AFA Alaska

Representing the Flight Attendants of Alaska + Hawaiian

Click here to report an issue to AFA
You are here: Home / Archives for Open Time

Open Time TA 2019: Trading on a Closed Day

Q: I heard that in the proposed Open Time system you are locked out of all Open Time trading on a closed day. Is that true?

A: No.

In the proposed Open Time system, all Open Time trades are allowed on a closed day(s) (including the days automatically closed four days prior) except for:

  • Direct (straight) drop(s) (from a FA to Open Time) on the closed day(s), and
  • Trading out of the closed day(s).

Again, all other types of Open Time trades are allowed as long as you do not drop or trade more than 40 net TFP into Open Time (the “Net 40”) in that bid month. Day-for-day (or greater) trades are allowed on closed days either on a trip-for-trip basis or by a single transaction multiple trade. This is very similar to the trading rules in place under the previous “Back to Book” trading system (prior to late 2015).

Example: Open Time is automatically closed today (the 10th) and for the next four days (11th, 12th, 13th, 14th). You have a 4-day starting tomorrow (11-14). You may exchange your 4-day for any of the following trips in Open Time as long as you have not dropped or traded more than 40 net TFP into Open Time:

  • 2-day today (10-11) + 3-day 12-14 [day-for-day and greater via a single transaction multiple trade]
  • Different 4-day 11-14 [day-for-day]
  • Turn tomorrow on the 11th + all-nighter turn 12-13 (single duty period spanning two calendar days) + another turn on the 14th [day-for-day via a single transaction multiple trade]
  • Any combination of trips from Open Time as long the trips operate on (i.e. cover or touch) the 11th through the 14th.

Open Time Tentative Agreement Presentation

Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Time: 9 AM ~ 11 AM PT (morning session) and 1 PM ~ 3 PM PT (afternoon session)

Location: Four Points by Sheraton Seattle Airport South, 22406 Pacific Highway South, Des Moines, WA 98198

Parking: Free parking is available at the Four Points hotel in the parking deck on the back side of the hotel and in the adjacent lot. 

Transportation: If you are attending from out-of-town, please call the hotel directly at (253) 642-0100 to arrange for free hotel shuttle service once you arrive at the airport.

Open Time TA broadcast

We will broadcast the presentation sessions live on the AFA Alaska YouTube Channel.

Link to morning session: https://youtu.be./AxHJ76cZidQ
Link to afternoon session: https://youtu.be/tYk34EZzvdk

TA information is found on the Open​ Time ​TA 2019 info page. You can ask questions using Slido during the presentation (Slido instructions). Please make sure to enter your first and last name followed by your base (e.g. Jane Doe SEA). Questions will only be answered if you follow this format. Any questions asked prior to the start of the event will be deleted. You have the ability to review other questions asked, and upvote anything you would like to see answered. We will endeavor to answer as many questions as possible during the presentation. We will recap and answer more questions on the blog.

Open Time TA video

AFA also plans to release a recorded compilation video of the two sessions so that all Flight Attendants will have access to the OpenTime TA presentation no matter where you are and whenever you have free time.​

Voting

Voting opens on Monday, May 6 at 9 AM PT and closes on Friday, May 31 at 9 AM PT. Once your ballot is cast, you may not change your vote. You must be an active member in good standing* at AFA Alaska on the day of the ballot count in order for your vote to be tallied. Please vote!

In Solidarity,

Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Kristy Stratton, Lisa Pinkston, Christina Frees and AFA Senior Staff Attorney Kimberley Chaput

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

* Active member in good standing: AFA-CWA member, actively flying or continuing to pay dues each month while on a leave of absence, and dues no more than 30 days in arrears.) For additional information or assistance regarding dues or balloting, contact AFA-CWA Membership Services at 800-424-2401, Monday through Friday (closed major holidays) from 9 AM to 5 PM ET.

Open Time Negotiations Update – Tentative Agreement

A (not so) brief history of Open Time

Due to Flight Attendant dissatisfaction with Open Time that existed at the time, AFA and management negotiated a new Open Time trading system in the 2014-2019 Collective Bargaining Agreement. Because the parties were unsure how well the new system would work for everyone, we agreed to a trial period, in which we could try out the system before it became permanent. 

