3.01.13 – (LAA) – 737 Flying for April, Adjacent-Base Flying, Vacation Bidding, Annual APFA Board of Directors Convention, Tablet Survey, FMLA, VEOP Tips, RUN to End Human Trafficking

 

APFA Hotline – March 1, 2013

737 Flying For April

The Company has announced that beginning with the contractual month of April, the 737 will be paired with S80 flying in the Domestic Operation. There may be some pure 737 and/or S80 bidding at some Domestic Bases, however, that has yet to be finalized by the Company.
 
The Company has also announced that certain 737 International flights will have a bid “VM” through summer, and will likely be paired with 757 flying in some sequences. The following is a list of the cities – flown by the 737 – that will be bid with four (4) Flight Attendants.

Short-haul Caribbean flying that is under 90 minutes and is one of the following cities: PAP, HOG, CFG, HAV, and RTV
The following Central and South America cities flown by the 737: LIR, GUA, SAL, PTY, BZE, SAP, MGA, MOA, and GYE 

Adjacent-Base Flying

Back-story:  The LBFO provides for the Company to offer adjacent-base flying for Regularly-Scheduled FAs, as well as a more liberal use of adjacent-base flying for Reserves. The Company previously announced that they were going to implement adjacent-base flying for the contractual month of March, however, American’s IT department does not have the programming in place nor does it have a method for manually processing Regularly-Scheduled FAs who wish to request adjacent-base flying.
 
Therefore, adjacent base flying will not be an available option for Regularly-Scheduled FAs for the month of March. The Company is attempting to have programming in place for April, however, that has yet to be determined. We will update the membership as soon as we receive more information.
 
Reserves will, however, be used more liberally with adjacent-base flying beginning with the contractual month of March. The intent is to have fewer Reserve FAs. Combined with the positive effect of new hires at our bases, we will finally see Flight Attendants moving off the Reserve list later this year.
 
Adjacent-Base Reserve Guidelines:
Days 1-10 of the month: Crew Scheduling will primarily use Reserves from their respective operation
Days 11-20: Reserves with 25 or less hours will be assigned by duration/GTD
Days 21-30: Reserves with 50 or less hours will be assigned by duration/GTD
Reserves at or above 75 hours will be used primarily in their respective division
Although these parameters were not contained in the LBFO, APFA felt it necessary to provide guidelines for the company to follow when assigning adjacent-base flying to Reserve FAs.

Vacation Bidding

As a reminder the deadline for Primary Vacation Bidding is Thursday, March 7th at 0800 Central Time. If you have accrued less than 7 days of vacation you can still submit a bid in the primary vacation bidding round, however your ballot will not be considered until after all primary and secondary ballots from those who accrued more than 7 days have been awarded. 

Annual APFA Board of Directors’ Convention

APFA’s Annual Convention begins Sunday, March 2nd in Ft. Lauderdale. All members in good standing are welcome to attend the open portions of the meeting. The meeting will be held at the Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel, located at 1140 Seabreeze Blvd and is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday. The meeting is scheduled to conclude at close of business on Wednesday, March 6th.

Tablet Survey

APFA has been conducting a Samsung Tablet survey at www.www.apfa.org. We have received a good deal of responses to date and  encourage all members in good standing to visit the site and fill out the survey.

Family Medical Leave Act and the US Department of Labor

When the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed in 1993, an unintended oversight left millions of crew members without the opportunity to quality for Family Leave.  A correction to that legislation was passed in 2009, the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act of 2009.

The US Department of Labor recently issued a Final Rule implementing amendments made to the Family and Medical Leave Act as it applies to the Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act. The Final Rule provides clarity to employers and employees and emphasizes the distinction between the eligibility requirements and calculation of FMLA leave for airline flight crews (flight attendants and pilots) and all other employees. Additionally, the Final Rule adopts a uniform entitlement for airline flight crew employees as well as for military caregiver leave. The Final Rule also sets specific record-keeping requirements for flight crew employers.

APFA is currently reviewing the revised FMLA language and will meet with the company to determine its effect on our members. For more information, click on the links below.
http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/
http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs28j.pdf

VEOP Tips

Vacation: If you are leaving in March or May, you will not be bidding for your Vacation.  You will not be able to take any vacation before you leave.  Any unused vacation days (including your 2013 vacation days) will be paid out after you leave on your final paycheck.  You should get your final paycheck 12 -15 days after you leave.

Uniform Points:
If you have any outstanding orders with VF Solutions (Back-orders, etc.) your order will be cancelled when you leave, and will not be shipped to you, so order early.
 
Flex Spending Account (FSA): If you have not used all of the money in your FSA by the time you leave, you will lose any money in the account.  (Use it or lose it.)  If you find yourself in this unfortunate situation, we have a solution.  You CAN continue the FSA after you leave, by electing COBRA continuation of the FSA.  This will allow you to continue making contributions to your FSA, and to continue making claims, until you have used up all of your contributions, then you can cancel COBRA continuation.  If you are under this COBRA continuation, you can not “over-draft” the FSA account, (use more than you have put into the account,) you can only use up to the amount you have contributed.  If you have “over-drafted” the account when you leave, they do not collect that overage from you.
 
Epays: Once you retire, you will continue to have access to Epays for a few months after you leave.  The “shortcut” on the home page of JetNet disappears, so you will have to Search for “Epays” which will bring up several links you can click on to gain access.

RUN To End Human Trafficking

Saturday March 16, 2013
Washington, D.C.
Run a full or ½ marathon in Washington, D.C., with Airline Ambassadors, Int’l and contribuite to end Human Trafficking.  Take an historic journey through our Nation’s capital at the 2nd annual Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Marathon & CareFirst Marathon on March 16, 2013.   Feel like a rock star while running to the sound of live Rock Bands and cheering crowds.  Only a few slots left – sign up now.  To learn more and to register and donate, visit www.airlineamb.org.
 

AmericanAirlines + US Airways
“On Our Way”

Leslie Mayo
APFA National Communications Coordinator