Scheduling Committee Meeting Recap – July 2026

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants

On Tuesday, July 21, our pre-merger Alaska AFA Scheduling Committee Chairpersons and Representatives met in person at Alaska Global Training Center to discuss their ongoing work to represent our Flight Attendants and push for improvements in our workplace. Representing you at the meeting were Rebekah Olds (ANC), Rita Tillou (SEA), Melodie Anderes (PDX), Jaqui Bellenie (SFO), Kanako Yamado (LAX), and Kitty Cohen (SAN). MEC Scheduling Committee Vice Chairperson—Pairing Construction Karen Ferrell, PBS Committee member —Krystal Kehrli, MEC Grievance Committee Payroll Representative Julie Thornton, and MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones were also present.

The Committee met with Managing Director of Inflight Performance & Crew Scheduling Sara Cook, Director of Inflight Crew Scheduling Terrance Chariandy, Manager of Inflight Crew Scheduling Goose Hlaingmyint, Managing Director of Ops Staffing and Resource Management Brittany Audette, Director of Crew Planning Trisha Bennett, Manager of Crew Planning Colin Beard, ITS Technical Product Owner Nathan McFerren, Manager of Crew Pay Debbie Bakke and other management representatives from Crew Planning, Crew Scheduling, information technology (ITS), and payroll.

The Committee is next scheduled to meet on Tuesday, August 25.

Topics of Discussion

The Committee reviewed several topics during internal AFA-only conversations and when meeting with management. Some items discussed include:

Upcoming Meetings

• Meeting Schedule: Regular meetings set for August 25, September 29, October 27, November 24, and December 29.
• Scheduling Review Board (SRB) and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) meetings scheduled through December 2026.
• JCTE updates are expected in Q3 2026.
• AI Crew Solutions: Meeting on November 4, 2025, to discuss vacation awards and slot processing. We are moving forward with the implementation process, hopefully this fall in the 4th quarter. 
• Monitoring: Active monitoring of Flight Attendant OT every 16th of the month at designated times.

MEC Committee Chairperson Report

• Crew Backlog: Review pending. Need to set up additional dates to review the items that require change requests and bug fixes. The list is short, as most of the items from the prior negotiations have been implemented. 
• Fatigue Review Board: Scheduled meetings throughout the rest of 2026. This is a bi-weekly meeting. 
• Pay Disputes: Ongoing discussions regarding pyramiding pay and specific grievances filed by AFA. We recently resolved a dispute with Section 8.F and 8.G and posted the MOU. 

Local Committee Chairperson Reports

• PDX: Issues with ITS visibility and scheduling blocks for trips.
• SAN: Concerns about redeye flights and parking fees; requests for a pay chart.
• ANC: Issues with downgrades, reassignment processes, and hotel room rates.
• LAX: Reliability of B2B contact and quality of trips under review.
• SFO: Requests for presentations on open base flying and pay regulations regarding overpayments. .
• SEA: Various pay and scheduling issues highlighted, including double out crew rest, reassignments and conversions from DHD to working and vice versa. 

PBS Subcommittee Update

• Bidding Engagement: Good engagement noted for August. 
• Bid Awards: Processed as expected; higher minimum windows needed to meet management’s desire for higher reserve percentages. 

Alaska ITS Update

• NAVLBUE Testing: Completed testing of recent updates; ongoing issues with trip visibility.
• Trading Volume: Notable increase in Open Time trades; stability in trading noted.
• Jeppesen and Alaska management continue to monitor Flight Attendant trip postings that were reported to have an issue with being visible immediately in the system. 

Alaska Payroll Update

• Query Counts: Increase in pay queries, with a focus on timely closure before payroll processing.
• Audit Processes: Weekly audits are in place, but some issues remain unresolved. All inquiries must be closed prior to payroll being processed.  Please wait a week before filing your inquiries on trips, as most of the contractual items are resolved in the audit process. If you have inquiries after payroll processes, the pay analyst will review those as well. 

