12.16.11 – (LAA) – Bankruptcy Base Visits, 2012 Benefits Verification, Hybrid Relief Lines

Weekly Hotline

For the week ending Friday December 16, 2011

BANKRUPTCY UPDATE

Over the coming weeks, we will be visiting the bases to provide you with information about bankruptcy. We will share what we know now and what to expect; we will address your concerns and answer your questions. APFA President Laura Glading and your local APFA Leadership will be joined by members of the APFA Negotiating Team, Retirement Department and Legal Counsel. As some of the bankruptcy proceedings may be scheduled suddenly and we can expect last minute changes, these Bankruptcy Informational Base Visits will most likely be announced on short notice.

Right now we have the first three visits scheduled as follows:

Wednesday, December 21 – NYC
JFK International Hotel
14402 135th Ave
Jamaica, NY 11436
1100-1400

Wednesday, December 28 – ORD
Hyatt Regency OíHare
9300 Bryn Mawr Ave
Rosemont, IL 60018
1100-1400

Tuesday, January 3 – DFW
Yandry Center
DFW Airport, Terminal C
1100-1400

Additional dates and cities will be announced as the schedule becomes available.

2012 BENEFITS VERIFICATION

Make Sure Your Elections Are Correct
[email protected]

Now is the time to review your benefits elections for 2012. Visit Benefits Service Center on JetNet, and click Enrollment Review to confirm your choices for 2012. It’s an opportunity to make certain that the elections you made in October were entered correctly so that you can be sure to have the coverage you need for yourself and your family. If there appears to have been a data entry error, or something is not showing up correctly, please contact HR services at 1-800-547-2000 by 12/30/11. It is always a good idea to print a copy of your current coverage as well as your 2012 elections and keep them for your records. If you enrolled a new dependent for your medical coverage, be sure to submit any necessary Proof of Eligibility documents to ensure everyone has the coverage they need for 2012. Please take special note as the deadline for sending in Proof of Eligibility is quickly approaching.

Dependent proof of eligibility: send documents to HR Services by Dec. 30

Long Term Disability Premium Holiday

The voluntary American Airlines Long Term Disability Plan (LTD) provides important income protection coverage in the event you become disabled. During 2010, the Plan experienced positive results attributed to participation by certain work groups. Due to this positive Plan experience, AA Flight Attendants will not have LTD contributions deducted from their paychecks for December 2011.

HYBRID RELIEF LINES
[email protected]

Attention IDF, IMA, IOR, JFK and LAXI

This past January nearly every base saw an increase in the number of busted Reliefs (RL). In some cases the Reliefs were busted solely to crate additional Open Replacement (RP) lines. In order to minimize the impact of busted Reliefs and a potential further increase to the reserve list, we have convinced the company to offer hybrid reliefs for January at these bases where the company planned to bust reliefs in order to create more Open Replacement schedules. This option was used at JFK and IMA in July and worked well. This will give Flight Attendants a choice to bid for these Hybrid Reliefs rather than the forced creation of additional Open Replacement schedules. The Hybrid Reliefs will be identified on the bid sheet with a 4600 series selection number. In addition to the trips contained within the relief these lines will also have AVBL days on the first 4 days of January. Additional trips and/or AVBL days may be included to create a complete relief.

During the first 4 days of the month AVBL days will be released using the rules for Open Replacement.† Beginning the 5th day of the month, the rules for releasing AVBL days will revert to those of Regular Reliefs. See p. 28 of the On Duty Contract Guide or Appendix I, Article 9.C.2.b. (3). & (4). All other rules remain the same (e.g. monthly maximum).

Unlike other selections and reliefs, Flight Attendants will not be assigned to Hybrid Reliefs. Only Flight Attendants that bid the Hybrid Reliefs will be awarded them. APFA choose to create this option based on feedback from our members who wanted an alternative to Open Replacement.

NEXT HOTLINE

Barring any breaking developments, the next Hotline Update will be Tuesday, December 20, 2011.

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Please remember there are currently 218 members on furlough and awaiting recall.
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