Important Dates
- Jan 31:Temporary NavBlue Outage at 06:00 PST for 2 Hours for Programming Update
- Feb 5-9: PBS Base Sits SFO Village
- Feb 10: ACT CBT Due
SFO Employee COVID Testing
Information provided by FlySFO
As a result of new CA State legislation, one of SFO’s COVID-19 testing sites will now accept insurance (including Kaiser) and has set up a dedicated Employee Testing portal for all Airport workers. Links to the portal for employee registration at this site offering molecular testing is below. Advance registration is required via the Employee Portal. Employees who are symptomatic or are known to be in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 should use Worksite Labs if possible.
Location: Adjacent to the Long-Term Parking Lot and Cell Phone Waiting Lot by San Bruno Avenue
Testing Offered: Drive-Thru Only, RT-PCR with results in 12 or 24 hours
Employee Testing Hours: Daily 0700-1900
Note: Operating hours and location are subject to change.
Sunsetting of NavBlue Classbid After the March 5-12, 2002 Bid Period
by Virginia Fritz, Scheduling Committee Chair
NavBlue is sunsetting the old Classbid interface and FAs will need to use the updated WebApp interface for the March 5-12 bid period. Base Sits for SFO are scheduled on the dates below, and will be held in the SFO Village.
- Feb 5th 0900-1700
- Feb 6th 1000-1800
- Feb 7th 0700-1800
- Feb 8th 0700-1700
- Feb 9th 0900-1700
Representatives from our Scheduling, Benefits, and Reserve committees will be on hand to assist and answer any questions. If you are unable to attend any of these sessions, please contact pbs.qa@alaskaair.com for assistance. WebApp virtual training dates are expected to be announced next month.
To get the most out of your time with a trainer at a Base Sit, you should have some familiarity with WebApp. If you have not already done so, please review the links below. We strongly suggest beginning with the WebApp Tutorial.
- WebApp Tutorial Video
- WebApp Program Guide
- WebApp Quick Reference
- Basic Line Bidding Video
- Basic Reserve Bidding Video
- Additional WebApp Videos
Pairing Update for March 2022
by Virginia Fritz, Scheduling Committee Chair, PBS Subcommittee Member
The company has been trying to find ways to mitigate their operational risk of cancellations due to crew staffing shortages. They have found that the average sick call on a 4 day can take 2 or 3 reserve flight attendants to staff because of reserve legalities and days-on availability. This has led the company to significantly reduce 4 days in all bases for March.
We have let crew planning know that we are very unhappy with this as it relates to the SFO base, and stressed that the quality of pairings is an issue, not quantity. If you have any feedback please reach out to sfo.scheduling@afaalaska.org so that we can relay any feedback to management.
Many in our base rely on longer trips. There are some tips to try and create your own longer pairings should you want to attempt it. You can attach one trip to another by adding a base turn (JCBA 8.T) to the beginning or end of another trip. A base turn isn’t necessarily a ‘turn’ but is “two (2) sequences combined in the same duty period that contain no less than one hour and forty-five minutes (1:45) block-to-block between the last flight of the previous sequence and the first flight of the subsequent sequence. The scheduled ‘base turn duty period’ cannot exceed fourteen (14) hours on duty according to CFRs.” Additionally, some trips have a SIP (JCBA 12.G),(a Sequence Interruption Point [SIP] will be any arrival of the aircraft at the Sequence Home Domicile). You can pick up a trip out of open time that in its entirety may not be legal to add, but with a SIP in base could create a legal combination. With many of the pairings we have, these tools may not always be applicable but we wanted to make sure that this information was available to you should you want and be able to use it.
Inflight Service Committee (ISC) Reminders
by Raymond Ramirez, ISC Chair
Create Success
Please help your fellow crew members by returning items to their originally catered galley positions.
Current Substitutions
Canned OJ replaces boxes-please pour. SEA will cater Fruit & Cheese with 2 slices each of cheddar and Beechers due to a shortage of Brie cheese.