AFA heard loud and clear after several months of surveying that a majority of Flight Attendants were dissatisfied with the new system, so the Master Executive Council (MEC) cancelled the trial in July 2016. Under the terms of the contract, that meant AFA and management would start negotiating a new Open Time system, which began in November 2016. Meanwhile, management was supposed to have the trip trading system roll back to the prior Open Time trading rules (known as “Back to Book”) while the parties negotiated another system.

Flash forward to the present

If only it were that easy. The path to a new Open Time system has been challenged at nearly every turn: numerous programming delays, transition to a brand-new trip trading system, returning to a second round of negotiations with a mandate to achieve implementation guarantees, and an intervening merger. After nearly two and a half years, AFA and management have finally reached an Open Time tentative agreement (TA) that has been approved by the MEC for membership ratification.

Before starting negotiations in late 2016, AFA surveyed Flight Attendant to determine which features a new Open Time system must have and which would be unacceptable. The Negotiating Committee believes we have achieved an Open Time system that is worthy of your consideration. 

TA details

Click here for the Open Time TA 2019 info page >

This is a one-stop shop for all the resources you will need:

  • Important dates
  • Full text language of the Open Time TA 2019
  • Supplemental documents
  • Links to historical Open Time negotiations updates
  • Details about the Open Time TA presentation
  • The Negotiating Committee’s contact info
  • Voting info

Open Time TA live presentation

Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Time: 9 AM ~ 11 AM PT (morning session) and 1 PM ~ 3 PM PT (afternoon session)

Location: Four Points by Sheraton Seattle Airport South, 22406 Pacific Highway South, Des Moines, WA 98198

Parking: Free parking is available at the Four Points hotel in the parking deck on the back side of the hotel and in the adjacent lot.

Transportation: If you are attending from out-of-town, please call the hotel directly at (253) 642-0100 to arrange for free hotel shuttle service once you arrive at the airport.

Open Time TA presentation broadcast and compilation video

Although there have been local “save the date” communications regarding a presentation on April 30th, AFA understands this is the first confirmed notice. No worries if you cannot make it because we will also broadcast the presentation sessions live on the AFA Alaska YouTube Channel, which may be accessed via the Open Time TA 2019 info page. AFA also plans to release a recorded compilation video of the two sessions so that all Flight Attendants will have access to the Open Time TA presentation no matter where you are and whenever you have free time.

Voting

Voting opens on Monday, May 6 at 9 AM PT and closes on Friday, May 31 at 9 AM PT. Once your ballot is cast, you may not change your vote. You must be an active member in good standing* at AFA Alaska on the day of the ballot count in order for your vote to be tallied. Please vote!

In Solidarity, 

Your Negotiating Committee – MEC President Jeffrey Peterson, Kristy Stratton, Lisa Pinkston, Christina Frees and AFA Senior Staff Attorney Kimberley Chaput

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

* Active member in good standing: AFA-CWA member, actively flying or continuing to pay dues each month while on a leave of absence, and dues no more than 30 days in arrears.) For additional information or assistance regarding dues or balloting, contact AFA-CWA Membership Services at 800-424-2401, Monday through Friday (closed major holidays) from 9 AM to 5 PM ET.

[L-AS] Continued JCTE Open Time Programming Issues

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants

AFA is aware of the issues that many Flight Attendants faced during the start of open time trading for August schedules on July 16, 2018.  Alaska management sent an email communication outlining that the issues were thought to include the servers. After researching, however, the origin of the errors remains unknown.  Jeppesen, Alaska management and AFA are actively working together to find a resolution and remedy.

We appreciate all of the Flight Attendants who have communicated their concerns and frustrations. The documentation that has been provided is assisting in getting closer to identifying the issues.   At this time, we don’t know the root cause of the issue and management has advised us that it could be several more Open Times before the root cause is identified.

Please know that your AFA leadership believes these continued Open Time programming errors are completely unacceptable.  We will be reviewing all options available to us under the contractual grievance process to bring this situation to an expedient and suitable resolution.  As more information becomes available, we will communicate additional updates.

In Solidarity,

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

[L-AS] Open Time Grievance

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants

On May 17, AFA filed grievance #36-99-2-130-18, requesting that Alaska Airlines management investigate the circumstances regarding the Company’s alleged violation of Section 12.C.3 “Trading Procedures”.  The grievance contends that the Company’s Jeppesen Crew Access (JCA) Open Time Trading System failed to synchronize time across the system, resulting in some users being able to complete their tasks while others are temporarily blocked from trades, pick-ups and/or drops.

