9.01.15 – (LUS) – Ask InFlight Transition/Civil Reserve Air Fleet/Vacation Bidding/Voting Reminder

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Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Ask InFlight Form on Wings and Email Removed
Civil Reserve Air Fleet List Open for Additions
Annual Vacation Bid
Voting Reminder

Ask InFlight Form on Wings and Email Removed

Effective immediately, the Ask InFlight form on Wings and accompanying email box have been removed.

At this time, please report issues using the following resources:

Use the Safety Reporting System* for:
- Safety Event Reports (SERs)
- Passenger Misconduct Reports (ASAP (Aviation Safety Action Program) Report

Continue to email photos and provide examples of the circumstance or equipment you have encountered and are describing in your report. Send these to [email protected].

Civil Reserve Air Fleet List Open for Additions

The Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) is a unique and significant part of our nation’s mobility resources. US Airways is under contract to provide transport when CRAF is activated. In anticipation of the emergency nature of the CRAF operation, the Company shall keep on file a currently effective CRAF Preference List which shall include, in order of System Seniority, all Flight Attendants desiring to fly the CRAF operation. This list shall be available for repreferencing within sixty (60) days of Date of Ratification of this Agreement, and this list shall be kept up to date by repreferencing on September 1st of every succeeding year. Any Flight Attendant on the System Seniority List who requests during repreferencing will be added to the CRAF Preference List. A Flight Attendant will stay on the CRAF Preference List until she/he requests removal of name from the CRAF Preference List at any time by giving thirty (30) days written notification.

Should the Department of Defense (DOD) activate stage II or stage III of CRAF, which includes utilizing our aircraft and Flight Attendants in aero medical evacuations, attending this one-day training is required. The training program is designed to prepare the Flight Attendant to recognize the purpose of CRAF, become familiar with the aircraft configuration, and review procedures to effectively handle emergency conditions that may occur during CRAF missions.

Bidding for the annual Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) list opens on September 1, 2015, and closes on October 1, 2015. With a 30-day notice, flight attendants may request to be removed from the list at any time, however, additions to the list may only be made during this bidding period. After this date, no additions will be made to the list until September 2016.

The 2014-2015 CRAF list can be found on Wings.

There is no action required for Flight Attendants who wish to remain on the CRAF list.

To be added to or removed from the CRAF list, submit a written request to PHX Flight Service Planning & Administration no later than October 1, 2015.

Flight attendants may use any of the following methods to submit a request:

ONLINE FORM

FAX: 480-693-5425

US MAIL:

PHX Flight Service Planning & Administration
RE: CRAF
4000 E. Sky Harbor Blvd.
PHX-FTC-IFP
Phoenix, AZ 85034

COMAIL: PHX Flight Service Planning & Administration (PHX-FTC-IFP)

EMAIL: [email protected]

Annual Vacation Bid

The primary vacation bid for January 2016 through April 2017 will open for submission via CatCrew in the middle of September. Bids must be completed and filed on or before October 15. A Flight Attendant who is not awarded any or all of her/his vacation in the primary bid, who failed to bid in the primary vacation bid, or who has carry forward/extra days to bid may bid on open vacation days in the secondary vacation bid to be completed on or before November 15.

Currently, LUS Flight Attendants accrue vacation each month they remain in active status. In September/October, the vacation bid is issued, listing the total amount of Vacation Days that each Flight Attendant will have accrued during the year, even though three months of that year – October, November, December – have not yet accrued days. Therefore, the vacation days have actually been awarded in advance of their accrual. If a Flight Attendant leaves active status during the last three months of the year, an adjustment must be made after the fact. All of the days that have been accrued are then taken in the following calendar year.

Example 1: In the past, a 26-year LUS Flight Attendant accrued a total of 35 days of vacation in the 2014 calendar year to be used in calendar year 2015. Vacation Days are accrued evenly January through December of 2014. Those days are then placed in the 2014/2015 September/October Vacation Bid – even though the days have not yet been accrued for October, November and December of 2014.

Example 2: Going forward, A 26-year New American Flight Attendant accrues a total of 35 days of vacation in the 2017 calendar year to be used in 2018. Vacation days will be accrued evenly January through December of 2017. Those days will then be placed in the 2018/2019 Vacation Bid. All Vacation Days awarded will have already been accrued and are available to use from May 2018 through April 2019.

The amount of days accrued by each Flight Attendant has not changed with the new JCBA. However, there must be a transition from the old system to the new.

