2.16.05

Hello. This is Denise Pointer, DFW InfoRep, with the InfoRep Hotline message for Wednesday, February 16, 2005.

As I write this hotline message, I have just returned from a base visit to MIA/IMA which I attended with Tommie Hutto Blake, Steve Ellis, and Brent Peterson. Also joining us in ops were Jill Frank, Randy Trautman, Rick Musica, Cheri Washbish and Catt Napper. It was a great visit and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many of you. Thanks to the 15 new InfoReps who expressed their desire to be a part of this important program. Welcome!

Tommie continues her base visits in RDU on March 3rd and DCA on March 7th and 8th.

Plans for APFA’s 12th Annual convention are moving forward. We are encouraging all members in good standing to attend this important event. The convention opens on March 14th and runs through March 18th. Contract, scheduling and retirement seminars will be held on the 14th with the Annual Awards banquet that evening at 6:00p.m. The cost of the banquet is $50 in advance or $60 at the door. Contact Rosemary Cooper at APFA headquarters Ext. 8121 to pay in advance for the dinner. Contact the hotel department at [email protected] for discounted room reservations. Contact Linda Plunk at APFA if you wish to attend any of the training seminars: 817-540-0108 or 800-395-APFA.

Many of you may have recently heard that APFA has agreed to share our jumpseats with the American Eagle Flight Attendants. It is our position that jumpseat travel is a negotiated item that we can choose to share with other Flight Attendants in our industry.

It should be clear to all by now that both Lauri Curtis and Tommie Hutto Blake have a mutual goal of reaching additional agreements within our industry for reciprocal jumpseat privileges. We realize that the Eagle Flight Attendants don’t have a jumpseat to share with the AA side of AMR, thus this is a goodwill gesture for our Eagle sisters and brothers resulting in no negative impact on the AA side. You will only see an Eagle Flight Attendant sharing your jumpseat if there is no AA Flight Attendant present desiring the jumpseat.

One of APFA’s primary focuses in 2005 will be the issue of Flight Attendant fatigue. It is APFA’s opinion fatigue stemming directly from our work rules must be addressed and a planned strategy must be developed. In order to effectively tackle this problem, APFA believes that a joint effort must be established amongst all Flight Attendants nationwide. With this in mind, APFA and TWU, Local 556, representing the Southwest Flight Attendants, will be co-sponsoring a Flight Attendant Fatigue Summit the last week of March at APFA Headquarters. Invitations have been mailed to all unions representing Flight Attendants in this country.

Since the implementation of Reserve Preferences in August 2002, the APFA Scheduling Department has become concerned over the number of reserves whose preferences were not being honored. The APFA/AAL Joint Scheduling Committee decided that one way to increase the number of honored preferences is to increase the utilization ranges as outlined in Article 10 that trigger the system to consider preferences when awarding next-day assignments. APFA announced this month that the ranges have now been doubled.

Reserve Flight Attendants should take care when inputting their preferences. Please visit the APFA or AA website for an extensive document discussing these procedures.

Remember, preferences must be entered for each reserve month as they are purged each month – and the fewer preferences you enter, the more success you may have in realizing these preferences. Only input your most important preferences, because each preference eliminates trips to the point where there may be no trips in open time that meet your criteria. In that case, the system defaults to awards based on GTD.

For ORD based flight attendants, Brent Peterson, National Contract Coordinator, has asked me to once again stress the importance of being aware of the MSP designation on the bid sheet. MSP sequences are designated on the bid sheet with the letter "P." When searching open time for availability plotting, trip trade with open time, etc., please use the N4D/ORD//Date entry as it will clearly display that the sequence originates and terminates in MSP. You cannot distinguish an ORD sequence from a MSP using the N3D or N4TL entry. Spread the word to your fellow ORD based Flight Attendants to use the N4D entry to avoid accidentally picking up a MSP sequence.

Also, as a reminder – 2005 Primary Vacation Bidding opened February 15, 2005.

At the recent APFA/AA Joint Scheduling Committee meeting, an agreement was reached to purge the domestic transfer list. This was due in large part to feedback from our membership. The domestic transfer list was purged on February 14, 2005. If you still desire a domestic transfer please re-enter your transfer preference. Please only enter a transfer preference if you are willing to accept the transfer. This will help your fellow Flight Attendants, who are junior to you with a better opportunity to have their transfer requests honored.

Some of you have noticed Flight Attendants on your flights where BOB and the new credit card processing machines are scheduled. For those of you who haven’t met him, BOB is our newest addition to the family, Buy on Board. APFA is conducting Time Study Observation Rides to observe staffing issues as a result of these newly added responsibilities. APFA wants to know how this program is affecting our work loads and our work group. The data retrieved from these Rides will be invaluable to APFA in the future. All of this will also tie back into our fatigue studies.

National Hotel Coordinator Dane Townsend wants to thank everyone for the hotel debriefs regarding the RNO layover. Your voices have been heard loudly and clearly. AA provided the required 30-day notice on February 15, 2005. As of March 15, 2005, we will no longer be staying at The Golden Phoenix.

IOR flight attendants will be resuming FCO service beginning March 2, 2005. For the time being, crews will continue to layover at the Hilton Rome airport location. Please know that APFA and AA Flight Service are working in conjunction to secure a downtown location. While this is definitely going to be a monumental challenge, your hotel department wants the membership to know that it is up for this challenge and is working tirelessly on it.

I’ve received several emails from InfoReps with questions regarding rumors they heard from the galleys to the employee buses. Keep them coming! Here are a few I would like to address:

With regards to the question about our group taking a $2.00 per hour reduction in pay beginning in June of 2005, the answer is – NO. The company is required to abide by our current working agreement which includes the standing wage scale. The only way our work group would face wage cuts is with a new Agreement ratified by the majority of the APFA membership. No request from AA to open negations has been made to date.

A flight attendant told me our next satellite base would be Atlanta. As of today, no decision has been made on this.

An email was sent out by one of our own flight attendants regarding the APFA Online Survey. In this email, it was alleged that the survey was being used to "smoke out" employees. I am assuming this email was not referring to a program to encourage our members to give up cigarettes.

Let me be very clear on the subject of the survey. This survey is strictly confidential. It is completely anonymous. APFA will only be provided summary totals from the University of North Texas. No names, employee numbers or social security numbers will be provided to anyone – APFA or AA. APFA is not working in conjunction with AA in any way shape or fashion with this survey.

I cannot stress enough that the InfoRep program needs your email address. Please go to www.www.apfa.org, click on InfoRep page and then subscribe via email. You must fill this information out yourself as it requires a password you create.

That’s it for tonight. Thanks again everyone for your continued support of this important APFA program.

Remember, the only job of an InfoRep is to disseminate factual and accurate information.

Denise Pointer, DFW InfoRep
InfoRep Program
1004 W. Euless Boulevard
Euless, TX 76040
817-540-0108 Ext. 8743
[email protected]