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AFA has been made aware of a technical glitch that is creating issues accessing JCA on computers running the Windows 10 operating system. If you are using a computer running Windows 10, only Internet Explorer will currently allow access to JCA—no other browsers will allow access to the system due to the glitch.

The browser icon on the desktop (the blue “E”) is the Windows Edge browser, one of the browsers that is not working.  Use the search field found in the menu bar or start menu to search for and open Internet Explorer.

Alaska Airlines IT has been advised of the issue and is working to restore normal access.  There is currently no ETA on a fix to the system.

Access to JCA using Apple operating systems (including the IMD) is unaffected.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green and Brice McGee

A message from your AFA Scheduling Committee

In preparation for Open Time this Saturday, some changes to Crew Access have been made to help minimize the spinning propeller issue that occurred last month.

If you should encounter the spinning propeller, Jeppesen suggests that you continue to submit any additional trades, even if the propeller is still there. They are working on a permanent fix for this issue but want you to maximize the opportunity to manage your schedules in the meantime.

Reminders

  • Check your Published Roster for the most accurate roster information. Hamburger Menu > Reports > Reports on Demand > Published Roster
  • Print your pairing by clicking the blue pairing number in your Roster View
  • Flight Loads are now available approximately 5 days before your trip. To view Flight Loads. FA Website > Schedule & Bidding > Flight Loads
  • When picking up a SIP, verify your report time. Trips may show the report time as the same time as departure. You must report 1 hour before scheduled departure.
  • When using the Filter “Show only premium pay trips” it will show all the trips that had premium pay associated with them. For example, a FA picks up a premium pay trip, then Advertises it for Grab. It will show in the filtered trips using this Filter, but premium pay will NOT follow the sequence. Section 9.E.3.

How to Split/SIP a trip

In the example below, the Flight Attendant would like to Advertise SEA-DFW, DFW-SEA as a SIP for Grab.

1.  Add the trip to your Trade Cart
2.  Select Split activity
3.  Select the flight, in this case AS719 SLC-SEA, before the portion of the trip wanting to be sipped.

4.  Select After (In this case the F/A wants to sip the portion of the trip after SLC-SEA.)
5.  Select the trade option and complete the advertisement

You will see ½ of a green line next to your trip in your Roster View once your trip has been successfully advertised.

Please review the training video for additional information about Splitting a Trip. FA Website > Schedule & Bidding > Crew Access Help > Tutorial Videos & Guides

Recurrent Training

Recently, you may have seen the addition of FRS2 for recurrent training in Seattle. There is not a difference between FRS1 and FRS2. You may trade and pick up either one. So, if you are awarded a FRS1 and you want to trade into another date that has FRS2, your trade will be approved. You may also click on the grey triangle on the top right to see the list of flight attendants who will be attending that class.

Once dual recurrent trainings are offered in Seattle, FRS2 will be used to indicate an afternoon recurrent training.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact your Local Scheduling Committee.

Council 19, SEA, 1st Quarter 2017 Committee Reports

————————————————

Government Affairs

LEC Chair, Kris Mason

This past quarter the Government Affairs Committee has grown! Welcome Jay Styger to the committee. We are very excited to have him on board. Government Affairs Committee member, Tiffany Roget, flew to D.C. in March to represent AFA Alaska Council 19 on Capitol Hill, with other AFA members, in the Fight for Equal Rest and Fair Skies. She visited Senator Cantwell’s (D-WA) office and, along with other AFA flight attendants, met with other Congressmen, Congresswomen, and Representatives to lobby for the 10-hour rest for flight attendants, a Fatigue Risk Management Plan, and to enforce our Open Skies Agreement. Thank you, Tiffany!

Support Sky Chefs Friday, April 14th

Join the Rally with workers from Unite Here! Local 8, the Union that represents the workers for Sky Chefs, at 3:30pm on Friday April 14th, 2017, in front of Alaska Airlines Headquarters. Remember, no uniforms or non-rev travel allowed to attend this event. AFA shirts are encouraged!

SEA Air Safety, Security and Health Committee

LEC Chair, Susan Lee and LEC Vice Chair, Steven Vincent

There have been reports regarding ground loading at N12ABC and N16 (temporary).  Instructions on how to access the elevator and to be aware of surroundings on the ramp are posted.  Wait and use your cell phone or IMD once safely off the ramp.

We have reports of injuries resulting from the Port of SEA (POS) Employee bus not using the kneeling function.  Airport Operations is working with the POS on bus issues, including overcrowded buses.  Reporting directly to the Port of SEA Safety Hotline is available and needed to bring awareness to bus and parking lot issues.  The POS Safety Hotline number is (206) 787-SAFE. This number is posted on the Inflight Web Page under the BASE Tab.

The Bi-Annual SEA Base Meeting was held on April 3rd.  In attendance were four local Council 19 members, members of the local safety committee, Inflight Management, and the Safety Division.  This is always a lively meeting where safety concerns are brought forward by our members.

