JCBA Quick Reference Guide: What Takes Effect Now?
[This reference guide will be updated at 5 PM PT 4/23/2018 and can be accessed here. /jtp ]
New “Temporary” FA to FA and Open Time Trading Schedule
Background
In light of recent technical issues with Open Time, the Master Executive Council (MEC) made a decision at our November meeting last week to temporarily change trading times for all bases. This is a temporary change that should end with an upgrade from eMaestro to the Jeppesen Crew Tracking Enterprise (JCTE) system next year.
The problem appears to lie with the current system’s inability to handle the amount of users when Seattle Flight Attendants access the system. As many of you know, technical issues with Open Time are not new. However, all trading within a base now starting at the same time has been consistently causing Seattle Flight Attendants to have trouble logging into eMaestro. The system completely shut down for over 30 minutes when Seattle Open Time began in September and, even though management implemented changes to accommodate the traffic for October and again in November, Seattle Flight Attendants experienced problems accessing the system.
Due to the on-going problems and the fact that these problems begin with Seattle’s start time, the MEC has decided to further alter FA to FA trades and Open Time(s) by splitting FA to FA trades and Open Time(s) to different days/times beginning in December for January trading. Again, this is a temporary fix until transition to JCTE. We anticipate the new schedule—which will be in effect in December for January trading and until further notice—will offset the ‘load factor’ to the system that allows every Flight Attendant, in every base, a fair opportunity to access Open Time and FA to FA trades.
NEW TRADING TIME LINE IN PACIFIC TIME
15th – FA to FA Trades
0900: SAN
1000: PDX
1100: ANC
1200: LAX
1300: SEA
16th – OT (Except Seattle)
0900: SAN
1000: PDX
1100: ANC
1200: LAX
17th – 0900 OT SEA
18th – 0900 Out of Domicile (ALL)
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If you have any questions please contact your LEC president.
In Solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt
More Open Time Trading Tips
AFA and management have set priorities to resolve issues with Open Time
AFA and management have set priorities to resolve issues with Open Time. At this time a work request is pending with Jeppesen and we are waiting for an estimated time of delivery for the fixes to eMaestro. In order of priority the items pending include:
- Net 40 TFP calculator visible in eMaestro
- No need to recall your trip before being able to trade with OT
- Correct coding of trips – programming the TX code (i.e. non TO/CP/DD coding)
- Codes displaying on trips in eMaestro
- Single trip trading for another trip of a greater number of days and covering the same dates even if not sharing the same date of departure
AFA’s position is that the Open Time trial of 12 months is still pending until we are able to fix issues #1 through #4 above. Once the trial begins we will be submitting a monthly survey to Flight Attendants on feedback regarding the new trading system.
In order to assist you with the new trading system we have provided helpful OT trading tips below. Additional information can be found in a previous AFA Alaska communication from October 14, 2015: “Open Time Trading Tips.”
Picking up a SIP
There are many four day trips in Open Time and you will have to be quick, but you can pick up a trip, SIP it, dump back the portion you don’t want to keep back into OT as long as the day remains open and someone else does not drop while you are processing your SIP.
Example: I see a 4-day starting on the 5th, but I want the MCO 2 day on the 7th and 8th. I pick up the trip, I go back to drop it to open time, I click on the SIP, I give away the top half (because the day is open (because I picked it up and the TSN dropped below the threshold which allows me to drop it quickly back as long as it remains open) and process. The 2-day MCO stays on my schedule.
Again, you have to be quick and only wanting to keep the bottom portion of the SIP while giving back the top portion of the SIP to OT.
Month End Overlap
When you are dropping a trip on the last few days of the month that carries over into the subsequent month, the TFP in the current month will count towards the current month. The additional TFP dropped in the subsequent month will also count towards that month’s net 40 drop.
Example: On Oct 31st I have a 4-day pairing and I drop it into OT. The first day on the 31st is worth 4.0 TFP and takes my 40 TFP net for October down to 36 TFP. The trip dropped also covered November 1st, 2nd, and 3rd which totaled 20 TFP. My net drop for November is now only going to allow 20 TFP in the month of November when I get my next schedule for the subsequent month, unless I pick up more flying from Open Time that overlaps into November.
“Process” button
When processing transactions you must click once and only once on the “Process” button. If you click more than once, the system will process the trade “approved or denied” and then boot you off the system. You will get a duplicate session and have to click “Reset,” then log back on. Click “Process” only one time, let the transaction process, and then go onto the next transaction. Please realize there are many transactions taking place nearly simultaneously on Open Time trading day and that you will need to allow the server time to complete the entire transaction.
Downtrading
Once a day is “limited,” you can still downtrade a trip that operates on the same date of departure as the trip on your schedule.
Example: The 4th is limited and there is a 1-day turn. I have a 4-day trip that originates on the 4th. I can trade down my 4-day, for the 1-day as long as they both operate on the 4th when the day is limited and provided I have not exceeded my net 40 TFP drop.
