10.04.02 – (LAA) – System wide Overage Will Be Greater than Projected, Overage Leave and Partnership Flying Proffer for all Other Bases than STL and ISL

Hello. This is George Price, APFA Communications Coordinator, with the APFA HotLine for Friday, October 4, 2002.

American has informed APFA that the system wide overage on November 1 will be greater than projected. For that reason, additional Overage Leaves and Partnership Flying will be offered at all bases.

The Overage Leave and Partnership Flying Proffer for all other bases other than STL and ISL opened today, Friday, October 4, 2002. The estimated additional overage for American Airlines crew bases other than STL/ISL is 330. The Overage Leave and Partnership Flying Proffer for STL and ISL will open on Monday, October 7, 2002. The overage at STL and ISL is estimated at an additional 75 Flight Attendants. Both proffers will close at 0800 Central Time on Monday October 14th. Flight Attendants will be notified of their award by Friday, October 18, 2002. The Overage Leaves being offered in this round will be for key blocks of one-year and six months commencing November 1, 2002. Auxiliary blocks will also be offered. Partnership Flying awarded in this round will be for the period November 1, 2002 through January 2003. American has rescinded the furlough notice for the 271 most senior STL/ISL Flight Attendants. This will now make them eligible to bid for this round of Overage Leaves and Partnership Flying.

According to the information received from management on Thursday, there were approximately 116 Overage Leaves and Partnerships Awarded at STL and ISL in the proffer that closed on October 3rd. Awards will be in Flight Attendant’s HI10 on October 4th. The adjusted overage at STL and ISL after these awards is approximately 472.

The APFA has reactivated the Partner Finder on the APFA Web site. The Finder along with more information on Overage Leaves and Partnership Flying can be found under the “Reduction in Force” icon on the APFA Web site.

Approximately 23 TWA-LLC Flight Attendants were trained on American Airlines equipment in September. Those completing this training will have a base assignment of SLT, which is the designation for the American Airlines crew base in St. Louis. These Flight Attendants may be scheduled to fly with crews from other bases. If you have the chance to fly with any of these Flight Attendants, please make them feel welcome.

As has been reported on the APFA HotLine, American notified APFA that fingerprint data from some Flight Attendants was irretrievably lost in a recent data transfer. American was to have notified affected Flight Attendants. Affected Flight Attendants will be required to submit to the fingerprinting process again. All Flight Attendants must be fingerprinted prior to November 25th. Please contact your local Flight Service Management for dates, times, and locations where the fingerprinting process will take place at your base.

The New York State Department of Labor and New York City Department of Employment will hold Rapid Response Orientation Meetings for those Flight Attendants affected by reduction in force. The meetings will be held October 7, 8, 10, and 11 in the 3rd Floor Conference Room at LaGuardia Airport. Presentations will be made on Unemployment Benefits, Insurance, job and transition counseling, resume writing, and other employment information. There will be morning sessions that will begin at 1000 and afternoon sessions that will commence at 1300.

In addition to the Rapid Response Orientations, there will be a job fair held on October 9th from 1100 until 1600 in the same location. Over fifteen potential employers such as Geico and Metropolitan Insurance, JetBlue and Southwest Airlines will be in attendance. Information regarding these events can be found on the APFA Web site Furlough Page and under Hot Topics and on the STL, ISL, and LGA Base Pages. All Flight Attendants currently furloughed or facing furlough are welcome to attend these functions.

APFA has received e-mails and voicemail messages pertaining to TWA-LLC, the seniority integration and similar issues. Because issues related to the AA/APFA Agreement on Seniority Integration and Related Matters are the subject of pending litigation, the best interests of APFA and the represented Flight Attendants would not be served by responding to specific inquiries at this time. Therefore, please understand we are unable to provide detailed responses concerning these matters.

A Transportation Emergency was declared for New Orleans on Thursday, October 3, 2002, between the hours of 0400 and 1945. If any Flight Attendant living in the New Orleans area either missed a trip or received a PO for a trip as a result of this emergency, it will not be chargeable under the American Airlines Attendance Control Policy. POs received outside of those hours for these same Flight Attendants will also not be chargeable.