Issues discussed were:  Crew briefings, new overhead bins, and unsuitable exit row occupants due to the seats being purchased as “extra legroom.” Also, the new crew systems allows Inflight Management to track crews much better in irregular ops events such as weather.  During these events, a supervisor will be dedicated to the task of tracking crews.

Uniform Committee

LEC Chair, Dena Silva-Heath

Dena is currently working with MEC Uniform Chair, Bob Moore, and new hire flight attendants during Style and Service night. Bob and Dena manage the Uniform Standards table and spend time educating new hires on uniform standards, and packing tips.

Dena teaches an hour-long Uniform lecture (for women) on day 4 of initial training class and participates in fitting sessions to ensure proper sizing for the new hires.

Dena is responsible for the Uniform Fit room at Flt Ops and created branded signs; ensuring sizes are available and properly organized.

Next up for Dena, and select members of the committee, is wear testing of the new uniform this fall!

The following AFA Flight Attendants were elected to a Local Executive Council (LEC) term of office beginning July 1, 2017, and ending June 30, 2020. Certified election results are posted on the AFA-CWA Elections website.

Council 19 Seattle

LEC President: Terry Taylor

LEC Vice President: Jake Jones

LEC Secretary: Adam Clarey

Council Representatives: Megan Brown, Melinda Jorge

View the certified election results here

Council 39 Portland

LEC President: Mario De’Medici

LEC Vice President: Krystle Berry

LEC Secretary: Len Sousa

View the certified election results here

The Master Executive Council (MEC) congratulates the officers-elect and we sincerely thank all those who stepped forward to run in the election.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Tim Green and Brice McGee

C19 Government Affairs Day of Action for Sky Chefs!

April 14, 2017

3:30 pm

Alaska Corporate Headquarters

It has been ruled that Sky Chefs has violated the minimum wage for workers in Seattle and the city of SeaTac has been ordered to pay their workers over $300,000 in back wages. Despite the courts ruling, Sky Chefs has refused to pay their workers. Alaska Airlines chooses to continue to do business with Sky Chefs while knowing that they are under paying their workers.

We are asking Alaska Airlines to step up and tell Sky Chefs to honor their workers and pay them a fair wage!

Join the Rally with workers from Unite Here! Local 8, the Union that represents the workers for Sky Chefs, at 3:30pm on Friday April 14th, 2017, in front of Alaska Airlines Headquarters.

Let’s help tell Alaska Airlines that it shouldn’t do business with companies that don’t pay their workers properly.

Remember, you cannot travel non-revenue to attend this rally and you are not allowed to wear your uniform. If you have an AFA shirt, please feel free to wear that!

Questions? Contact Seattle Government Affairs LEC Chair, Kris Mason

In Solidarity,

Kris Mason

Council 19, SEA, LEC Chair, Government Affairs

christelnhall@gmail.com

C19 Seattle Election Results

The polls closed at 12:00 pm (pst) today

Congratulations to the following Officer-Elects

LEC President: Terry Taylor

LEC Vice President: Jake Jones

LEC Secretary/Treasurer: Adam Clarey

Council Representative: Megan Brown

Council Representative: Melinda Jorge

The certified results will be available on the AFA election website shortly.

The new officer term begins July 1, 2017.

Save the Date(s): Crew Access Info Sessions

Please note the following dates and locations for upcoming Crew Access information sessions.

For this round we added dates at the Alaska Airlines Flight Ops building, in addition to the dates at the base. We hope this provides more options to accommodate your schedules.

To see the list of times on each day and sign up for a classroom session click on the following link:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e4babae2fa1f58-crew6

Thank you,

Seattle Scheduling Committee Chair, Martin Vance, and Vice-Chair, Rita Tillou.

We are anticipating that the National Mediation Board (NMB) will rule this week that AFA is the collective bargaining representative for Virgin America ITMs.  In anticipation of this ruling, the process of getting an AFA Local Council established and set up for Virgin America ITMs is already underway.  AFA Council 35 will be made up of all Virgin America ITMs based at JFK, LAX, and SFO and will be a part of the Alaska Airlines Master Executive Council.

Transitional Local Council Officer Appointments

Transitional Local Council Officers for Council 35, both a President and a Secretary, will be appointed by the AFA International Officers soon after the NMB issues its determination that AFA is the collective bargaining representative.  Transitional Officers will serve for a period of approximately four to six months until elections can be held to fill those positions.

If you haven’t already shared your feedback regarding who you would like to serve in these appointed positions, please do so by completing the online form (link provided by email).   Just a reminder that the feedback period will close on Wednesday, April 11.

Sign Up to Get Involved! 

Involvement is one of the key hallmarks of AFA.  As a member-driven Union, the more people get involved, the better your Local Council and our Union will function.  If you’re interested in getting involved in AFA and Council 35, we want to know!  Please take a few moments to complete the volunteer interest form and let us know how you might be interested in getting involved.

Click here to access the Council 35 Involvement Interest Form >>

Questions?

If you have any questions, please send an email to vx@afaalaska.org.

