AFA Alaska + Hawaiian

Representing the Flight Attendants of Alaska + Hawaiian

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Council 39 November 2025 Update (November 17, 2025)

In This Edition:

  • Happy Thanksgiving!
  • Joint JNC/Council 39 Meeting Information
  • Uniform Committee Update/Allotment Reminder
  • Healthcare Open Enrollment – Due November 21st

Happy Thanksgiving!

Whether you’re flying the line or spending time at home with friends and family, we would like to wish you a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday!

Joint JNC/Council 39 Meeting Information:

Please join us on Friday, November 21st at 11:30 am for our local council meeting. Members of the Joint Negotiating Committee will also be available to answer questions.

  1. After landing at PDX, exit the secure area and proceed to the landside (baggage claim area) of the terminal.
  2. Follow signs for “Short-Term Parking” or “Long-Term Parking” garage – the meeting venue signage directs to the Long-Term Parking garage. You can go outside and walk across the roadways into the parking garage or you can take the North Tunnel (near baggage claim carousel 8) and walk all the way to the end of the tunnel and follow signs to the Port offices.
  3. If driving to PDX, you can park in the Long-Term Parking garage (or if that’s full, the east side of the Short-Term garage and use the walkway to the Long-Term garage.) 
  4. Take the elevator from the garage lobby (east end) marked “Port Offices” to the 1st floor lobby, then follow signage/elevators up to the 8th floor of the Port of Portland Headquarters.
  5. On the 8th floor, check in with the receptionist and pick up your visitor’s badge, then go to the “Anchor Room” for the meeting.

Uniform Committee Update/Allotment Reminder:

Our current uniform allotment expires at the end of this year. New allotments will be issued in January. However, current funds in your allotment will not roll over. Please remember to place uniform orders by December 31st so you don’t lose out on any leftover funds. 

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to David Jelinek for his many years of dedication as the Portland Base Uniform Committee Chairperson. David has recently been appointed as the MEC Chairperson, and we congratulate him on this well-deserved transition.

With this change, we are excited to announce that Bob Moore will be stepping into the local chairperson role. Bob began his career with Horizon Air in 1987, where he played a key role in organizing AFA on the property and served on both the EAP and Inflight Service Committees. In 1996, he joined Alaska Inflight, where he continues to serve today. Over the years, Bob has contributed his leadership as co-chair of the PDX Reserve Committee, and as a member of the Voice Committee, Uniform Committee, LEC and MEC Uniform Committees.

Please join us in thanking David for his service and congratulating Bob as he takes on this new role!

In addition to Bob resuming the chairperson role we would like to introduce new Uniform Committee members:

Diana Berni

Diana was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She began her career as an LA based Flight Attendant in 2007. In 2010 she decided to venture out and transferred to the Portland base she now calls home.  

She has volunteered her time by doing various projects with the Alaska Airlines Special Projects Pool and has also participated in the Grand Floral Parade by marching with the Flight Attendant Drill Team.  

Diana is married, has two children and a golden doodle named Maximus. She spends her off days with her family hiking, going to the movies and driving to the coast. 

She looks forward to working closely with AFA as a Uniform Committee member and assisting fellow Flight Attendants with their uniform needs.  

Lexie Rhodes

Lexie Rhodes has been a proud member of the Alaska Airlines family since 2013. Before joining Alaska, she worked as an executive assistant, where she built a strong foundation in teamwork, communication, and problem-solving. She studied European History at the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a minor in History of Art and Visual Culture and enriched her studies with several design courses that sparked her interest in how aesthetics and function can work hand in hand. Her time studying abroad in Siena, Italy, and Stirling, Scotland further deepened her appreciation for cultural exchange, inclusive perspectives, and thoughtful design.

Lexie is excited to bring her perspective to the AFA Uniform Committee and support her fellow Flight Attendants in advocating for thoughtful, inclusive uniform choices that honor both Alaska’s and Hawaiian Airlines’ cultures, accommodate diverse body types, and balance comfort with style. When she’s not in the air, you’ll find her reading, hiking, daydreaming about her next adventure, hanging with her nine nieces and nephews, pulling playful pranks, or spending time with her close-knit group of girlfriends.

Tutu Smith

Tutu has loved every chapter of her journey with Alaska Airlines since starting as a CSA in 2001 and moving to Inflight in 2007. She’s passionate about her work, takes great pride in wearing the uniform, and is excited to contribute her experience and perspective as a member of the Uniform Committee.

Tutu has previously served on the Inflight Service Committee and the Mobilization Committee during contract negotiations. When she’s not flying, she enjoys spending time with her husband, kids, and their dog or catching a good football game on TV.

Healthcare Open Enrollment:

Don’t forget to complete your elections for healthcare benefits by November 21st at 10 PM PST. You can review/update your coverage by clicking here and using your Team AAG single sign-on.

