2.01.02 – (LAA) – Recall of Furloughed FAs, Overage Leave Proffer

This is Leslie Mayo, National Communications Coordinator, with the APFA HotLine for Friday, February 01, 2002.

As previously mentioned, the Company will be recalling at least 400 Flight Attendants effective April 01, 2002. We do not have a seniority number or employee number cutoff at this point. Information about training, recall notices, base assignments, etc. will be posted on this HotLine and the APFA website at www.www.apfa.org when details are finalized.

American plans to send recall notices as early as mid-February. If you are one of the furloughed Flight Attendants being recalled, you must return your recall notice within 10 days of the date postmarked on your envelope. If you are on furlough, it is imperative that you update your address and phone number with American Airlines as soon as possible by contacting PeopleLink at (800) 447-2000. Once you hear the recording, press 1, then 7, then enter your Emp. No. followed by the pound sign. You should be prepared to hold. PeopleLink is open Mon. – Fri. from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time. The Company has ensured APFA that your address will be updated in SABRE once the PeopleLink update has been made.

In order to more fully explain the Agreement reached between APFA and the Company regarding Overage Leaves, the following is an overview of the Questions and Answers posted on the APFA website.

The Overage Leave proffer will be released on Tuesday, February 5th and close on Friday, February 15th. Overage Leave awards are expected to be posted by February 20th. The Part Time/PLOA App. R Leave Proffer is already out and will close on February 15th, as well. To add to the confusion, round one of Vacation awards will close March 6th. Approximately 400 Overage Leaves will be granted so that Flight Attendants on Furlough can return to the line sooner than would have otherwise been possible.

Overage Leaves will be awarded prior to Part Time and App. R Leaves. You may submit a bid for all three, however, if you are awarded an Overage Leave, any bids for Part Time or App. R Leaves that run concurrently or overlap with the Overage Leave will not be considered once the Overage Leave is granted. For example, if you hold an Overage Leave proffer from May 1, 2002 through September 30, 2002, and you bid for and can hold a Part Time bid of September 1, 2002 through November 30, 2002, the Overage Leave would take precedence and you would not hold the Part Time bid due to the overlap during the month of September. If you cannot hold the Overage Leave and you also bid for Part Time and/or App. R, if seniority warrants, you will still be able to hold Part Time and/or an App. R Leave.

The Overage Leave proffer for the period May 1, 2002 through September 30 2002, is being offered in February for several reasons. Awarding the Overage Leaves prior to Part Time and App. R leaves will eliminate the possibility of a Flight Attendant being awarded several leaves that could overlap or run concurrently. This creates more opportunities for other Flight Attendants to receive the time off they are requesting. The recall of at least 400 Flight Attendants is dependent upon the fact that the Company will have a similar number of Flight Attendants who are willing to take the Overage Leaves effective May 1, 2002.

In addition, all three leaves will be awarded prior to vacation bidding and awards. This will allow the Company to accurately assess the time available for vacations during the summer months and hopefully, award additional vacations during this time. It will also allow each Flight Attendant to more accurately plan her/his vacation around other leaves s/he may have been awarded.

If you bid for an Overage Leave, you will be subject to the recall provisions outlined in Art. 16 of the contract. While the benefits associated with an Overage Leave are much more generous than other types of leaves, there is always a risk that the Overage leaves could be cancelled first, in the event that the Company needs additional Flight Attendants for the operation.

Because the Overage Leaves are more than 90 days in duration, Flight Attendants will be permitted to bid for three different blocks of time. The Key Block will be for all five months. Auxiliary Block One will be for the first three months, and Auxiliary Block Two will be for the last two months. The Key Block will be awarded before any of the other blocks are considered. In other words, if you bid the Key Block and your seniority and base permit, you will be awarded the Key Block before any Auxiliary Blocks are awarded. If there are not enough bids for the Key Block, the Auxiliary Blocks will be matched up to create five-month segments until all 400 spots are filled.

If you are currently on any type of Leave of Absence and wish to bid for the Overage Leaves, you are eligible to do so as long as your current leave is scheduled to end prior to the start date of your Overage Leave. All Flight Attendants on Leave will be able to utilize SABRE to bid through the Flight Attendant HIDIR.

If you are on the sick list you are also eligible to bid, however, you will forfeit your award if you do not clear the sick list prior to the start date of your Leave. If you are on Family Leave you may bid for an Overage Leave. Your Family Leave will end on the day before the start date of the Overage Leave at which point you will be governed by the rules regulating Overage Leaves. If you do not hold the Overage Leave, you will remain on Family Leave status.

If you are currently on an Overage Leave scheduled to end April 30, you will not need to re-qualify, i.e., attend EPTs prior to bidding for and holding an Overage Leave beginning May 1, 2002. Flight Attendants may volunteer to attend recurrent training while on an Overage Leave.

If you are awarded an Overage Leave, for purposes of vacation accrual, vacation will be calculated as if you flew your applicable guarantee for the months you are on an Overage Leave.

The Company is working to implement the provisions of the Agreement, which include crediting those ELOA and App. R Flight Attendants, whose seniority warranted holding the Overage Leaves last fall, with vacation accrual for the duration of their leaves.

Again, please check the website at www.www.apfa.org for Q&As regarding Overage Leaves. As soon as the Furlough Q&As are finalized, we will post them on the website, as well. This HotLine will be updated on Friday, February 8, 2002. Thank you for calling the APFA HotLine.