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[AS] Jeppesen Crew Access Issues

Crew Scheduling management has notified AFA that Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) is currently experiencing various issues involving trading and other related functions.  Alaska Airlines IT has been advised of the issue and is working to correct the problem.  There is currently no ETA as to when normal system performance will be restored.

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green, Brice McGee and MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Zac Weeks

[AS] Early Push Program

What is the MEC’s position regarding the Early Push Program?

The Master Executive Council (MEC) has several concerns with the Early Push program. The MEC is supportive of achieving operational performance metrics such as on-time arrival, but there are limits to what management can reasonably ask Flight Attendants to do in order to achieve those metrics—such as early boarding.

Boarding should begin no earlier than 45 minutes prior to scheduled departure

Contractually, you are under no obligation to arrive at the aircraft earlier than 45 minutes prior to scheduled departure. It is acceptable to begin boarding right at 45 minutes prior to departure—but only if all required safety checks and the Flight Attendant briefing have been completed and the entire Flight Attendant crew voluntarily agrees without feeling pressured. Allowing boarding to commence right at 45 minutes prior to scheduled departure adds a few extra minutes to help out the operation (as compared to regular boarding). However, AFA strongly recommends boarding no earlier than 45 minutes prior to scheduled departure.

AFA is concerned about the contractual pay and duty implications of the Early Push Program

AFA is very concerned about the contractual pay and duty implications of boarding earlier than 45 minutes prior to scheduled departure. AFA has also asked how the FAA would interpret early boarding for duty purposes, and we are currently awaiting clarification from management and the FAA on that point. Additionally, let’s not forget that in the current contract we agreed to shorten domicile release at the end of a sequence by 15 minutes—from 30 minutes after block-in to 15 minutes after block-in. The MEC is not supportive of further potential incursions into our duty day, especially “freebies” like boarding earlier than 45 minutes prior without adequate pay improvements and duty adjustments.

Contact AFA if you experience the following…

The MEC was recently assured that hotel transportation departure times would not be changed in order to achieve an early push. The MEC was also informed that although the projected departure time will change, the report time would not change. Finally, the MEC has received reports of Flight Attendants being pressured by various parties to board early. If you believe your van time has been adjusted in anticipation of an early push, your report time is changed or if you experience pressure to board earlier than 45 minutes prior to departure, contact one of your local AFA representatives as soon as possible.

In Solidarity,

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

Council 35 News – May 8, 2017

Joint Negotiating Committee and Merger Representative Positions

Thanks to everyone who applied for the JNC and Merger Representative positions.  The applications will now be reviewed by the MEC and interviews will be conducted over the next several weeks.  Once the positions have been appointed, an announcement will be sent out by AFA email and will also be posted on the Council 35 page of the AFA Alaska website.

Become A Member, Have Your Voice Heard!

Completing an application ensures that you have the right to vote in officer elections and on tentative agreements.  If you haven’t already had the chance to complete an AFA membership application, you can download and print one by clicking here.  The AFA membership application is not a form that can be completed online; it must be filled out, signed in ink, and returned to an AFA representative or mailed to AFA.  Signing up to receive AFA email communications is not the same as completing a membership application.

Village Visits

For several days last week, Local Council President Melissa Osborne, Local Council Secretary James Ikehara, and several other AFA Alaska leaders visited the Villages in JFK, LAX and SFO to share information about AFA, answer questions, and provide AFA membership applications.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by!  Additional Village Visits will be held over the next few weeks. You can also find this information on the Council 35 Facebook page.

Don’t Forget to Wear Your AFA Pin

The AFA pin is an approved uniform piece and should be worn on the left collar.  If wearing both your AFA pin and anniversary pin, the anniversary pin should be placed closest to the tip of the collar.

Your AFA pin represents our combined strength and unity as we work toward achieving improvements for all of us and should always be worn with your uniform.  If you don’t already have an AFA pin, you can pick one up from an AFA representative during an upcoming Village Visit.  Visit the Council 35 Facebook page for “pin pics” of the day.

Have your own pin pics to share?  Send them to us (along with the name of everyone in the picture) at vx@afaalaska.org.

Seniority Integration

Seniority will be integrated based on competitive (bidding) seniority date in accordance with the AFA Constitution & Bylaws. Competitive seniority date is often referred to as “date of hire” although the actual application is more complicated than that. A previous communication on the AFA seniority integration policy can be found here.

FAQs

I just renewed my passport last month. Am I eligible for passport reimbursement?

Management has agreed to offer passport reimbursements retroactive to Jan 1, 2017.

How do I request a passport reimbursement?

Like taxi reimbursement requests, Flight Attendants requesting passport renewal reimbursement should submit their receipt to an inflight base admin, who will coordinate with accounts payable to process these requests.