In Solidarity,

Steve, Krystle and Bethany

Council 15 Spring Updates

​Important Dates and Information

SAN LAX SFO Membership Meeting May 6

The next membership meeting for Council 15 members will be Thursday May 6, 2021 on Zoom. The purpose will be to discuss the AFA Board of Director’s Meeting scheduled for May 13, 2021. This meeting will be a combined council meeting and open to all Council 15, 18 and 35 members in good standing (up-to-date on dues). If you have any agenda items to discuss or specific questions please submit to SAN@afaalaska.org by May 5th, 2021.

Performance Investigations and Disciplines

CBT

Discipline for failing to complete quarterly CBTs are continuing to trend.  Flight Attendants returning from leave are given 60 days to complete CBTs.  The Council 15 Grievance Committee has been successful in assisting FAs dispute discipline when evidence of technical difficulties exist.  Being busy and forgetting to complete the CBT has not been accepted as extenuating circumstances to miss a CBT deadline and the discipline will remain.  If more than one CBT deadline is missed, discipline will progress to higher steps on the discipline scale (i.e. 2 missed CBTs in 18 month period will escalate to a Written Warning).

Commuter Violations

Monthly audits are occurring, and Council 15 has seen disciplines for misuse lessen however there are still Flight Attendants that are using it incorrectly.  Please be sure your registered cities are current and comply with guidelines set forth in the commuter program outlined on the FA webpage.

Grievance vs. Gripe

Not all concerns brought forward to AFA can be resolved by the union.  Knowing the difference between a Grievance and a Gripe is key to understanding how we can assist you.  

Grievance 
A grievance is a formal challenge to management that our contract has been violated or that unjust discipline has been issued.  

Example: “Charter flying was awarded out of seniority order.”  We have specific contract language citing how Charter Bids will be awarded, therefore, this could be a grievance.

Prior to filing a grievance, your local union reps will attempt to resolve the concern with management, if that proves to be unsuccessful, a formal grievance may be filed.  

Gripe
A Gripe is a complaint that is not a contractual violation.

Example: “It’s not fair that I was flown into a day off”.   It may not seem fair, but it is contractual, therefore this would be considered a gripe. Or   “I thought I had the day off because my flight canceled, why did I get a no show? This isn’t fair! Our contract states that you must report as scheduled if no contact is made with crew scheduling​for canceled flying, therefore this would be considered a gripe. 

Occasionally we hear from members that are upset because they were unaware of contractual language or a company policy that has been violated.  It’s everyone’s responsibility to know our work rules. Not knowing the rules doesn’t prevent management from issuing discipline. 

Your SAN union reps are always available to help determine when a complaint is a gripe or a grievance.  We are always willing to assist you with contract interpretation.

Please ensure that you have our contact information saved in your phone. You never know when you may need to reach out to us.

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Enrollment is open for the Alaska Air Group Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP). The plan allows you to purchase company stock at a 15% discount from the fair market value on the offering date or purchase date, whichever is less.

To take advantage of this opportunity, you must enroll by 11:59 pm Eastern Time (U.S.) on April 20, 2021.

  
•If you’re already enrolled, no action is needed. You will be automatically re-enrolled at the rate you specified, or if you like, you can change your contribution rate now.
 
•If you enroll or change your contribution rate, you must specify a contribution rate between 1%-10%.
 
•If you want to learn more, view the ESPP Prospectus under Benefits/Pay on Alaska’s World or On Your Horizon.
 

You must have a Schwab One® brokerage account in order to enroll. Use the “Open an Account” button to open your account or to link an existing Schwab One account to Equity Award Center®.

Please open your account as soon as possible because late enrollment requests cannot be processed. 

Please see your Alaska email for more information.

Scholarship Opportunities  

AFA Scholarship

The Association of Flight Attendant Scholarship Fund is intended to provide financial assistance to dependents of our active members who will be attending a college or university.  Applications must be postmarked by April 10, and sent to the following address:

AFA Scholarship Fund

P.O. Box 56

Hartwood, VA 22471-0056

For more detailed information, visit the AFA website.

CWA Joe Beirne Scholarship

​The Joe Beirne Scholarship offered by CWA is available to AFA Members as well as dependents. The deadline for applications is April 30.   For more detailed information, visit the CWA website.