 

In Solidarity,

Your AFA Alaska MEC Executive Officers – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer and Linda Christou

We are aware of some issues with some Flight Attendants not being able to submit their bids.  This is related to a change in terminology with ‘Forget’ and ‘Redo’.  Another issue discovered is being able to ‘Forget’ one type of bid line is not working properly.  The new functionality is designed to maximize the number of days off you get with the prefer off bid.

In both the previous and new functionality, if a complete line cannot be built in the first completion attempt, it will go into top down inclusion:

  • In the previous functionality, when top down inclusion got to the prefer off day of week bid, it would add them in date order, trying to build a line with each additional date.
  • In the new functionality, when top down inclusion gets to the prefer off day of week bid, it will look at all possibilities to maximize the total number of that day that you get off.  It attempts to build a line with at least 1 of that day off, then at least 2 of that day off, etc.  It continues this process and attempts get as many of those days off in the completed line as it can.

Because of this changed functionality it was determined that a ‘forget’ was not necessary for this bid as it is attempting all possible combinations to get the best possible result.  As an alternative, you can use ‘Avoid Pairings if Departing On Friday’ instead of ‘Prefer Off Friday’ as that would be forgettable.  Also, using ‘Avoid Pairings if Duty on Friday’ could be used an alternative as well.

As a reminder, all negative (prefer off, avoid) bids should be placed in the order of priority in your bid group. Bids are read in order of importance from the top down.

Considering these issues and new functionalities, we have extended the bidding window.  Bidding will now close on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 09:00. Bid results will still be published at the regularly scheduled time.

*** Please note, the date for Open Time trading will NOT change. ***

Once again, we apologize for any confusion these issues have caused. We are in contact with Navblue and are working on a solution to ensure programming changes are communicated to us well in advance of bidding.

Thank you for your understanding. If you have any questions or need PBS help, please email PBS.QA@alaskaair.com.

A message from your PBS Committee

We are currently seeing an issue with some people not being able to submit their bids.  It is related to a change in terminology with ‘Forget’ and ‘Redo’.
If you are unable to ‘submit’, check your Default bid to make sure that there are not any ‘Redo From’ lines that are all alone…with no ‘Forget’ line coming before it.  That is what is preventing you from being able to ‘submit’ your Current or Default bid.  You will need to delete the stand-alone ‘Redo From’ line(s) in order to be able to submit your bids. Then add new ‘Forget Line’ and ‘Redo From Line’ bids if desired.
Also, if you are someone that likes to copy a previous month’s bid and paste it into your Current bid, you’ll need to re-enter any Forget and Redo From lines from scratch.  If you try copying/pasting, don’t include any ‘Forget’ or any ‘Redo From’ lines when moving the old bid to this month’s Current bid.
Another issue is that being able to ‘forget’ one type of bid line is not working properly.  You will not see any ‘Prefer Off’ by day of week lines showing up on the list of lines you can ‘forget’. A work-around is to ask for those days by date, not day of week…they now show on the list and are ‘forgettable’.
For example, instead of saying ‘Prefer Off Friday’, you will need to say ‘Prefer Off May 5, May 12, May 19, May 26’…now you will see that line on the list of lines you can ‘forget’ later in the bid.  If you don’t plan on ‘forgetting’ Fridays then you would not need to do this and can simply enter ‘Prefer Off Friday’.
We apologize for these issues…we weren’t notified in advance about this.  The problem stems from Navblue changing the terminology from ‘Forget’ to ‘Forget Line’ and from ‘Redo From’ to ‘Redo From Line’.
For help, email PBS.QA@alaskaair.com

Reserve Committee Meeting Recap – 4th Quarter 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Thursday, December 11, 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 Conner Gallager (SEA), Anthony Eskander (PDX), Meghan Casey (SFO), Kanako Yamada (LAX), and Rebecca Garcia (SAN). Also present […]

Inflight Service Committee Meeting Recap – 4th Quarter 2025

On Thursday, December 4, our AFA Inflight Service Committee Chairpersons met to discuss their ongoing work in representing our Flight Attendants and advocating for improvements in our workplace. Representing you at the meeting were Naomi Parcell (ANC), Ross DeJong (SEA), Todd Horn (PDX), Raymond Ramirez (SFO), Johanna Thomas (LAX pmAS), and Andrew Malone (SAN). MEC […]

Joint Contract Negotiations Session 10 – December 2025

The Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) met with management this week to continue bargaining sessions in Seattle, WA. Discussions focused on narrowing issues in Leaves of Absence, Association General, and reviewing vacation provisions as part of the joint contract process.

Human Rights & Equity Committee Meeting Recap – 4th Quarter 2025

On Monday, December 8, our AFA Human Rights & Equity Committee Chairpersons met to discuss their ongoing activism to raise awareness and create positive change within our workplace and community. Your representatives attending the meeting included Louise Borras (LAX-pmAS), Bruni Agosto-Pinal (LAX-pmHA), Aaron Miller (PDX), Trista Vanta (SFO), and Yan Yan Teague (SEA). MEC Human […]

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