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Special Post IT Incident Debrief Next Week

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants

This Week’s Monthly Scheduling Committee Meeting Canceled

Due to Sunday’s IT outage and the subsequent ground stop, management has decided to cancel this Tuesday’s monthly Scheduling Committee meeting. This decision was made so their efforts could be focused on operational recovery activities to restore normal operations. Our Scheduling Committee will next meet with management on Tuesday, August 26.

AFA and Management to Hold Post-Incident Debrief on Thursday, July 31

Following the incident, representatives from the MEC Officers, Scheduling Committee, and Grievance Committee will participate in a debrief with Crew Scheduling and Inflight Performance management on Thursday, July 31. The purpose of this debrief is to address and resolve issues reported by Flight Attendants that occurred during the event, including commuting challenges, hotel wait times, self-help issues, lodging at non-qualified hotels, scheduling adjustments and legalities, transportation delays, and performance issues (CBA section 32 – inability to scan in, no-shows, late arrivals, sick leave, etc.).

If you were affected by the recent IT outage and have not yet submitted a ticket to the AFA Online Support Center, please do so by visiting support.afaalaska.org before Monday, July 28, at 12 PM PT. Submitting a ticket is crucial for ensuring your experience is included in the debrief agenda. Be sure to provide thorough supporting documentation, such as photos with timestamps, information from OAL flights, call logs, emails, and any receipts you may have. Please note that tickets lacking sufficient information may not yield favorable outcomes.

It’s important to understand that this debrief is not meant to address pay issues. Updates related to pay will be handled through Rainmaker. If you have specific pay-related inquiries, please submit only those listed in Rainmaker’s drop-down menu at this time. For any other pay-related concerns, if your pay has not been updated correctly by August 8, 2025, you may submit a query via Rainmaker. Please refrain from submitting an AFA Online Support Center ticket for pay issues, as those will not be reviewed during the July 31 debrief.

Thank you for your cooperation in helping us advocate for you!

December 2022 Pacific Northwest Winter Weather Event

Master Executive Council (MEC)

  • The snow and ice accumulation over the last several days in the Pacific Northwest has caused operational havoc throughout the Alaska Airlines system. Many Flight Attendants are being impacted by cancelled flights, reassignments, and other scheduling issues.
  • Your contract is one of the best resources to help answer questions about pre-cancellations, reassignments, duty times, and rest. The AFA Scheduling Committee has also put together an updated quick reference guide with some key contractual information.
  • If your flying has been impacted by the winter weather and you have contractual questions or concerns, please open a support ticket using the AFA Alaska Online Support Center. AFA Representatives are working to resolve issues as expeditiously as possible.

This week’s winter weather have had a significant impact on Alaska Airlines operations in Seattle and Portland.  Hundreds of flights have either been delayed or cancelled which has had a ripple effect throughout the system leaving virtually no Flight Attendants unimpacted.  AFA Representatives are actively working to try to resolve Flight Attendant concerns that have been reported, but management’s availability has been limited as they focus on fixing the operation.

If Your Flight Cancels

  • If your flight has been cancelled, you must still report as scheduled unless contacted by Crew Scheduling or you accept a cancellation notification in Crew Access.
  • If contacted by Crew Scheduling regarding a pre-cancellation, know your options.  Review section 10.S of the contract or the pre-cancellation flowchart.
  • If you have already reported for duty and your flight cancels, you must remain at the airport until released by Crew Scheduling.  Your duty period will run continuously until released.

If You Are Reassigned

Reassignments (including same-day cancellations) occur no earlier than midnight on the first day of a scheduled sequence.  They can occur prior to actual departure of the first leg of the sequence or at/after check-in.  For information about how reassignments occur, please see section 10.R of the contract or the reassignment flowchart.  For details about how pay is applied in a reassignment, see section 10.R.5 or the reassignment pay flowchart.

Difficulty Making it to the Airport

Significant Weather Ground Commuting Operations (SWGCO) have been declared for Seattle and Portland.  SWGCO provides additional ground commuter protections for Flight Attendants who may have difficulty reporting on time due to the inclement weather.  In order to receive protections under SWGCO, you must notify Crew Scheduling at least one hour prior to report that you won’t be able to report on time due to the weather.  Please review pages 3 and 4 of the full side letter of agreement for more information.