Will I be eligible for the retroactive pay increase if I was on special assignment?

Any pay category tied to the step scale will be applicable for the new rates and retro pay. Additionally, sick and catastrophic sick hours will be counted in the calculation for retro pay.  Disability benefits as well as worker’s compensation are paid through a third party.  AFA is investigating how the pay raise will affect those individuals.

How will we receive our retroactive pay?

The retro pay will be included on the 5/31 payroll, and will be applied as lump sum payment itemized as “Retro” on ADP earnings statement. ​

When and where will we see our new pay rates?

The new pay rates will be posted in earnings statements in ADP.  The first paycheck accounting for the new rates will be 5/31.  The 5/15 payroll (remaining payment for April bid period) will still show the old rates.

When will the new PED policy be implemented?

This week, AFA will meet with management to discuss a timeline and process for implementation of the PED policy.  In the meantime, the current VX PED policy remains in effect.  Stay tuned for an update soon.

I tried to swap a trip and it was denied due to “18-hour rule.”  I thought this was changed to 12 hours?

Management has stated that implementation of this provision in the LOA will be on the deadline date of 6/1/17.

How many more initial training classes are planned for this year?  Will they all be hired as VX Flight Attendants or will they be hired by AS?

Management has confirmed that there will be 4 more initial Flight Attendant training classes for the year 2017 at VX.  AS and VX will need to continue to hire and train individuals to meet their respective operational needs through 2019.  AS F/As and VX ITMs will not be able to work on one another’s aircraft until differences training is complete and we have a joint seniority list.

Is it true that Alaska is planning to close the JFK base due to sick calls?

Alaska management has stated they do not have any plans to make immediate changes to the JFK base.  However, they have also said that they are concerned with the high volume of sick calls at JFK and they are evaluating the long-term viability of the base.

I am not getting any emails from AFA Alaska Council 35. What can I do?

Please be sure to subscribe to Council 35 emails using a non-Virgin America email account.  You can subscribe online at http://www.afanewsletters.org/subscribe.  If you encounter any problems with the online subscription page, please email us at vx@afaalaska.org.

Please let us know if you have any questions or thoughts!  You can reach us at vx@afaalaska.org.

In Solidarity,

Your Council 35 Officers – Melissa & James

REMINDER: Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) and Merger Representative Positions

Last Friday (April 28), an AFA email was sent out soliciting interest in two merger-related positons: Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) Member and Merger Representative.  These are two very important roles in the integration process.  You can review the April 28 communication, which contains detailed information about the positions, by clicking here.

Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) Member

The JNC Member will be responsible for working with the Alaska JNC Members to negotiate a merged agreement with management.  Once a merged agreement is ratified and in place, the JNC Member will continue to serve as part of the contract interpretation committee.  We will be appointing one Virgin America AFA Member to this position.

Merger Representative

The Merger Representatives will be responsible for verifying key employment dates with all Virgin America Flight Attendants and reconciling the Virgin America seniority list.  Once that process is complete, the Merger Representatives will work with the Alaska Merger Representatives to compile the integrated seniority list.  There are two Virgin America Merger Representative positions that will be appointed.

How to Express Interest

  • Interested candidates should submit an expression of interest letter and resume to MEC Secretary-Treasurer Linda Christou at linda.christou@afaalaska.org.  The deadline for applications is Friday, May 5, 2017 at 5 PM PDT.
  • Linda will contact applicants to coordinate an interview with the MEC.  Depending on the number of applicants for each positions, telephone interviews may be conducted.  If needed, telephone interviews will be conducted on Tuesday, May 9.
  • Interviews for finalist candidates will be held at the MEC meeting on Tuesday, May 16 or Wednesday, May 17.

Questions

Any questions regarding JNC or merger representative positions should be directed to MEC President Jeffrey Peterson at jeffrey.peterson@afaalaska.org.

In Solidarity,
Your Council 35 Officers – Melissa & James

[AS] PBS Update – May 2017

A message from your AFA PBS Committee

There have been a few recent changes with PBS with more to come!  We’ll talk more about that in a moment but first we’ll cover the basics.  Please read along and hopefully you’ll have a better understanding of our bidding program.

First, a reminder that the PBS Committee is here to help you specifically with your bids.  We aren’t trained to assist you with questions unrelated to bidding such as IMD help, Crew Access/trading questions, vacation trading, payroll, etc.  Those types of questions are best addressed to the Alaska IT desk, your payroll analyst or your Local AFA Scheduling Committee.  Their names and email addresses are always on the PBS Info Page as part of the monthly pairing information for your base.