In order to move from a calendar year system to a fiscal year system, 2015 will be a transition year. LUS Flight Attendants will bid vacation earned in the 2015 calendar year for the period covering January 2016 through April 2017. Flight Attendants had a one-time opportunity to carry over vacation already awarded in 2015. The carry-over days will be available for bid in the 2nd round of the January 2016 through April 2017 vacation bid period.

For example: A 26-year LUS Flight Attendant accrued a total of 35 days of vacation in the 2015 calendar year to be used in transition year 2016/17. Vacation Days are accrued evenly January through December of 2015. This Flight Attendant also elects to cancel a vacation awarded scheduled for June 3 – 10, 2015. Those 7 days will be added to the 35 days accrued in 2015 for a total of 42 Vacation Days to be awarded in the January 2016 – April 2017 Vacation Bid.

Once the LUS vacation transition is complete, the vacation bid will take place in February/March 2017. A Flight Attendant shall submit their vacation bid based upon their accrual from January 2016 through December 2016 for use in May 2017 through April 2018.

Vacation Bid Questions and Answers:

Can I carry-over my filler days from 2015 in to 2016?

No, filler days may not be carried over. 2014 JCBA – Section 8.E.1. – “All filler days must be taken in the vacation fiscal year subsequent to accrual.”

For example: Any filler days accrued in 2014, for use in 2015, must be used by the end of 2015. Any remaining filler days will be paid out.

Are LUS Flight Attendants losing vacation days during this transition?

No vacation days will be lost during this transition. A Flight Attendant who accrued 35 days in 2014 will bid and be awarded 35 days in 2015. A Flight Attendant who accrued 35 days in 2015 will bid and be awarded 35 days in 2016 and the first quarter of 2017. No days are lost; they are just bid over a different period. Instead of using a calendar year for utilization of vacation we will be in a fiscal year beginning May and ending in the following April.

If I chose to cancel vacation in 2015 and carry-over these additional days of vacation for the upcoming bid, when will I bid for these days?

The carry-over days will be available for bid in the 2nd round of the January 2016 through April 2017 vacation bid process.

Can I use my current filler day allotment to be part of the 7 vacations days to be carried forward into the 2016/2017 bid period?

Yes, any used filler days may be part of the 7 vacation days to be carried forward. It is the option of the Flight Attendant if they would like to carry forward regularly scheduled 2015 vacation days, 2015 filler days or a combination thereof.

How many vacation days do I receive for use from January 2016 through April 2017?

January 2016 – April 2017 LUS Flight Attendant Vacation

Who do I contact with questions?

If you have any questions, please call Flight Attendant Vacations at:

Voting Reminder

In response to questions APFA has received about the Constitutional referendum currently out for a membership vote, below is additional information and background.

Prior to January 8, 2010, APFA members on unpaid status were not required to pay membership dues. In November of 2009, the APFA Board of Directors passed a resolution proposing to change the Constitution to impose a dues obligation on members on unpaid status. Click here for the text of the Board resolution, which explains the reasoning behind the proposal. In a referendum, the membership voted to adopt the change and, effective January 8, 2010, members on unpaid status were required to pay dues.

In March of 2014, the Board of Directors proposed, and the membership voted, to amend the Constitution to return to the pre-January 2010 rule, under which members on unpaid status are not obligated to pay dues. The change became effective on June 18, 2014.

As a result, the only period during which APFA members on unpaid status were obligated to pay dues was between January 8, 2010 and the June 18, 2014.

In May 2015, the Board of Directors proposed forgiving the dues balances owed for any time within that period. Click here for the text of the Board resolution, which explains the reasoning behind the proposal. For Q&A’s about the referendum, click here.

Dues Balance Forgiveness – Voting Closes September 10

The APFA National Ballot Committee (NBC) would like to inform all Flight Attendants that the Dues Balance Forgiveness Ballot was mailed Tuesday, August 11, 2015. If you have not received your ballot, please contact the NBC at [email protected] or 817-540-0108 ext. 8311, and a 16-digit activation code will be issued to you. Please remember that in order for your vote to count, you must be dues current by Tuesday, September 8, 2015 at 5:00 PM CT. If you have any questions about your dues, please contact the Dues Department at [email protected] or 817-540-0108 ext. 8151. If you have any questions concerning the Dues Balance Forgiveness, please email them to [email protected].

You may cast your vote by phone, 800-698-3789 or on the Internet, https://www.ballotpoint.com/apfa. All votes must be cast by 10:00 am CT on Thursday, September 10, 2015.

Brian Clark
APFA National Communications Interim Chair
[email protected]