2.13.19 – MIA Base Brief

 
       
February 2019

Hello Miami! As promised, here is a full brief for the month. We have several issues to address. Please continue to call us with your comments and concerns. As always, we are available on evenings and weekends.

FOI Specialist

We would like to introduce Josh Bounds. We have brought Josh onto our Miami team as your FOI Specialist. He is fantastic and extremely knowledgeable in the new systems; TTS, ETB, and ROTA/ROTD. Josh also has spent time at APFA headquarters training in other departments to round out his knowledge.

Because Miami has grown so large, we have complex new systems, and the call volume has increased to match, we will be sending all FOI issues to Josh. While we understand that many of you have certain reps that you prefer to work with, we must utilize our reps’ specialties appropriately. Josh is more than capable of handling any FOI problem and we are certain you will like him. We are very excited to have Josh on our team!

Josh is a native Floridian and currently lives in Fort Lauderdale. His phone number is 214.914.5923 and his email address is [email protected]. He welcomes your challenges, so feel free to reach out.

PBS Specialist

We have a preliminary plan to bring a PBS Specialist onto our team when we transition to PBS later this spring.  Our idea is to use this specialist during the bid run, so when we work out the details of what this plan will look like and who the person will be, we will report back to you.

PBS Mock Bidding

The mock bidding participation percentage for the first two rounds in Miami was in the 60% range. This is low and disappointing, especially in light of the amount of assistance available to you and how important this process is to your future schedules.

With participation this low, the awards are not very realistic. Why? Specifically, the default award for those who don’t bid is 1-day, 2-day, 3-day, and then 4-day trips. So, if a very senior person who normally bids IPD doesn’t bid, s/he could be awarded all turnarounds. That means those IPD trips s/he normally flies are awarded to a more junior person who did bid. Likewise, the person who usually bids and hold turnarounds doesn’t hold them. And so on.

Our current bidding system awards what is leftover to someone who doesn’t bid. Not so in PBS. This is why it is so critical that everyone participate. We hope that the participation rate will really increase in upcoming rounds.

We strongly encourage you to take advantage of every resource available to you during our transition to PBS. Miami is being very proactive, and we are lucky to have the reps and PBS Specialists at our disposal. Please use them!

PBS Mock Bidding Get Together #2

Several of the PBS Specialists will be hosting another get together to assist you with your mock bids. The restaurant has wi-fi but if you have a hotspot it would be helpful. They ask that you bring your own device and a printout of your last award if possible.

The event will be at Chevy’s Fresh Mex 8191 Northwest 12^th Street, Miami 33126. The date and time are February 19^th at 12:30-5PM.

Annual Vacation Bidding

Our yearly vacation bidding opened on Monday, January 28th at 1200 CT. For most Miami Flight Attendants, this is an entirely new process, format, and set of rules for how vacations are bid and ultimately awarded.

You will no longer use the HIVC entry in DECS/FOS to bid. You will access the Annual Vacation Bid and Award (AVBA) via Crew Portal (faportal.aa.com) under the monthly bidding tab. Your annual accrual and number of days available to bid will be on the summary page.

faportal.aa.com > Monthly Bids > Non PBS Base > Vacation > Annual > Bidding Ballots

Significant Changes for this year’s bid:

• You will bid ALL vacation in the first round of bidding. No longer will any of your vacation automatically be held out for the second round of bidding.
• You can bid for multiple vacations periods during the fiscal year.
• You can bid for a number of vacation splits up to the days you have available to bid. All vacation blocks must be four (4) or more days of vacation.
• The one exception is that you can bid for only one block less than 4 days. It can be one (1), two (2) or three (3) vacation days.
• You can bid to have up to six (6) vacation days as Filler Days that can be bid and awarded monthly later.
• Any block of seven (7) consecutive vacation days or more will be receive pay and credit of four (4) hours per day. Any block of less than six (6) days will receive pay and credit of three and one-half (3.5) hours per day.
• The secondary bid allows you to bid for any remaining vacation days that were not awarded in the primary bid.
• All days awarded or assigned will be available for monthly rebid in Crew Portal Vacation Management System (VMS).
• You can maximize the value of your vacation days by bidding for a period that occurs after your annual pay rate increase.

