3.03.16 – Miami Base Brief – February 2016

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Miami Base Brief – February 2016

Happy New Year Miami! This is the first Base Brief of the year and there is a lot to cover. Please send us any topic ideas that you would like to see addressed in future base briefs. We would like to remind you that your base reps are available 7 days a week. Do Not Hesitate to call on weekends or after hours.

PAY COMP

We know the problems with Pay Comp are now at crisis level. The needle is in the red. Delays in processing missing or inaccurate claims have reached an all-time high. While there is a certain time frame that is normal to process each category of pay, response times have become completely unreasonable and/or we are chasing pay months later.

The Company is hiring additional employees hoping to alleviate this calamity. We are cautiously optimistic that relief is on the way. In the meantime, if you have an issue pending with us, please be patient. We are as frustrated as you are!

*Disclaimer – each reference to contact Pay Comp is made based on current published policy, but somewhat tongue-in-cheek. If you have not received a response or had your issue fixed within a week, have your manager send a message or call us.

PRE-DEPARTURES

Flight Service has a new campaign on for pre-departures beverages. We are fully aware of the problems in the field that you have in being able to accomplish this, number one being that catering shows up to the airplane 20-25 minutes before departure. Of course, this makes it impossible to do a full beverage service with everything else you are required to do at the end of boarding.

You are able to send Flight Attendant Catering Reports right from your tablet and we encourage you to do so every time catering is late. Send your manager an email also. Maybe Flight Service will get the message.

We have gotten reports from other bases that managers have been on airplanes checking to see if crews are doing pre-departures. If this happens to you in Miami, please let us know.

TRIP TRADING/HIBOARD

We continue to see way too many disputes between Flight Attendants over trading and picking up trips. While many of the instances end up being mistakes or misunderstandings on one or the other’s part, there are scores of back and forth “It’s mine” battles. Flight Attendants are a proud corps with a history of sticking up for each other and together. We don’t operate a dog-eat-dog system in our work group. We are professionals and we are better than that.
The best way to protect yourself from unauthorized activity on your schedule is to make sure your trip trade authorization is always set to NO, by typing HIN, when you are not actively processing a trade. To change your authorization to YES, type HIY.

Remembering to take yourself out of TT mode after doing a transaction will greatly reduce the number of unauthorized trades and errors. As a reminder, when you post a sequence in HIBOARD it automatically sets your TT authorization to NO.

While many Flight Attendants leave themselves in TT mode in order to facilitate trades, it does not authorize someone to alter a schedule without their consent. Just because you leave your doors unlocked, no one has the right to take your property. As a precautionary measure, we lock our doors and should remember to take ourselves out of TT mode. Per the Contract, Article 25.A. exchanges of trips are by mutual consent.

When posting a trip in HIBOARD, it’s a good idea to put as much information as possible so there is no confusion as to what you want to do with your trip. Also important, is making sure you are listing the correct sequence, and choosing TT for trip trades or OE for drops. A particularly easy mistake can occur during the finalization of the bid awards going into the new month, as both the last trips of the current month are listed, as well as the new month’s trips.

Because sequences can change hands several times throughout the month, it is important to check HIBOARD immediately before processing a transaction to ensure the trip is still listed, and the remarks haven’t changed. Taking a photo of and keeping the HIBOARD posting is also a good idea, especially when sequences are listed as “JUST TAKE”, or when the person has offered money.

In order to avoid problems, when picking up a same-day trip it is probably a good idea to try to make first party contact with that person to ensure s/he still wants to drop. Many commuters and even locals are on their way several hours ahead of time. Certainly within 3 hours, you need to make first party contact. Likewise, if you have a trip in HIBOARD that you no longer want to drop, you should take it out of HIBOARD and make sure you are in HIN.

If you find your schedule has been altered without your permission, the first step should be to contact the other Flight Attendant involved. If you cannot contact him/her, you can then contact your FSM or Professional Standards for help.

AVAILABILITY PLOTTING

You have the right to plot AVBL trips into and out of a set of AVBL days, as well as turnarounds anywhere in the block. However, you are unable to use the self-plot entry due to old scheduling rules. Since availability will not exist in the future, they will not spend man hours or money on reprogramming. In the meantime, you can contact Crew Schedule directly or by HISEND to plot trips for you.

LE AND VE PAY PROCESSING

VE Pay: VE pay shows on the HI3 on the day it occurs, on your HI1 underneath the sequence as VE PAY, does not go into the PPROJ, is processed at closeout (about the 9th of the next month), and goes above guarantee. If you don’t see it by the 9th of the next month then send HISEND 14 to Pay Comp*.
LE Pay: LE pay shows on your HI1 underneath the sequence as LE PAY, does go into PPROJ, is processed every 4 days, and does not go above guarantee. If you don’t see it by 6 days after your trip completes, use HISEND 14 to Pay Comp*.
LE on an OE: LE pay shows on your HI1 underneath the sequence as OE STRAT, does not go into PPROJ, is processed every 4 days, and does not go above guarantee. If you don’t see it by 6 days after your trip completes, use HISEND 14 to Pay Comp*.