Management is also offering hotel rooms near the airport in SEA and PDX for those who are reporting for trips the following day.  Please fill out this form to request a hotel room.  Questions about in-base hotels should be directed to the Inflight Snow Ops Command Center at InflightSnowOps@alaskaair.com or Base Management.  

Pay Questions & Rainmaker

If your flying has been impacted by irregular operations, be sure to monitor Rainmaker closely to ensure that your pay is reflected accurately.  Any pay questions should be submitted directly in Rainmaker as a pay query. 

Contractual Questions, Issues, and Concerns

Your contract is your best resources to answer scheduling and pay-related questions.  You can access the contract on the AFA Alaska website or on your IMD in Goodreader > ASFASupplemental > Collective Bargaining Agreement > Contract.  The AFA Scheduling Committee has also put together an updated irregular operations quick reference guide with key contractual information that may be helpful. 

If you have a contractual concern or issue that has come up and need assistance from an AFA representative, please open a support ticket using the AFA Alaska Online Support Center.  Members of the AFA Grievance, Reserve, and Scheduling Committees are working through submitted tickets as quickly as possible, but resolution may be delayed in some cases as management’s immediate focus is on operational issues.

For additional support, please contact your Local Scheduling Committee (lineholders), Local Reserve Committee (reserves), or your LEC Officers. 

December 2021 Pacific Northwest Snowstorm

Master Executive Council (MEC)

  • The snowfall that occurred over the last several days in the Pacific Northwest has caused operational havoc throughout the Alaska Airlines system. Many Flight Attendants are being impacted by cancelled flights, reassignments, and other scheduling issues.
  • Your contract is one of the best resources to help answer questions about pre-cancellations, reassignments, duty times, and rest. The AFA Scheduling Committee has also put together an updated quick reference guide with some key contractual information.
  • If your flying has been impacted by the snowstorm and you have contractual questions or concerns, please open a support ticket using the AFA Alaska Online Support Center. AFA Representatives are working to resolve issues as expeditiously as possible.

This week’s snowstorm and continued winter weather have had a significant impact on Alaska Airlines operations in Seattle and Portland.  Hundreds of flights have either been delayed or cancelled which has had a ripple effect throughout the system leaving virtually no Flight Attendants unimpacted.  AFA Representatives are actively working to try to resolve Flight Attendant concerns that have been reported, but management’s availability has been limited as they focus on fixing the operation.

If Your Flight Cancels

  • If your flight has been cancelled, you must still report as scheduled unless contacted by Crew Scheduling or you accept a cancellation notification in Crew Access.
  • If contacted by Crew Scheduling regarding a pre-cancellation, know your options.  Review section 10.S of the contract or the pre-cancellation flowchart.
  • If you have already reported for duty and your flight cancels, you must remain at the airport until released by Crew Scheduling.  Your duty period will run continuously until released.

Difficulty Making it to the Airport

Significant Weather Ground Commuting Operations (SWGCO) have been declared for Seattle and Portland.  SWGCO provides additional ground commuter protections for Flight Attendants who may have difficulty reporting on time due to the inclement weather.  In order to receive protections under SWGCO, you must notify Crew Scheduling at least one hour prior to report that you won’t be able to report on time due to the weather.  Please review pages 3 and 4 of the full side letter of agreement for more information.

Management is also offering hotel rooms near the airport in SEA and PDX for those who are reporting for trips the following day.  Please fill out this form to request a hotel room.  They have also authorized any F/A to expense $100 for Uber/Lyft transportation to/from the airport in order to get to work.  No advance approval is required and your base management can provide assistance with reimbursement.  Questions about in-base hotels or transportation reimbursement should be directed to the Inflight Snow Ops Command Center at InflightSnowOps@alaskaair.com.  

Hotel or Transportation Issues While Flying

If you are currently flying and are having issues with hotels or ground transportation, you may be able to receive a quicker response from the Inflight Snow Ops Command Center by emailing InflightSnowOps@alaskaair.com.  Requests that go through the command center, especially ones that are not time sensitive, will free up Crew Scheduling to attend to other operational duties.  The command center is open from 08:00-20:00 Pacific time.  Outside of these hours Crew Scheduling will be your point of contact.