How Do I contact Officers

Using your personal email address (not Alaska), the preferred methods of contact are:

  • Open an Online Support Request ticket
  • Officer group email SAN@afaalaska.org (if one officer is flying /unavailable other officers can respond)
  • Individual officer emails (if information is for a specific officer)
  • Calls/text (if situation requires more urgent attention)

When contacting Council 15 officers please avoid the following methods:

  • Sending to/from alaskaair email (subject to company audits and therefore not private)
  • Officer personal Facebook/social media accounts (not actively monitored for AFA concerns)
  • Excessively lengthy texts (please use email for important information as it’s easier to respond and forward to appropriate resource-texts should be reserved for alerts to an issue that requires a timely response)

In Solidarity,

Brice, Melanie, JR

Updated PBS Website

Your Joint PBS Committee is ready to roll out the newly updated NAVBLUE PBS website. The internal functionality of PBS remains the same as far as processing bids. However, there are several updates to logging in, entering bids, searching for pairings, and options for saving or submitting bids.

Training Materials

Training materials are available on the PBS QA/Help page. Access from the FA Webpage under Line Bidding> PBS QA/Help. Links for training materials are also available at the top of the PBS Info Page.

A great start would be to watch the PBS Quick Tour video, produced by ANC Scheduling Chairperson Justin Wetherell. More tutorial videos are available on the PBS QA/Help page, or by clicking here. *It may be difficult to navigate the updated website without using the training materials and videos.
Access the updated PBS website here: https://asa.classbid.com/webapp/#/

Base Sits

Base sits will be scheduled for March and April, supported by members of the Joint Alaska & AFA PBS Committee.

Why the Update?

Updates to the PBS website allow functionality on tablets and smartphones with 5.5”+ screens. Changes also allow creating/editing bids offline, which can be saved and submitted once an internet connection is established. Watch the Bidding Offline tutorial to learn how.

Your AFA PBS Committee was involved in the entire process of bringing the updated PBS website to you from the start of development. Many improvement suggestions were incorporated by NAVBLUE into the updated website. Other airlines have already been using the updated website, some for more than a year. This allowed testing, catching errors, and incorporating fixes prior to implementing at Alaska. AFA Scheduling and Reserve Committee members have been bidding with the updated system for several months, and reached a consensus that it is ready to roll out for all flight attendants.

NAVBLUE plans to end access to the current version of PBS later this year, so we recommend taking time now to learn the updated website. Links to the ‘old’ and ‘new’ websites are found on the FA Website under Schedule & Bidding> Line Bidding. Two months of parallel bidding start Monday, January 29th, during which access will be available to both versions of PBS. The most recently submitted bid, regardless of which website was utilized, will be used during bid awards.

Send questions and feedback to the PBS Committee at pbs.qa@alaskaair.com.

Fly Safe!
Council 15 Scheduling and Reserve Committees and LEC Officers

Your Joint Alaska & AFA PBS Committee
Rebecca Asbell – PDXFA
Sabrina Blevins – Crew Planning
John Bumanglag – Crew Planning
Adam Clarey – SEAFA
Steve Poynter – SEAFA
Kelly Yeager – Crew Planning

December Update

 

San Diego Committee Update

We would like to welcome Joe Coneglio to the Reserve Committee (chair), Vanessa Woods to Air Safety, Health & Security and Pablo Fregosa to Government Affairs. Reach any of our committee members at http://www.afaalaska.org under the SAN committee tab.

It’s a busy time of year for our scheduling chair JR (Jack) George. To help lighten his load, we ask that you use the local San Diego scheduling email address for all questions: san.scheduling@afaalaska.org, you can also copy in your Officers at san@afaalaska.org.

Please do not send text messages, IM’s or tag us in Facebook, it is too hard for us to monitor. Many times the information needs to be forwarded to other individuals and an email (with snap/screen shots) is the format that helps us, help you!

JCTE

We are well aware that there are continuing problems with JCTE (Crew Access) and with payroll errors. Please go to support.afaalaska.org to report payroll issues, scheduling problems and reserve concerns. Not only does this provide an opportunity for AFA to track trends in order to resolve problems, but also it allows us to research each individual situation and respond.

We are finding that many Flight Attendants do not know how to track their hours and pay. Our payroll system is very complex with all the different rates, depending on each situation. The following guidelines may be helpful:

·       Flight Crew Pay Sheets live forever, unlike Rosters, which currently vaporize after 60 days. To see a print out of what you were paid for, look at the Pay sheet for the month at issue. You will also find your running sick leave usage and vacation totals in the upper right-hand corner of each sheet.

·       Save your original line award. Keep a screenshot of every change you make to your awarded line, and in particularly any trips that operate irregularly. Do the same with reserve assignments. This is the material you’ll need to determine whether or not you were paid properly for your flying or reserve duty, and to determine leave eligibility continuing health care benefits and vacation accrual during a leave.

With the start of winter, and the attendance issues, please copy and print or bookmark the following information to assist you in determining your legalities and pay:  http://afanewsletters.org/docs/2/Irregular%20Operations.pdf.

