12.03.18 – LGA Base Brief

Monday, December 3, 2018

 

Last Live Leg, 10-31 P

We have been trying to get clarification from the company regarding the Last Live Leg. The company is not interested in allowing swaps to happen in ETB anytime before the LLL and the swap cannot cause a delay to the boarding process.

The pay and credit remains with the Flight Attendant originally scheduled. If replacement Flight Attendant is rescheduled with the crew to fly something other than original scheduled city pair, then replacement Flight Attendant will be paid for the rescheduled flight(s). Any Flight Attendant in any base can work. The replacement Flight Attendant must be legal to work all flights including deadhead.

Critical Period Flying

If you flew over the Thanksgiving “Critical Period” check your Attendance/Performance record and make sure that your accrued point has been deposited into you bank. They were uploaded on the 26th, if you don’t see yours reflected in your record, contact your Flight Service Manager via email regarding your missing point.

Commuter Policy

As we continue to experience increasingly volatile winter weather it is a good idea to review the AA Commuter Policy. It is your responsibility to keep an eye on winter weather not only in the New York region, but in your home city.  Give yourself enough time to get to work.

Commuter Policy Link:
https://aaflightservice.aa.com/pdf/commuter_fa.pdf

If you know that you aren’t going to make it to work, email your Flight Service Manager and notify crew scheduling as soon as possible in order for scheduling to effectively cover your trip. Missed trips and under staffing affects the entire operation and is detrimental to your coworkers.

FABRC and Direct Connect Issues

We are aware that Direct Connect has been slow in processing claims. This has been in part because many of the claims do not have a system report attached to it causing the system to ignore the request. If you have an issue your first step should be to contact FABRC if you have an issue with EBT, TTS, and PBS, in order for a systems issue report to be generated before submitting a claim with Direct Connect. All other pay issues, such as, under staffing, purser pay, and missing hours, are issues that you would file directly with Direct Connect.

Alcohol/Prescription Drug Testing

We have recently seen an alarming increase in Flight Attendants testing positive for alcohol.

A DOT positive test is a blood alcohol level (BAC) of .04 or higher. A company positive is between .02 and .04. The 8 hour rule of abstinence before reporting for duty may not be enough time for everyone. There are many factors that affect the rate at which your body processes alcohol, such as what you drink, the amount, body size, food intake, and others. It can take time for your BAC to get into the proper range so be mindful of the rule and be careful.

There are medications that can be obtained over the counter or from a pharmacist in foreign countries that may cause you to test positive on a DOT drug test. The DOT began testing for synthetic opiates, such as Vicodin, in January of this year. DOT rules are not flexible in these scenarios.

The most prevalent drugs are codeine/synthetic opiates and amphetamines. Many diet pills contain amphetamines, so you need to be very careful what products you might purchase outside of the United States. There are a number of popular diet pills and cough syrups, especially from Brazil and Central America, that could produce a positive DOT test.

A valid prescription is one that is current; you must be taking the medication as prescribed, for the condition prescribed. If you test positive and have a prescription, the Medical Review Officer (MRO) will ask you to provide the prescription to determine if the test will be deemed negative or positive under DOT regulations.

If you feel that you do have a substance or alcohol abuse problem APFA has resources to help. Locally, our APFA EAP representative is Susie Wallace: [email protected] and her phone number is (203) 417-3876.

You can also contact the APFA National EAP Specialist, Abby Alconcher at: [email protected] or (817) 540-0108 ext. 8710.

Attendance Arbitration Hearing

An arbitrator will be hearing the grievance regarding the company attendance policy. The hearing is scheduled for February 26th-27th, with the time and location to be announced. This arbitration is an open hearing and all APFA members in good standing are welcome to attend.

In Unity,

Raymond Lewis,  APFA LGA Base President
Cathy Ryder, APFA LGA Base Vice President
APFA LGA Base Council Representative Team