F/A Feedback
Your comments have brought back mixer drawers to the FC beverage cart–coming March 02. Current focus: carafes and lids are missing on many flights so please use B2B to report. THANK YOU!
Service
Feb 07, will see the reinstatement of many service items. This service increase will be monitored and adjusted as necessary in partnership with AFA leadership. Please reach out to your AFA SFO Inflight Service Committee, Raymond Ramirez (chair), Matt Voges and Renee Waggener with your service comments.
Grievance Summary 2021
The following chart summarizes grievances filed for SFO for the year 2021. This does not represent all of the performance meetings (investigations) that occurred and mitigated disciplines from Grievance Reps with management. These numbers strictly represent grievances filed after discipline had been issued. Of grievances filed, 3 of them were mitigated through the grievance process which resulted in either disciplines reduced and/or dropped.
| Violation | Cases | % Total |
| Appearance of Sleeping | 1 | 2% |
| Intentional Flying with COVID | 1 | 2% |
| Breaking Quarantine/Insubordination | 1 | 2% |
| Lost IMD | 1 | 2% |
| Mask Non-compliance | 1 | 2% |
| Comping Non-Revs | 1 | 2% |
| Theft from Aircraft | 1 | 2% |
| Uniform | 1 | 2% |
| Last Chance Agreement | 1 | 2% |
| 12+ Points | 1 | 2% |
| Reserve Out of Base | 2 | 4% |
| Late to Plane/Delay/Missing Required Item | 6 | 11% |
| CBT Missed Deadline | 14 | 26% |
| Commuter Policy | 21 | 39% |
| Total Grievances | 54 | 100% |
Calling in Sick and Wellness Calls
As everyone knows, thanks to the many reminders from management, sick leave usage is at an all time high. Considering there’s a world-wide pandemic occurring this is not surprising. One way management has taken steps to attempt to curb sick leave usage is to carefully monitor sick calls. Many of the “suspect” cases are brought to the performance team for investigation from Crew Scheduling. When an FA calls in sick and offers more information than what is needed, this often will trigger a “red flag” and get passed along for an investigation. Best practice is to say only what is necessary to crew scheduling when calling in to report an absence. “Hi this is FA (name) Peoplesoft number (1234567) calling in sick for (trip number or reserve day).” Nothing more is needed. If schedulers are asking for more information, you are not required to divulge any health information.
The same guidance is also true for Wellness calls. Management has a process in place to follow up with Flight Attendants when they reach certain absence point levels. Normally each discipline level triggers a wellness call and/or email from base supervisors. Wellness calls with management do not require a response, however it is recommended that the FA provide a confirmation of the message. In recent investigations with FAs with high point levels, one of the questions from the performance supervisor is “did you receive the wellness calls from base leadership? And did you respond?” Best practice would be to respond via email only to any wellness calls and/or emails to avoid having a conversation with management without Union representation.
Member Question: How to use sick family
Flight Attendants can use sick leave to tend to a serious or emergency health condition of a family member. If you report sick for a qualified family member and do not have enough sick leave to cover the entire sequence or reserve day(s), the absence(s) will be converted to a Management Drop and attendance points will be assessed at a half-point per day. To see your sick leave balance log into Rainmaker for the most current balance. If you need time away from work to care for a sick family member and you do not have sufficient sick leave available, contact an Inflight Supervisor to request a Management Drop. For more information please review Bulletin 2021-0059.
Membership Links for Payment or Personal Contact Updates
by James Ikehara, Secretary and Membership Committee Chair
If you are coming back from a leave of absence and need to catch up on dues payments, this link will take you directly to AFA’s Membership Services website to schedule an on-line payment. Should you need to update your personal contact information (e.g., address, phone number, email, etc.), use this link.
Fly safe and stay healthy!
Melissa, James and Brad
Melissa Osborne, LEC President • Melissa.osborne@afaalaska.org • 415-275-1322
James Ikehara, LEC Secretary • James.ikehara@afaalaska.org • 415-289-9011
Bradley Young, Council Representative • Bradley.young@afaalaska.org • 916-508-3503