Helpful Hints 

The program reads your bids from the top down

This is one of the most important things people need to remember when bidding. If you want to ‘Prefer Off’ certain days or want to ‘Avoid’ something for the entire month then you need to say so at the top of your bid, at minimum prior to your first ‘Award’ line.  Whatever is most important to you (days off, avoiding redeyes, etc.) should come first. Certain lines such as Waive rules or Set Conditions will automatically be at the beginning and can’t be moved.  Prefer Off and Avoid lines entered after Award lines do not apply to the previous Award lines…since the program reads the bid from the top down those lines will not yet apply.  If you’re bidding for a pairing that would violate any of your Prefer Off or Avoid lines, then the pairing would have to be requested higher in the bid than those lines.

If you enter anything in your ‘Current’ bid, even one line, then your ‘Current’ bid is used to build your schedule

The program doesn’t skip from Current bid to Default bid…it’s one or the other.  If you are intending for the program to read your Default bid, check to make sure you haven’t accidentally entered any line in your ‘Current’ bid.  Making this mistake is not considered a valid bid protest.

A line preceded by a number was a line entered by you…lines without a preceding number are supposed to be there and are auto-generated by the program.  See the PBS Info Page for an example.

Do you prefer to be on Reserve?

If so, you must begin your bid with ‘Start Reserve Bid’.  Then enter ‘Start Reserve’ and follow that with your reserve preferences.  With so much growth lately, you may be surprised that you held a line of pairings and didn’t want one.  The program tries to build everyone a line of pairings if mathematically possible.  If you prefer Reserve, you must start your bid with ‘Start Reserve Bid’.

On the cusp of Lineholder and Reserve?  You may want to ‘Waive’!

Many of you that are on the cusp of lineholder and reserve may not realize you might need to ‘waive’ certain contractual rules in order to hold a line of pairings.

Waiving down to ‘Allow 24 Hours Off in 7 Days’ and waiving the ‘No Same-Day Pairings’ rule could be the only way for you to hold a line.  If you see others junior to you holding a line and you didn’t, it’s quite possible it was only because they ‘waived’ those rules.

Check your bidding number on the seniority list on the Inflight webpage at the beginning of each month.  Then check the PBS Info Page for the number of reserve lines in your base for the next month.  This will help you to determine how close you are to still being on reserve.  If you’re close to the bottom lineholders then you need to strongly consider entering those ‘waive’ lines if you hope to be awarded a line of pairings instead of reserve.

Layover rest is not the same as ‘legal rest’

For bidding purposes, your ’48 Hours Off in 7 Days’ rest (or 24 Hours Off in 7 Days if ‘waiving’) must be at your domicile, not on a layover.  A layover does not count as contractual rest during line construction. You are able to waive this rule during trading on Crew Access, allowing layover rest to count towards CFR’s, but not during bidding.

Prefer Off ‘Day of Week’ bids are no longer ‘forgettable’

Maybe people don’t use ‘Forget’ and ‘Redo From’…if you don’t use these then you don’t need to worry about this.

If you still wish to forget a bid involving a day off, you’ll need to use ‘Prefer Off’ by using a specific date.  Instead of saying ‘Prefer Off Fridays’ with the plan to later forget that line, you’d need to ask for individual Fridays off by date.  You will now be able to later ‘forget’ that line.

Are you changing bases this month?

With so much hiring lately there is a lot of movement between bases. Your default bid will not carry over when you change bases. You’ll have to re-enter your default bid. Print it out before the move so you have something to help you re-enter your old default bid when next month’s bidding in your new base opens.

Our most frequent question during Bid Protest

Why didn’t I hold a line while others below me did?  Did those people below you have vacation TFP?  A carry-in trip?  This gives them TFP credit that you didn’t have when it tried to build them a line. Were you illegal for a trip on the 1st of the month due to your flying the end of the previous month?  Maybe that small reason prevented you from holding a line since you couldn’t take a pairing on the 1st or 2nd.  Did they ‘waive’ the ‘No Same Day Pairings’ rule and/or allow for ’24 Hours Off in 7 Days’ and you didn’t?  Did they enter the waive for the ‘Co-Term’ rule if in LAX?  Did they allow for ‘4k’ flying and you didn’t?

Trust us in that the program will always try and build you a line if mathematically possible when taking your legalities and bids into consideration.  It wants to build everyone a line in order to ‘cover’ the operation and staff every pairing if possible.

Line awards and Coverage Reports are now posted on the Inflight webpage 

For the line awards, visit the Inflight website > Schedule and Bidding > Line Bidding > PBS Awards.   The line awards are now showing ‘color coding’…different colors for normally awarded pairings, Coverage pairings, normally awarded Reserve days and Coverage Reserve days.

A recent program update made the following changes to PBS:

Navtech is now ‘NAVBLUE’.  They were purchased last year by Airbus and they’ve chosen to change the name of their new subsidiary.

