1.02.18 – JSIC Base Visit and More News

JSIC Base Visit to CLT

Mark your Calendar for January 16th. The JSIC will be in CLT to present “Going Forward to FOI” Please engage everyone from the JSIC and trainers that will be in crew rooms.

Rotating Reserve and Upcoming Vacation Bid

You recently received information from Crew Planning about vacation buyback and you’ll soon receive information on how to bid for your 2018 vacation.

As you start to think about how you’ll bid, remember beginning with the October 2018 bid month, LUS bases are scheduled to transition from the current (straight) reserve system to the rotating reserve system outlined in the JCBA.

Here’s a quick reminder on the rotation schedule:

Note: If you were hired before Dec. 13, 2014 (date of the JCBA implementation), you will move to the 1 on / 3 off (every fourth month) rotation beginning with your 4th (instead of 5th) year of flying.

When and how will we find out if we’ll be on reserve under the new system?
Naturally, this is the first thing you might want to know. It’s way too soon to determine who will be subject to reserve in October 2018. While seniority is a primary factor in who serves reserve, it’s not the only one in a rotating reserve system. Other variables such as who’s exempt from reserve during certain months as well as who bids onto reserve (senior bump) come into play.

Straight reserve vs. rotating reserve
The concept of rotating reserve is new for LUS bases and we can’t predict everyone’s individual bidding behavior, who’s going to transfer in/out of bases, what the flying at each base will be, etc. All this to say it may take several months to establish a regular rotation of who’s on reserve each month.

Beginning in September (for the October 2018 bid month), we’ll publish a list of the flight attendants at your base who are subject to serving reserve. While who is on reserve is based primarily on seniority, other factors come into play in a rotating system. Unlike a straight reserve system, in a rotating system some flight attendants, depending on their seniority, are exempt from serving reserve more than one month in a row. For example, a flight attendant who has 7 years of seniority and is on reserve in October is exempt from involuntarily serving reserve again until February because they’re on the 1 on / 3 off rotation.

Senior bump (voluntarily changing your reserve rotation)
Additionally, flight attendants who may not be scheduled to be on reserve in a particular month can choose to senior bump – which means they voluntarily bid onto reserve prior to PBS opening, thereby bumping someone on the reserve list to lineholder status. This tends to happen in the months leading up to holiday months like November and December as flight attendants try to change their monthly reserve rotation to avoid reserve in certain months.

A note about senior bump and changing your rotation during a vacation month: If you senior bump (voluntarily bid on to reserve) in a month where you’d normally be a lineholder and have four or more days of vacation, you will not receive credit for serving reserve that month and may be subject to serving reserve the next month of your normal rotation.

Where you can get more information:
Want to see a simple example of how rotating reserve works? Check out both the attached PDF and Crew Change, where we’ve created a fictional base with just 10 flight attendants and a hypothetical example of how the system can play out over several months.

You can find the contractual language in Section 12.A.3 of the JCBA.

Uniform Reaction Report Count – LAA/LUS

As of December 28, 2017, there have been 4,326 Flight Attendants who have filed uniform reaction reports. Please continue to utilize the Uniform Reaction Report Form on the APFA website if you experience a suspected reaction to your uniform.

Pay Increase January 2018

Beginning January 1, 2018, you’ll receive a pay increase as part of the JCBA. The below chart (from the current On Duty Contract Guide) shows the rate increases you’ve received since January 1, 2017 as well as the additional increase coming January 1, 2018.

If you’re LUS-based, you’ll see the rate increase reflected in your end of January paycheck.

i-Solve (Customer Resolution Tool):

Coming soon on your tablets this January is iSolve for Flight Attendants, a new tool that allows you to offer on-the-spot compensation with AAdvantage miles when specific individual customer service inconveniences happen inflight.

Equipment Pre-flight Responsibilities

FAR 121.309 requires a pre-flight inspection (which includes the verification of emergency equipment) must be completed on the first flight of each day, and every time you change to a different aircraft. In addition to FAA requirements, AA policy requires a recheck of cabin emergency equipment any time an aircraft is left unattended and not secure by flight crew/flight attendants for any period of time.

Note: If any equipment or placard is missing or inoperative, notify the captain immediately or the agent if the captain is not on board.

For more information, go to Equipment / Equipment Preflight Procedures / FA Equipment Preflight Responsibilities on your Flight Attendant tablet.

Event Reporting

The Corporate Event Reporting System (CERS) is the official reporting system for the Company. One report is created for each event that has occurred involving American Airlines personnel, property or passengers.

When reporting issues via the CERS report, please remember to send a copy of the free text portion to APFA as well. Facebook is a great place to vent, but APFA needs direct documentation when getting issues addressed with the Company. If the report is in regard to an aircraft or flight, please include the flight number, date, city pair and tail number so proper follow up can take place.

If you have a safety concern or have inadvertently violated an FAR, please consider filing a Cabin ASAP as an additional resource for documentation.