We know that this feels like extra work and agree that it shouldn’t be necessary. It will be necessary information in order to file a ticket at support.afaalaska.org, so that we can resolve your issues as quickly as possible. Without supporting documentation, which can be easily attached to a ticket, it is much more difficult and time consuming to resolve individual issues and to track larger problems. Please know that we are working diligently to ensure that each problem is addressed and rectified as quickly as possible.

Recurrent Training

If you are having any significant problems with the Cornerstone app, please reach out to one of your Officers and take screenshots if possible. We are always a little concerned when new apps or updates are launched and want to hear how the process is working and that there are no huge issues.

Speaking of recurrent training, FAs traveling to recurrent from SAN were not getting paid correctly since possibly the implementation of our current CBA 12/14.

Brice brought this to the companies attention last April. We were receiving 11 tfp when traveling to LGB, but you should have been paid 18.6 (5.8 to travel up, 6 for recurrent, 5.8 to travel back, +1 for an extended duty day = 18.6 tfp plus $75 for doing the at home workbook). An audit has been completed and the pay corrected, but we recommend that you look at your pay sheet and verify for yourself.

End of Year Reminders

Remember to convert your unused guest passes before the end of day December 31st.

Record Improvement S32.G.4– should be applied by mid January, For those of you that had 4 or fewer points at the end of 2017, and you had zero points assessed in NOV, DEC you will be starting 2018 with zero points. Please allow about two to three weeks for the attendance Supervisors to apply your Nov/Dec record improvement. Once this has been done, let us know if there are any discrepancies.

AFA Council 15 San Diego Facebook Page

Since the base opened we have been using the SANFA Facebook page, this page is used both for trip trading posts as well as AFA posts. Being as its easy for things to get lost with so many postings, Your AFA Officers started a new “Official” Facebook page called AFA Council 15 San Diego click on the link and like our page, there you can find all the latest news from AFA without having to search through numerous trip trading posts.

Text Notifications from AFA

To reach more of our base (including those who are not on social media or don’t check their email often), your LEC Officers started a new way of communicating with our members in San Diego through text message alerts. This program is completely optional. But we feel that it’s a great tool to get information out to everyone quickly. We will not overwhelm you with texts. And we do realize some people may have to pay for texts, so again this program is optional and the information will be available as always on the AFAalaska.org website, emails, and on our Facebook page.

The enrollment process is simple, all you need to do is send a text message from your personal phone.

Open your text messaging application. In the send to field enter 81010 and then enter @AFALEC15 in the body of the text and press send.

You will then receive a reply asking you to enter your full name. Once you send your name, your officers will receive notification and then you are all set to receive texts.

Please ignore the 3rd question where it asks if you are student or teacher we are borrowing this technology from school districts as to save costs from designing a system or paying a company to send mass texts and you do not need to download the app.

We hope you like our new service. And as always, we welcome your feedback / questions Please help us spread the word and get your fellow crew signed up.

​

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and we wish you a Healthy and Happy New Year!

Inflight Service Committee Meeting Recap – 2nd Quarter 2026

On Thursday, June 11, our AFA Inflight Service Committee Chairpersons met with management to represent our Flight Attendants and advance meaningful improvements in our workplace. Your representatives at the meeting included Naomi Parcell (ANC), Ross DeJong (SEA), Todd Horn (PDX), Raymond Ramirez (SFO), Johanna Thomas (LAX pmAS), Gary Manoi (LAX pmHA), Andrew Malone (SAN), and […]

Scheduling Committee Meeting Recap – June 2026

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Tuesday, June 23, our pre-merger Alaska AFA Scheduling Committee Chairpersons and Representatives met virtually to discuss their ongoing work to represent our Flight Attendants and push for improvements in our workplace. Representing you at the meeting were Rebekah Olds (ANC), Rita Tillou (SEA), Melodie Anderes (PDX), […]

Benefits Committee Meeting Recap – June 2026

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants On Wednesday, June 17, our pre-merger Alaska Benefits Committee Chairpersons met with management for their regular meeting. These discussions help ensure that management understands the real-world impact of their decisions on Flight Attendants and that your concerns are addressed directly.  Your representatives at the meeting were Deb […]

Save the Date: Reserve Webinar – Thursday, August 6

This message is for pre-merger Alaska Flight Attendants Pre-merger Alaska Reserve Flight Attendants: Have you ever had Crew Scheduling call you with a change to your assignment and wondered, “Can they do that?” Lineholders, have you flown with a Reserve Flight Attendant and found yourself asking the same question? You’re not alone! Our Reserve Committee […]

Hotel Committee Meeting Recap – June 2026

On Monday, June 8, our AFA Hotel Committee Chairpersons met in-person 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 pmAS), Kelly Hepworth (PDX), Hilary Streem (SFO), Le’a Tupola (LAX/SEA pmHA), Brian Sherill (LAX pmAS), and […]

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