Any mention of Arctic number has been replaced with Employee number.  This refers to your 7-digit PeopleSoft number.

Your ‘Calendar’ no longer shows pilot-related FAR 117 numbers.  Also, most pilot-related information has been removed from your personal information

New terminology for some ‘Set Condition’ bids makes them clearer.  For example: The previous ‘Minimum Days Off’ is now ‘Minimum Days Off In A Row’, ‘Maximum Days On’ is now ‘Maximum Days On In A Row’ and ‘Consecutive Days Off’ is now ‘Consecutive Days Off In A Row’.

Color coding of line awards on the posted line awards.  Different colors designate pairings (or on-call days) if they were assigned during the normal award process or were assigned as a ‘Coverage’ pairing or reserve day.

Welcome to Adam Clarey!

Adam was selected by the MEC as a new member of the Joint PBS Committee!  He is currently Seattle-based and has been a Flight Attendant for 13 years. Other AFA joint committee members include Rebecca Asbell (PDXFA) and Stephen Poynter (SEAFA).  Alaska Airlines joint committee members are Inflight Crew Planners Kelly Yeager and Sabrina Blevins.

Upcoming PBS Changes

There’s been some confusion between the changes to our crew tracking program (Crew Access/JCE) and upcoming changes to PBS.  These are of course two separate programs. Here’s what’s changing with Navblue’s PBS program:

We recently went to a new look to the Inflight webpage…that’s called a ‘user interface’. Navblue is transitioning all of their customers to a new ‘user interface’ by the end of 2017.  The new Navblue website will have the same internal programming but it’s how you interact with the program that will be changing.  It’s a whole new ‘look’ but after taking some time with it we believe everyone will grow accustomed to it and maybe even like it better than the current version.

Navblue’s new user interface was designed to be more tablet-friendly.  It also allows you to work on your bids when off-line, saving your work to submit later when you’re back on the Internet. It utilizes ‘filtering’ when searching for pairings and allows easy transferring of desired pairing numbers onto your bid.   Color-coding of bid lines will help you see more clearly the structure of your bids…and will hopefully make it more obvious when a bid is in the wrong place!

We anticipate introducing the new Navblue website to everyone in mid-July after bidding is finished.  You’ll be able to use both the current and the new websites for a three month period and then the ‘off switch’ will be flipped on the current version. By mid-October we plan on using only the new website going forward.

We’re not going to sugar-coat it…it is definitely different and you will need to allow some time to learn how to use the new PBS website.  Our best advice is that you don’t wait until the last minute!  During the three-month transition period use the new program as often as you can. Changes made to your bid on either the current or new version will be reflected on both websites. Whichever version you last submit your bids on will be the bid that is processed.  If you’re struggling, make sure your default bid will carry you until you feel more proficient in using the new website. There will be training support to help you through this transition…PowerPoint presentations, videos and live help at your base.

Thanks for reading!  For help with your bidding, email PBS.QA@alaskaair.com

Meet Our Pre-Merger Alaska Committee Chairperson & Representatives

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants We’re excited to introduce the next group of pre-merger Alaska MEC Committee Chairpersons and Representatives for the upcoming MEC Officer term. They’ll begin transitioning into their roles over the next few months and officially start their terms on January 1, 2026. Below, you’ll find brief biographies that […]

Meet Our Merged MEC Committee Chairpersons & Representatives

We’re excited to introduce our next group of newly elected merged MEC Committee Chairpersons, who will begin their roles on November 1. These leaders are dedicated to representing the interests of our Flight Attendants as they coordinate activities across the merged committees of both airlines. They’ll work closely with the Local Committee Chairpersons from all […]

Hotel Committee Meeting Recap – October 2025

On Monday, October 13, our AFA Local Hotel Committee Chairpersons met in person in Seattle to receive an update about current layover hotels and transportation providers and discuss concerns with management. Representing you at the meeting were Dori Marron (ANC), Jarod McNeill (SEA), Kelly Hepworth (PDX), Hilary Streem (SFO), Chris Cardenas (LAX), and Kanani Vallot […]

Pre-Merger Alaska MEC Committee Election Results

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants During this week’s MEC Meeting, our MEC held interviews for the next group of pre-merger Alaska MEC Committee positions to be elected for the upcoming MEC Officer term. We want to thank everyone who expressed interest in the available positions and their willingness to serve. After careful […]

Merged MEC Committee Chairperson Election Results

During this week’s MEC Meeting, our MEC held interviews for the next group of merged MEC Committee Chairpersons and Representatives. We want to thank everyone who expressed interest in the available positions and their willingness to serve. After careful consideration and deliberation, the following candidates have been elected: MEC Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee […]

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