Bidding Dates:

• Primary Bid Opens: 28 JAN, 1200 CT
• Primary Bid Closes: 28 FEB, 1200 CT
• Primary Bid Results Posted: 06 MAR, 1200 CT
• Secondary Bid Opens: 06 MAR, 1200 CT
• Secondary Bid Closes: 13 MAR, 1200 CT
• Final Results Posted: 20 MAR, 1200 CT

If you need assistance you may reach out to the Specialists in operations, Josh Bounds, APFA headquarters, or the FABRC.
Reserve Positive Contact and Call out to the Airport

The Company maintains that your 3-hour call out for an assignment to the airport begins when they make the first call to you. APFA is in dispute with that opinion and believes it begins when you return the call. Until the grievance is settled, use your best judgement. If you receive a missed trip in this situation, please call us.

If you are called to the airport and do not make the trip, know that you go back onto your RAP, not onto a 12-hour rest period. You could theoretically be driving back into your garage and then recalled to the airport for another assignment. This could also happen multiple times. However, your duty day begins from the first trip’s report time.

Three Hours Call Out at the End of a RAP

If you are going to be assigned, you must be given a report time no later than two hours after the end of a RAP. Because Miami is a co-terminal base, this means that you must receive the call no later than one hour before the end of your RAP in order to give you three hours to report to the airport.

Pay Protection, Schedule Conflicts

Anytime you BID yourself into a schedule conflict you are not entitled to pay protection, line holder or reserve. A subsequent illegality is protected. A subsequent illegality is one that occurs after bids are final.

If you have a direct conflict as a result of a subsequent illegality, the trips will measure against each other and pay the value of both in total, prior to the conflict. If you have an arrival that is less than FAR rest (8 hours currently pending implementation of legislation) and the trips do not overlap, you will be paid for both.

Three Hours Call Out Pay

If you are notified of a cancellation three hours or less before report and you have already left your residence, notify the scheduler that you are in route to the airport to receive call out pay.

Ten Hours Minimum Rest

The new FAA Reauthorization Bill passed in October. This bill included an important rest improvement for Flight Attendants; it increases minimum rest from 8 to 10 hours, release to report. This will apply to both scheduled and actual operations and will not be reducible.

When bills become law, they don’t automatically apply. It takes time for the various agencies involved to write their rules, implementation schedules, etc. The government shutdown has slowed the process for this bill.

Until the FAA forces the Company to implement this rule, it is apparent that they won’t do so voluntarily. Sequences are now being built with the 10-hour rule, but the “8-hour minimum,” “8 behind-the-door,” and “8-plus drive time” rules that we currently work under will be in effect until the FAA implements the bill.

The Company could voluntarily implement this new rule on their own, but it’s clear that they have no desire to do so because of pay protection.

Retirement Seminar

We have scheduled a retirement seminar for March 19th. APFA Retirement Specialists from headquarters will come to discuss retirement options for anyone considering retirement, as well as those who should be planning for the future.

If you have not attended one of our retirement seminars, they are valuable for those who are looking to retire in two months, two years, or twenty years. The specialists provide information for any and everyone on their path to their retirement. In one way or another, we are all on the path!

It’s never too early to plan for your future! The seminar will be held in the 4^th floor Auditorium (by the old Credit Union) from 1100-1400.

APFA Hotline and Miami Base Briefs

If you do not already receive the APFA Hotline, subscribe today! It contains valuable and timely information. Visit www.apfa.org and click on the graphic on the right side of the main APFA webpage that reads SUBSCRIBE TO THE HOTLINE!

If you know anyone who isn’t getting the Miami Base Briefs from us and would like to stay informed from/about Miami, please have them send us an email with their name and email address and we will get them added to the list!

Until next time, fly safely!

Randy                                 Melinda
[email protected]                   [email protected]