the pilots got furloughed with pay and FAs got paid less when factoring in inflation (and furloughed without pay and force based). I need AFA to step up.
Brian Palmer (MEC Vice President) says
Our opportunity to make work rule and pay improvements is coming shortly with the start of contract negotiations in September 2022. In the meantime, the Reserve Committee has been pressing management for increased flexibility and improvements for Reserve F/As in every meeting that they have. There is no buck passing here–ARC numbers that needlessly limit flexibility, non-existent personal drops, excessive tagging, unrealistic sick leave goals, and inadequate staffing levels are all things that management has direct control and discretion over, not AFA. The group that needs to step up here is management. It’s about time that they stop blaming F/As for the problems that they have created and start actually fixing the issues.