Alaska Crew Planning Update

• Staffing Challenges: Anticipated higher absenteeism leading to a need for additional reserves.
• Operational Changes: Ongoing discussions about schedule changes affecting Flight Attendants’ quality of life.
• Trip Distribution: Reductions in red-eye duty for September; extensive review of trip pairings planned.
• The Committee asked management about the 717/737 changes to Hawaii neighbor island flying, and we should see what those pairings will look like in the near future. Crew planning will work with the AFA Scheduling Committee Pairing Construction Subcommittee to determine how the pairings will appear in the system. 
• Irregular Operations (IRROP) mitigation:
  • SAN start of duty JFK/BOS/IAD/MCO/DCA
  • EWR layovers 12 hours ATC
  • End of duty AM departures EWR to PDX/SEA
  • Increased crew connect times
  • Layover increase to 11 hours PHX/LAS
  • Rest before PHX 11:30 AM departures  – crew rest delays
  • Rest before GEG to PDX start flight increased to 12 hours – crew rest delays
  • End-of-duty DLG and AKN to ANC; summer TSA mitigation.
  • Flight Attendant teaming still in effect.

Alaska Crew Scheduling Update

• Sick Leave Statistics: Increased sick leave noted; reserve utilization remains high on mainline Alaska.  Sick leave and fatigue are much lower on the Hawaiian operational side. 
• Premium Compensation: Adjustments to premium compensation based on significant events and operational demands. We are seeing some premium posted a week in advance to help allow Flight Attendants to pick up earlier to assist with operational needs. 
• New Leadership: Recent changes in management structure to enhance scheduling operations. Tiara Taulolo started as a temporary supervisor on June 20, and Jacob Fordham started as a new manager on July 20. Alaska crew scheduling plans to have approximately 48 crew schedulers in the department by the end of the year. A few new crew scheduler classes are planned in September (14 new hires) and October (5 new hires)
• Statistics July MTD: There have been no personal drops or TSN adjustments. 10.R.4 reassignments for the system are at 553.  Deadhead conversions under 10.X.7 are at 287 system wide. Fatigue Reports are shown 24, with 18 of those reserves. Alaska reserve utilization for the system is 93.6%, while Hawaiian is 50.6%. Sick leave for Alaska, both lineholders and reserves, is at 12.4%, with some days having over 400 sick calls.

What The Committee Is Working On

1. Resolving Pyramiding Pay Disputes: Discussions are ongoing through the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) process to clarify payment rules for over-duty pay and day-off violations. Our Grievance Committee is filing grievances regarding several concerns with pyramid pay. These discussions are still ongoing with Labor Relations management. AFA has filed several grievances and still has not received a pyramiding pay chart from payroll or labor relations and our requests go unanswered. 
2. Vacation Bidding: Representatives from the Committee met with management to discuss the new vendor, AI Crew Solutions. It was determined that when a Flight Attendant either doesn’t hold a bid or forgets to bid, they will be allowed to bid in the 2nd round of vacation. The current process assigns slot 1 and slot 2. We will provide educational material and information when bidding begins next year on the new platforms. We have additional meetings to discuss implementation and buddy bidding. We are currently testing and reviewing the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) environment. This is scheduled for implementation in the 4th quarter of 2026. 
3. Flow Charts: These are posted on the AFA website to help guide you through contractual understanding and irregular ops here: 2025-2028 AFA Alaska CBA Reference Documents 01.26.2026
4. Block2Block (B2B) Contactability: Implemented on February 1, 2026. Please familiarize yourself with the contractual language and bulletin bundle. Every Flight Attendant must check B2B at the end of every duty period (not trip) and make positive contact if a message is sent prior to block-in of the last flight of the duty period per §8.Q.2.e. We are actively working with management to post an updated bulletin. 
5. Compensation: Follow up on crew pay issues and reassignment policies. Please give Flight Attendant Crew Pay a minimum of a week to update compensation for irregular operations. 
6. Pairings: Continue to address pairing and scheduling concerns with management.
7. Software: Monitor upcoming software implementations and their impacts on operations. We will have another JCTE update in August 2026. 
8. Sick Leave Tracking: Continue monitoring sick leave trends and review strategies to mitigate operational impacts. 
9. Notifications: Addressing communication issues regarding flight changes and notifications. 
10. AFA Alaska Online Support Center Tickets: Local AFA Representatives do not have access to your schedules, Rainmaker, or pay stubs. When filing a ticket, please screenshot as much information as possible, such as trip details, reports, and Rainmaker buckets, to assist them in their research into your concerns. 

We Want to Hear From You!

Whether you have feedback for the Committee, concerns to share, or items you’d like brought up with management – don’t hesitate to let us know. Your Local Scheduling Committee is here to be your voice to management. You can easily open a support ticket on the AFA Alaska Online Support Center or directly contact us using the information provided on the Scheduling Committee page of the AFA Alaska + Hawaiian website.