Pay Questions & Rainmaker

If your flying has been impacted by irregular operations, be sure to monitor Rainmaker closely to ensure that your pay is reflected accurately.  Any pay questions should be submitted directly in Rainmaker as a pay query. 

Contractual Questions, Issues, and Concerns

Your contract is your best resources to answer scheduling and pay-related questions.  You can access the contract on the AFA Alaska website or on your IMD in Goodreader > ASFASupplemental > Collective Bargaining Agreement > Contract.  The AFA Scheduling Committee has also put together an updated irregular operations quick reference guide with key contractual information that may be helpful. 

If you have a contractual concern or issue that has come up and need assistance from an AFA representative, please open a support ticket using the AFA Alaska Online Support Center.  Members of the AFA Grievance, Reserve, and Scheduling Committees are working through submitted tickets as quickly as possible, but resolution may be delayed in some cases as management’s immediate focus is on operational issues.

For additional support, please contact your Local Scheduling Committee (lineholders), Local Reserve Committee (reserves), or your LEC Officers. 

Presidents’ Day Weekend 2021 Pacific Northwest Snowstorm

Presidents’ Day Weekend 2021 Pacific Northwest Snowstorm

A Storm for the Record Books

What a weekend! The recent Pacific Northwest (PNW) snowstorm was one for the record books, so the systemwide severe irregular operations were not terribly surprising. That being said, it’s clear the operation became profoundly broken at various points: Crew Scheduling “perma hold” for up to two hours (assuming one could get through) and/or dropped calls, hotel rooms extremely delayed or unavailable, no ground transportation, significant delays and cancellations, et cetera, et cetera.

Operational Debrief with Management Next Week

Your AFA Alaska leadership knows you want answers as to what went wrong and what can be done to prevent this from happening again. We are currently working on scheduling an operational debrief with management for next week. Stay tuned for an update following the debrief.

AFA Alaska Online Support Center

In the meantime, we encourage Flight Attendants to open a new ticket at the AFA Alaska Online Support Center if you need a union representative to review an issue or concern. Some examples related to the recent snowstorm:

  • Requests for Management Drop denied (or initially approved and subsequently denied) and No Show assessed
  • Day rooms unavailable (for transit time through an outstation exceeding four hours)
  • Delayed layover hotel rooms – AFA will need FAs to provide their release time into the applicable layover and the time when they received a room key
  • Flight Attendants paid for their own rooms either due to snow rooms being unavailable or layover hotel rooms being unavailable

Please provide as many details as possible to help your AFA representatives research your ticket. Thank you!

Hurricane Dorian

AFA leadership has been in contact with Alaska Airlines management all weekend as we actively monitor Hurricane Dorian’s path. Management has just announced the first Dorian-related cancellation, which is AS 1074 SEA-FLL tomorrow morning (Monday, September 2, 2019). More cancellations and re-routes are likely in the coming days. As a precaution, AFA and management have agreed to enact Section 8.S [Natural Disasters…] in order to turn crews out of Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and in anticipation of re-starting operations to FLL once conditions have returned to normal.

If you are currently laying over in FLL, Crew Scheduling will be reaching out to you tonight to arrange a deadhead first thing tomorrow morning. It is imperative that you are responsive to their efforts to contact you tonight.

If you are a registered commuter in an area projected to be directly affected by Hurricane Dorian and you are concerned, AFA encourages you to discuss your options with management as soon as possible. All crews with flying to Florida and the south eastern seaboard over the coming days are encouraged to monitor the Scheduling alerts on the Inflight webpage and to be responsive to contact from Crew Scheduling.

If you need assistance from AFA, please feel free to contact your respective local leadership, local Scheduling Committee chairperson(s) or EAP. This will be a constantly evolving situation, so stay tuned!

In Solidarity,

Your MEC – Jeffrey Peterson, Brian Palmer, Linda Christou, Lisa Pinkston, Terry Taylor, Mario de’Medici, Melissa Osborne, Tim Green and Brice McGee; and MEC Scheduling Committee Chairperson Jake Jones

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