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 30th 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