Noelle Weiler
APFA National Safety & Security Chair
[email protected]

WTS Posted for Ad Hoc Member to the Executive Committee Place #5

The APFA National Ballot Committee (NBC) would like to inform all members that there is a Willingness-to-Serve (WTS), posted on the APFA website, for the position of Ad Hoc Member to the Executive Committee Place #5.

The position is open to all members who are active and in good standing. The WTS form must be completed and mailed back to the APFA National Secretary any time prior to the APFA Annual Convention which begins February 27, 2018.

APFA National Secretary
1004 West Euless Blvd
Euless, TX 76040

If you have any questions, please contact the NBC at [email protected] or 817-540-0108 ext 8311.

Thank you,

Cindy Horan
APFA National Ballot Committee Chairperson
[email protected]

Vacation Buyback Window

Per JCBA Section 8.F., Flight Attendants have the ability to bid for vacation buyback. Flight Attendants who wish to be paid for vacation days accrued in 2017, as opposed to taking the time off, can bid for vacation buyback in the 2018 vacation award.

Vacation buyback bidding can be accessed by going to Crew Portal > My Information > Vacations beginning at noon (CT) Thursday, January 4th until noon (CT) Saturday, January 13th.

Helpful tips:

Vacation buyback payments are distributed in June 2018
The Flight Attendant Annual Vacation Buyback Reference Guide is available on the Flight Service website home page in the Helpful Links Box.
Vacation buybacks are awarded by base in seniority order before establishing the vacation matrix. Any reduction in the vacation matrix due to vacation buyback will be equally distributed throughout the year.
Vacation buyback days are pay/no credit, based on your longevity at the time vacation buyback is paid.
- 1 to 6 days = 3:30 hours per day
- 7 to 35 days = 4:00 hours per day

VLOA-Voluntary Leave of Absence openings for January 2018 – partial month – Jan. 16 – 30

All partial month VLOA requests for January 2018 must be submitted electronically via Wings on the Forms page (Wings > Flight Service > Forms > Leaves of Absence) before to the deadline of 12 noon (ET) / 11 a.m. (CT) / 10 a.m. (MT), Monday, Jan. 8, 2018.

Note: If you applied for the full-month VLOA, you must submit another bid form. Bids submitted during the full-month process will not be considered.

VLOA-Voluntary Leave of Absence openings by base for February 2018

All VLOA requests for February 2018 must be submitted electronically via Wings on the Forms page (Wings > Flight Service > Forms > Leaves of Absence) prior to the deadline of 12 noon (ET) / 11 a.m. (CT) / 10 a.m. (MT), Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. Awards will be posted no later than Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018.

Presidential Grievance Filed on Pay Protection Provisions

APFA has filed a Presidential Grievance, protesting the Company’s recent practice regarding scheduling and deadheading pay protection provisions in the Red Book Agreement as well as its interpretation of similar provisions yet to be implemented under the JCBA.

The language in Section 10.J.9. of the Redbook that is currently in place for LUS, and ultimately to become effective for all Flight Attendants under the JCBA, states that if a Flight Attendant’s trip pairing is modified or rescheduled after reporting, then:

A Flight Attendant…will be guaranteed the pay value of his/her originally awarded or assigned pairing, as published…or actual time, whichever is greater, excluding canceled segments. A pairing which does not appear on the electronic bid package, e.g. ferry flights…will be pay protected to the posted value of the pairing prior to its award or assignment. This pay protection will also apply to a Flight Attendant who is replaced as a result of a crew or equipment substitution.

Additionally, Section 16.A. of the Redbook states:

A Flight Attendant required by the Company to deadhead shall receive full pay and credit based on scheduled block time or actual flight time, whichever is greater.

Since 2000, when this pay protection language was first negotiated, and as part of all subsequent LUS agreements including the Red Book Agreement, the Company consistently upheld the agreed upon language and interpretation. However, beginning in September 2016, the Company abandoned the agreed upon interpretation, resulting in violations of Sections 10, 11, 16 and other related sections of the Red Book.

The Company is now improperly deducting the pay value of canceled segments and is failing to properly credit Flight Attendants for deadheading time associated with a cancellation or crew substitution. Furthermore, they have announced their intention, in meetings with the Joint Scheduling Implementation Committee, to continue these violations going forward under the JCBA.

Based on the Company’s violations of the Red Book and JCBA, APFA demands the following relief:

The Company shall make whole all Flight Attendants adversely affected by its wrongful violations;
The Company immediately cease and desist from implementing its proposed interpretation of the pay protection provisions, whether through the BRD process or otherwise, for use under the JCBA;
The Company shall otherwise comply in full with the JCBA;
The grievance be handled on an expedited basis so that Flight Attendants can be made whole, and the JCBA can be properly implemented as quickly as possible; and,
Any other relief deemed appropriate.

Despite management’s repeated statements to the media and shareholders that it is committed to gaining the trust and respect of its employees, its blatant disregard for negotiated agreements flies in the face of what has become little more than lip service.

Read the Full Details of the Presidential Grievance >>

Wishing you a Prosperous and Happy New Year!! Thank you for everything you do each and every day. Fly safe and take care of one another.

Wanda Sarnacki
APFA CLT Base President
[email protected]