5.04.07 – (LAA) – Boarding Proceedures, OSO, 777 Inoperative Crew Rest Bunks/Seats

This is Leslie Mayo, National Communications Coordinator, with the APFA Hotline for Friday, May 4, 2007.

APFA News: As we mentioned last week, in order to ensure all legality and safety regulations have been met, passenger boarding should only be accomplished by those Flight Attendants assigned to the flight by either Crew Scheduling or Crew Tracking. If you are asked by Passenger Service to assist with boarding due to the late arrival of the outbound crew, you should decline the request. Please email reports of any specific situations you may encounter to [email protected] so that APFA can ensure all workgroups are aware of the proper requirements for boarding.

APFA and American have reached agreement on the issue of 777 inoperative crew rest bunks/seats in the event of a significant malfunction. The following is directly quoted from this letter: ìIf one or more bunks/crew rest seats become unavailable for use due to a significant malfunction, the Company will provide substitute Crew Rest Seats as follows: For flights over 10 hours scheduled flying time on 777 aircraft configured with bunks, one regular business class passenger seat will be provided on a one-for-one basis for each crew bunk which is unusable, if a business class passenger seat is available. Should a business class passenger seat be unavailable, a main cabin passenger seat will be made available.

Further, when the provisions above apply, and when a known significant malfunction exists on an aircraft, blocking of the appropriate passenger seats shall be accomplished 24 hours in advance of scheduled departure time.

APFA would like to acknowledge the Los Angeles International Flight Attendants who so diligently by providing documentation that brought this issue to the forefront and to a subsequent resolution.

APFA met with the company in an effort to improve procedures for our members in the event of an off-schedule operation (OSO) where crewmembers require overnight accommodations as a result of severe weather and the hotel/limo desk is not accessible. FAs must make contact with the local MOD/OSM. This shifts the responsibility from Crew Tracking to the local station. Once the MOD/OSM has made efforts to contact the Hotel/Limo Desk, they are authorized to arrange any necessary transportation for crewmembers as well as make hotel reservations using the list of alternate hotels maintained in the MOD office. In the event that a crewmember ends up paying for their own hotel room, receipts should be retained and submitted once you return to base. While OSOs are fortunately atypical, emergency procedures are necessary in order to protect crewmembers. Once again, APFA would like to acknowledge the MIA Crew who brought a recent situation involving an extreme example of an OSO gone bad to the attention of APFA and the Company.

Rumor Control:
Q: Someone told me recently that our old Contract from 2001 will soon be restored to only those who initiated the lawsuit against APFA back in 2003. Is this true?

A: No. Two active lawsuits against APFA remain in the federal court system stemming from the 2003 restructuring period. These lawsuits are known as the Cooper case and the Marcoux case. Marcoux is in the midst of a court-approved calendar for Dispositive Motions. In plain English, this means that the Court (Judge Nina Gershon in the Eastern District of New York) after reviewing the plaintiffs’ and the defendants’ written arguments – and likely following oral arguments by counsel, will decide either to dismiss all or part of the case, or to schedule any remaining claims in the case for trial. Significant parts of both of these lawsuits have already been dismissed by Judge Gershon. The last of the briefs in Marcoux are scheduled to be filed on June 29, 2007. The portion of the Cooper case that challenged the American/TWA seniority integration was dismissed in its entirety.

We anticipate that Judge Gershon (to whom the Cooper case is also assigned) will approve a schedule for Dispositive Motions soon regarding the remaining claims pertaining to the Restructuring Agreement. APFA has devoted a substantial amount of time, effort and resources on our defense in these lawsuits. We have also kept our members informed through the Hotline, the APFA Web site and Skyword. As soon as we have any decision from Judge Gershon it will be announced on this Hotline and fully reviewed in Skyword. Again, to date, the heart of these complaints have been dismissed most of the heart of these complaints and we are hopeful that by the Fall 2007 these lawsuits will be fully dismissed by the U.S. District Court – Eastern District of NY.

Bankruptcy Watch: Delta Airlines has emerged from Bankruptcy after nearly 20 months under its protection. The airline spent $128 million on bankruptcy fees; averaging about $1.5 million a week spent strictly on attorneys, advisers and consultants. They have planned a “re-branding” campaign that will cost $10 million and includes a new logo and paint on 900 aircraft.

Please remember we still have 2,323 American Airlines Flight Attendants on furlough.

Thank you for calling the APFA Hotline.