After investigating the concern, management provided the following email response:

Jeppesen found two issues that need to be resolved.  The first issue has to do with the worker processes that handle the request and what it thinks is the current time, which is stored in a variable Jeppesen refers to as “NOW”.  Each worker process has its own NOW variable and if a worker process has been idle, its NOW variable gets out of date and when the first request comes in, for example when Open Time trading begins, it still believes the Trade window is still closed because NOW lags behind the system time.    The second issue is the Transaction Report timestamp is the time it logs the transaction is logged and not the NOW time.

Jeppesen has proposed the following solutions to address these two issues. The first is the worker processes will ensure the NOW variable is updated with the latest system time, rounded down to the minute (Note:  The NOW time granularity is at the minute level), so if a worker process has been idle, it will have the current system time.   The second change is to add the system time used in the processing of the request to the message so the FA and the transaction log knows what the system time is.  For example “Trip window has not yet opened for 24198” will be changed to something like “Time HH:MM, trip window has not yet opened for 24198”.  Jeppesen and AS believes these changes will resolve the issue.

Jeppesen will be providing an update in the next week concerning the interim solution.  We are expecting Alaska Airlines management to sustain the grievance and work with us on improving your Open Time processing.

In Solidarity,

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

Hotel Committee Meeting Recap – September 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Monday, September 8, 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), Ila Christy (PDX), Hilary […]

We Will Never Forget – September 11, 2001

AFA Never Forget Website United Flight 175 Robert J. FangmanAmy N. JarretAmy R. KingKathryn LaBorieAlfred G. MarchandMichael C. TarrouAlicia N. TitusCaptain: Victor SaraciniFirst Officer: Michael HorrocksCustomer Service Representatives: Marianne MacFarlane and Jesus Sanchez United Flight 93 Lorraine G. BaySandra BradshawWanda A. GreenCeeCee LylesDeborah WelshCaptain: Jason DahlFirst Officer: Leroy Homer American Flight 11 Barbara AresteguiJeffrey CollmanSara […]

Vacation Survey Now Open

This message is for both pre-merger Alaska and Hawaiian Flight Attendants Your Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) is working diligently to understand and improve the vacation benefits for our Flight Attendants at Alaska and Hawaiian. Your input is essential in ensuring that the vacation provisions we adopt reflect your needs and preferences. To gather your perspectives, […]

SEA Domicile Negotiations – September 2025

This message is for pre-merger Hawaiian Flight Attendants Negotiations Update The SEA Domicile Negotiating Committee met this week for three days of collective bargaining with management.  The SEA NC met with management on September 3 to September 5 in Honolulu. At the negotiating table for this session were: Representing AFA and our Flight Attendants   […]

Pre-Merger Alaska MEC Committee Interviews—October 2025

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants In accordance with Article VI.C of the AFA Alaska MEC Policy and Procedure Manual, the terms of office for the MEC Committee Chairpersons and other MEC-level positions align with those of the MEC Officers. Since the current term for the MEC Officers will conclude on December 31, […]

Recent Posts

News By Month

News By Category

AFA News Now Air Quality Air Safety, Health, & Security Committee (ASHSC) Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) AS/HA Merger AS/VX Merger Benefits Committee Committees Communications Committee Contract Contract 2014 Negotiations Blog Council 15 SAN Council 18 LAX Council 19 SEA Council 30 ANC Council 35 SFO Council 39 PDX EAP/Professional Standards Committee Extension 2021 Blog Featured Government Affairs Committee Grievance Committee Hotel Committee Human Rights & Equity Committee Industry News Inflight Service Committee Inflight Training Committee JNC Blog Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) Latest News Local Councils Master Executive Council (MEC) Membership Committee Message from the MEC President Mobilization Committee Negotiations Pairing Construction Preferential Bidding System (PBS) Press Releases Reserve Committee Retirement Committee Scheduling Committee Uniform Committee

Want To Stay In The Loop?

Stay up-to-date on AFA Alaska news and information by signing up for our email and text message updates. Click a button below to get started or update your preferences if you're already a subscriber.
Sign Up for Emails
Sign Up for Text Updates