From the APFA Safety Department: The National Transportation Safety Board will convene its public investigative hearing on the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 on October 29, 2002. The hearing, which is open to the public, will convene at 0900 Tuesday, October 29th, at the NTSB Board Room and Conference Center, 429 L’Enfant Plaza, S.W., Washington, D.C. It will also be available by webcast on the Board’s website, www.ntsb.gov.

October 2002 is the last month for voluntary self-defense training. If you have not yet attended one of these very worthwhile classes, please refer to the header sheet on the October bidsheet for dates, times, and locations as well as enrollment information.

The APFA Web site is being updated frequently. This week, the APFA Maternity Packet was added to the Health Page. The I.O.D. Packet was posted last week to the same page. The APFA continues to get very good job leads for furloughed Flight Attendants and those facing furlough. These are being added to the “Job Opportunities” section of the Furlough Page. Some of these jobs are for immediate openings. We strongly encourage our furloughed members to visit this site and review all of the information contained in it.

Congress has been busy this week evaluating options to aid the U.S. aviation industry. Airline CEOs pleaded their case in Washington last week. AMR CEO Don Carty and others suggested that the government cover the cost of new security initiatives. In an effort to address the concerns of the airline industry, the Senate and House have begun work on legislation. On Thursday, a House subcommittee approved a bill that would extend war-risk insurance to airlines at current rates through 2003, extend the war-risk insurance to airline passengers and crew, extend the deadline for airlines to apply for federal loan guarantees in the event of war with Iraq, limit airlines’ liability at $100 million for acts of terrorism affecting third parties, establish a deadline for screening of mail to allow airlines to resume carrying mail, and require TSA to reevaluate seating for air marshals once impenetrable cockpit doors are installed. The subcommittee rejected an amendment by Representative Jim Oberstar to require airlines to match checked bags with passengers.

The Senate is working on similar legislation, which also includes an extension of unemployment benefits for airline workers who are laid off. APFA President John Ward has written Senator Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension, in support of the extension of unemployment benefits for airline workers. The APFA will be following the progress of this legislation and will report it on future hotlines and the web site.

The APFA Hotel Department would like to announce the 2002 APFA Hotel Survey. This survey is Flight Attendant’s opportunity to provide their input on our layover hotels. It allows them to list their favorite five and their least favorite five-layover hotels. This information will be very useful to the Hotel Department when reviewing properties. The survey can be found on the APFA Web site under the Hotel Page. It will also be included in the center section of the October Skyword.

An updated list of those Flight Attendants in dues arrears will be published in the November/December issue of Skyword. In order to ensure you name is not on the list, please make sure that your dues are paid or that your payment plan is current by October 25th. To make payment arrangements for dues owed, please contact the APFA Dues Department at 1-800-395-2732, extension 8151.

In industry news this week:

American announced September traffic results. The airline reported system wide traffic increased 28.9% over September 2001. Capacity increased 16.9% from a year ago. The system load factor was 64%, which reflects a six-point increase from the same time last year. The international load factor was up 20.1% and capacity rose 10.5%. The load factor improved 5.5 points. Domestically, traffic was up 33% on a capacity increase of 19.6%. The load factor for domestic increased 6.3%. Totally American boarded 6.9 million passengers during the month, which was up 30.5% from September 2001.

Northwest Airlines announced they would reduce the number of Flight Attendant jobs at that airline by 1,600 this fall. Northwest began notifying Flight Attendants of the opportunity to take leaves of one month to one year. Those awarded the leaves would not be provided company sponsored health care. If a sufficient number of Flight Attendants do not take the leaves, Northwest will furlough.

The Department of Transportation approved the alliance between United and US Airways this week. The new alliance will allow passengers to book flights on both carriers with one phone call and using one ticket. The potential income generated for the carriers from this new arrangement could be as much as $200 million per year. The DOT approval of the United-US Airways alliance could clear the way for a proposed alliance between Delta, Continental, and Northwest.

US Airways received approval by a federal bankruptcy court judge to turn back aircraft and engine leases from a list of 150 aircraft. Prior to this, the airline had gained the right to turn back 67 aircraft leases.

That’s it for this week’s edition of the APFA HotLine. Please visit the web site for the latest information.

Remember, there are currently 1,566 Flight Attendants on furlough and an additional 162 American Airlines Flight Attendants will begin furlough effective October 13th.