7.20.05

Hello, this is Denise Pointer with an InfoRep Hotline message for Wednesday, July 20, 2005.

Thanks to all the InfoReps who have renewed their commitment to the InfoRep Program. Your interest and dedication are appreciated. And, thanks to all of you who have requested to become new InfoReps. Welcome aboard! Your new InfoRep handbooks will be on their way soon.

By now, I am sure you have read about the new proposed route between Chicago and New Delhi, India scheduled to begin November 15th. This 7,500-mile route is AA’s longest route and qualifies for Extended Long-Range (ELR) Flying. ELR Flying is addressed in the APFA/AA Contract under Appendix I, Article 7.

Many of you have written asking about staffing and speaker issues on this flight. The company has still not determined how it will handle the speaker issue on flights to/from India. Whatever they decide, it will not include either the hiring or recalling out of seniority order, if in fact AA is short Flight Attendants

I hope that each of you have taken a few moments to complete the APFA bid sheet survey online. This survey will be up and running through July 24th. I have heard from a few that you are "surveyed" out. Your opinions are important. Surveying the membership is a great way for our opinions to be heard!

Thanks to everyone who went to Representative Sam Johnson’s web site and participated in his poll on whether the Wright Amendment should be repealed. The final vote was Yes – 46.77% and No – 53.23%. Although it was a small margin, the No’s took it!

Senator John Ensign, a Republican member of the Senate Aviation Subcommittee introduced a Bill in the Senate yesterday to repeal the Wright Amendment. He was joined at a press conference by Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, as well as Senator Sam Brownback, a Republican from Kansas and Herb Kelliher, co-founder and chairman of Southwest. The Senate bill is similar to the bill introduced in the House of Representatives in May. There is a bill coming forward that has bipartisan support entitled the "True Competition Act." Senator Inhofe (R., OK) and Senator Harkin (D., IA) will be introducing this bill shortly.

If you haven’t gone to www.www.apfa.org and sent a letter to your respective lawmakers regarding the repeal of the Wright Amendment, there is still time. Encourage your co-workers to do the same.

Many of you have written to me asking if AA plans to recall Flight Attendants like UAL recently announced. Since United’s bankruptcy filing, this airline’s business model has been totally reshaped. They are now essentially, a low cost airline. Their Flight Attendants, for example, are living under a third round of paycuts since 9/11. Life as United employees knew it is over. Their careers have been stripped and replaced with a job. AA has not gone down this path and that’s one of the many reasons we are fighting to protect the issues that are important to our AA Flight Attendant career, like retirement benefits and a lifetime pension check. To date, AA has not notified APFA of any furlough recalls on the horizon.

AA announced its 2Q ’05 earnings today of $58 million. This is the first profit AA has seen in 5 years.

From the hotel department – we will be moving to the Hyatt Regency in Detroit, Michigan for long layovers shortly. Stay tuned to this hotline for more details.

That’s it for now. Again, thanks so much for all you do for the InfoRep Program.

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