Recall Trip
If you have a trip posted for pick up, you must recall the trip in order to drop it to Open Time.
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We’ve definitely heard there are concerns with multi-day trading and other functions that changed between the old and new system. We appreciate the feedback and will continue to review all suggestions and concerns. If you have questions regarding trading, dropping or picking up please contact your LEC Scheduling Chair.
In solidarity,
Your MEC — Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt; and MEC Scheduling Chairperson Jake Jones
October 2015 Open Time Update
Not surprising there are several issues with Open Time…
It will not be surprising to most if not all of you that AFA and Alaska Airlines management are working on several issues with Open Time. The reality is that our new OT system is built into an antiquated trading program (Maestro/eMaestro) that has been dying a slow death for years and probably should have been replaced a long time ago. To make matters worse, the system can barely handle the number of users we have today. Unfortunately we’re stuck with eMaestro until the successor trading system, Jeppesen Crew Tracking Enterprise (JCTE), is implemented in late 2016.
Mitigation steps taken to prevent another crash on October 15th for November Open Time
In order to minimize the possibility that eMaestro will crash again this coming October 15th for November Open Time, the parties have agreed to several mitigation steps. Shortly before 2 pm Pacific Time—around 1:40 pm—eMaestro will be “bounced,” which basically means the system will be rebooted and everybody will be kicked off for approximately five minutes. Nobody is particularly happy about this, but we believe being logged out for five minutes in order to ‘clean’ the system is a minimally acceptable if it prevents the half hour crash that occurred this past month. The parties are also looking at increasing the virtual CPU allocation (i.e. processing power) and possibly the number of licenses (i.e. connections) for eMaestro.
Bidding alert: Out of Domicile trading and Seattle Open Time being moved in November for December Open Time
Starting in November for December Open Time, trading for Seattle will be moved from 2 pm PT on November 15th to 9 am on November 16th. This will likely greatly reduce the strain on the system by spreading out the server and connection load over two days rather than concentrating it on one. Out of domicile trading will be moved 24 hours later to the same regularly scheduled time but on November 18th rather than the 17th. This change will be tested for OT in November for December trading and in December for January trading at a minimum. Now that bids are open, please bid accordingly with these new dates and times in mind—AFA sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience!
Net 40 TFP Calculator
There is no net 40 TFP calculator presently, so you will need to keep track of that yourself for now. AFA finds this extremely frustrating and is diligently working toward a solution with management.
“TX” coding error
The “TX” code outlined in Section 12.F [Open Time Trial] was not programmed in the system properly. This is resulting in more “TO” trips than originally intended, which is both good and bad. On the plus side, all TO-coded trips may be downtraded based on the day of departure only even if the day is limited whereas TX-coded trips can be traded only day for day. On the negative side, all TO-coded trips count toward the Threshold Sequence Number (TSN) and therefore the closing of Open Time. Excess TO trips makes it more difficult to reopen a day once it is limited. The parties intend to have eMaestro reprogrammed with the originally agreed-upon rules.
Code visibility
The DD, CP and TO codes that count towards the TSN and that also indicate a trip may be downtraded based only on the day of departure are not currently displaying in eMaestro. This is also an oversight that is being corrected as soon as possible. In the meantime, you can still view the codes by logging into the World of Inflight –> My Schedule –> Open Time. The relevant codes are listed in the third column on the left under “Grp.” If the field is blank, that means the trip is coded something other than DD, CP or TO (e.g. TX, UB, CB, ML, SL, etc.) and the trip can be traded only day for day if the day of departure is limited in OT.
Next steps
Going forward AFA has insisted and management has agreed that we will be more intimately involved with the programming process. Additionally, AFA will test the system prior to rollout. Once we receive an update on the estimated time to implement the fixes, we will communicate those with you.
In Solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt
Reason Codes for Open Time Sequences Not Displaying in eMaestro
AFA recently sent out the “New Open Time User Guide,” which describes the reason codes associated with trips in Open Time. It has just come to our attention that eMaestro does not display the reason codes that are associated with the individual pairings in Open Time.
If you place your cursor over a specific date in the Open Time calendar, you can see the number of trips associated with each reason code that counts against the limiting of Open Time. You will also see the Threshold Sequence Number (TSN), which shows how many sequences need to be dropped into Open Time before the day becomes limited. However, the specific reason codes for each pairing are not yet visible.
AFA is committed to working with Alaska Airlines management and Jeppesen to display the reason codes on each individual pairing as soon as possible. Since the codes are already programmed into the system, we are hopeful the turnaround will be fairly brief. AFA will provide an update once we have additional information.
All other aspects of the new Open Time are expected to go live tomorrow.
In Solidarity,
Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Yvette Gesch, Lisa Pinkston, Laura Masserant, Cathy Gwynn, Sandra Morrow and Stephen Couckuyt