DEADHEADING

We have been receiving calls about the order of crews deadheading. Deadheading is the same as any travel – first come, first serve. The result of the jumpseat vote was first come, first serve also, so that applies to deadheading as well. Some Flight Attendants seem to think there is a seniority policy for a whole crew deadheading. While you may be able to work it out amongst yourselves, it is not policy.

MAKE UP LIST

It is a nice courtesy to remove your name from the Make Up (also II, L2, CC) list if you do not want to fly for that day. This gives those who are waiting for trips a better idea of what the list really looks like and makes the processing of the list much faster.

If trips open during a round, CS will not start over. The trip/s will not be proffered until the next round. Also, if you want to stay on make up if you do not receive the trips you proffered for, you need to put on your HISEND ballot, “call if not awarded.” Additionally, you must return CSs call in order to continue to be contacted, even if nothing is currently open that you are interested in.

UNPAID FMLA CODES

Flight Attendants can choose unpaid/uncredited or unpaid/credited for both regular and intermittent leaves. This can result in having less of an obligation on reserve or availability, or more ability to fly on any status, as you prefer.

FL – BLOCK leave for self or other, Unpaid/Credited – Cannot makeup time, time credited to reserve, AVBL days, and line trips
LF – BLOCK leave for self or other, Unpaid/Uncredited – Can makeup time, time not credited to reserve and AVBL days, and line trips
MF – INTERMITTENT leave for self or other, Unpaid/Uncredited – Can makeup time, time not credited to reserve and AVBL days, and line trips
FM – INTERMITTENT leave for self or other, Unpaid/Credited – Cannot makeup time, time not credited to reserve and AVBL days, and line trips

When calling the Service Center for re-coding, let them know which code you would like to use.

PERSONAL OFF (PO) VS UNCREDITED PO (PU)

When you take a PO the trip remains credited on your schedule, meaning those days are blocked from letting you fly another trip. If you want to be able to fly for some of that time, you may request a PU. A PU will free up the days outside the day(s) you actually need off so that you can fly. Ask the MOD to code the PU only on the day(s) that you need to be absent.

As an example, you have a three-day trip March 5, 6, 7 and you only need off the 5th for a doctor’s appointment. If the PU is placed on the 5th, you can fly on 6 and/or 7.

TRANSPORTATION FROM MIA TO WEST PALM BEACH (PBI) FOR RESERVES

It is approximately 70 miles from Miami Airport (MIA) to West Palm Beach Airport (PBI). The only public transportation available is on TriRail, the commuter rail system that links metropolitan areas in Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. Service on this system is directed primarily to commuter work hours and can be inadequate for early morning, late night and weekend time periods. Many commuters are on reserve and have no viable way to travel to PBI. Miami Flight Service agrees to provide ground transportation to/from MIA Airport and PBI Airport under the following conditions:

Transportation will only be provided for MIA reserve Flight Attendants assigned a PBI trip sequence.
Transportation will be provided between MIA and PBI only.
Transportation must be requested through the hotel/limo desk at the time of assignment.

VACATION BIDDING

The Primary round of vacation bidding opened 15FEB at 1700 CT and close 7MAR at 0800 CT. Awards will post 14MAR by 1700 CT.
The Secondary round of bidding will open 15MAR at 1600 CT and close 23Mar at 0900 CT. Awards will post 30MAR by 1600 CT.

You must have more than 19 days to be able to split and you must have at least 7 days to be able to be awarded in the Primary round. If you have less than 7 days you must bid in the Primary round, however, you will be awarded after Secondary rounds. If you fail to bid in the Primary round you will go first in the Secondary round and you are still able to split provided you follow the bidding guidelines. See the Vacation Bidding letter on the Flight Service website for full details.

RESERVE ORS

If you get rescheduled or reassigned while flying an OR trip, it will knock the pay out of FLY DFP. The Primary route for correction is via Pay Comp HISEND 14*. You can also ask Crew Schedule or your manager to send a message to them.

RESERVE GUARANTEES

There are a number of ways your guarantee can inadvertently be reduced on reserve. Dropping a carryover trip into the month, after a TM in which you later remain on ready reserve or dropping an OR you picked up. Make sure you send a message to Pay Comp to have your guarantee restored via HISEND 14.

COMMUTING AND TRAVEL

We have gotten several requests to remind everyone, especially commuters, that proper protocol needs to be followed and the travel rules need to be adhered to in order to keep everyone on a level playing field. An action, such as having someone else put you on the list when you are mid-flight, is a no-no. Remember that people watch the lists very carefully and no one wants to go to the Company, they just want everyone to play fair.

CHANGING FROM D1 TO D2

You may now change your priority on a flight from D1 to D2 and vice versa. This is a big change from what we are used to. You must cancel your PNR and create a new one, which will give you a new check-in time. You must also do this more than one hour before a domestic flight and two hours before an international flight. You cannot ask airport agents to do this for you.

LIFE INSURANCE PAYCHECK DEDUCTION

We have been getting questions about this deduction on paychecks…

Company provided life insurance is currently $70,000. Group Term Life Insurance coverage in excess of $50,000 generates taxable income. The calculation of this income is based on the amount of insurance coverage, your age, and any voluntary deductions made for additional insurance coverage. The imputed income is taxed on each paycheck throughout the year.

As always, please report problems or concerns you are having in the field so we can address them right away with the appropriate people or department.

Until next time, fly safely!