3.25.19 – Miami Base Blast
Monday, March 25, 2019
You will bid for CQ training in the TBS system, reached through Crew Portal. This system was largely unknown and/or unused during the mock bidding. TBS opens, closes, and is awarded before PBS is run to prevent any trips conflicting with your scheduled training.
You will be awarded CQ training in seniority order. The previous process of self-enrollment on a first come/first serve basis will no longer apply. TBS will only be available in your base month, grace month, or one month prior. Bidding to attend one month prior will not change your base month.
6th – TBS Bidding Closes
7th – TBS Awards are available in the Award tab in the TBS system
Begin by going into Crew Portal, Monthly Bids, TBS – CQ Only:
You may not preference to not attend in your base month in order to attend in your grace month. If you fail to bid or bid insufficiently, your training is assigned in seniority order to the first available class you are legal for, on the earliest date of the bid month.
Bids are processed in the following order:
- 1st – Award – Base Month Bidders
- 2nd – Award – Grace Month Bidders
- 3rd – Assign – Grace Month Non-Bidders
- 4th – Assign – Base Month Non-Bidders
- 5th – Award – Early Month Bidders
There is a 27-page TBS training guide available on the APFA website under the JCBA link. It is a more detailed guide to assist you through actual bidding, standing bids, class/travel information, waivers available, attending on VLOA or vacation, awards/reading why you didn’t hold what you bid, buddy bidding, understanding your dashboard, and much more. You may reach the guide with this link:https://www.apfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/tbs_guide_1jun18.pdf
We highly recommend that you visit this very effective resource.
Lineholder/Reserve Designator (LRD) Tool
Every month all Flight Attendants have access to the LRD tool. You the LRD tool to preference Lineholder, “Senior Bump” onto reserve, or try to bid off reserve. You should check the tool each month to ensure your status is correct. If there is an issue with your status contact the FABRC immediately.
The monthly timeline for the LRD tool is:
7th – LRD Bidding Closes
10th – LRD Bidding Results Posted in PBS
You will find the LRD tool on your My Schedule page, bottom right corner, when you log into Crew Portal. Your status will be Lineholder, Tentative, or Reserve. The LRD will also show your seniority for the group you are in.
If you are satisfied with your designated status when the LRD tool opens, it is not necessary to use the toggle.
If you would like to exercise Senior Bump to bid onto Reserve, you would toggle over to Pref RSV. If you successfully bid onto reserve and you have more than three (3) days of vacation or are awarded a VLOA as a Lineholder, it will not count as your reserve obligation and you will be subject to reserve the next month if your seniority warrants.
There will only be a Tentative group if Voluntary Leaves (VLOA) are offered for the month, and the number in the Tentative group will equal the number of VLOAs being offered. The default status for the Tentative group is Lineholder.
If you would like to try to bid off reserve, move the toggle to Pref L/H. If you are successful in bidding off reserve and your seniority warrants, you would be subject to reserve the next month.
There is an LRD Tool PowerPoint Presentation that will provide you with more information and examples. Here is the link:
https://www.apfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/10-July-Final-Lineholder-Reserve-Designator.pdf
Please review this document.
Sick and Vacation Accruals with Transition to PBS
The Contractual months of January, February, March, and April (May 1st) of 2019 is all that applies to this section. It also applies to anyone who transferred from a PBS base during these months.
MIA is one of the last two bases to transition to PBS, so we are operating under the old threshold rules for Sick and Vacation accruals until PBS implementation. That timeframe is the Contractual months of January-April (May 1st).
The rule is that you must have an average of 35 paid hours or more and have been available 15 days for each month to accrue Vacation and Sick. This is an all or nothing rule for this period only. However, inactive months are deducted from the threshold requirement and depending on the reason for the inactive status, you may or may not still accrue for that month.
There are a few scenarios that could apply to you:
- Kim has been based in MIA since January 1st, 2019, will be until May 1st, and has been active for more than 15 days for all those months. She is required to have an average of 140 paid hours for the 4 months and she will accrue full Vacation and Sick for those months. Kim flew 165 hours, so she accrues.
- We have Kim again, but in this scenario, she only averaged 110 paid hours for the Contractual months of January-April. She flew over the 35-hour requirement for two of the months, but it is all or nothing. She had to meet 140 hours. So, Kim will lose 18 hours of Sick accrual at the end of the year and four months of Vacation accrual to be bid for the 2020-2021 fiscal vacation year. Kim is entitled to 12 days of vacation per year so she will lose four days and have only 8 days to bid next year.
- Steve was based in PHL (PBS base) in January and transferred to MIA in February. He is only responsible to meet the threshold for his time in MIA (Non-PBS base). March and April in MIA would only require him to have 70 paid hours and 15 days available each month to accrue full Sick and Vacation for those two months.
- Mike is based in MIA for all four months of this period, but he is on unpaid sick for the entire month of March. This inactive status is a non-accrual month and is reduced from the required paid hours threshold. His required paid hours will be 105 and he will not accrue Sick or Vacation for one month.
There are too many scenarios to list so if you have questions about yours, please give us a call. The deadline is fast approaching. Look to see what your paid hours were for any months this year that you were based in a Non-PBS base and active for more than 15 days. Multiple those months by 35 to get your number of paid hours to meet by May 1st.Due to uncontrollable circumstances, especially right now, things happen, and trips are lost for various reasons. Spring storms, the MAX, Venezuela, broken airplanes, sick with no sick time, etc. Every trip is not necessarily pay protected. So, we strongly recommend that you not schedule yourself to the bare minimum at the very end of the timeframe.
For example, you are required to meet 140 hours. You have 143 hours. Your last trip is a 777 DFW turn, worth 6 hours, on April 29th. You get really sick, have to call out for the trip but you have no sick time. Your hours are now 137 and you already have trips on April 30th and May1st.
This is an important issue that is timely and is irreparable once May 1st passes. Please check your past hours while you still have the entire month of April to meet your threshold.
Until next time, fly safely. Take care of each other,
APFA Headquarters
1004 West Euless Boulevard
Euless, Texas 76040
M-F: 9:00AM - 5:00PM (CT)
Phone: (817) 540-0108
Contract & Scheduling Desk
M-F: 7:00AM - 7:00PM (CT)
Phone: (817) 540-0108
After-Hours Live Chat
M-F: 3:00PM - 11:00 PM (CT)
Sat-Sun: 9:00AM - 5:00PM (CT)
APFA Headquarters
1004 West Euless Boulevard
Euless, Texas 76040
M-F: 9:00AM - 5:00PM (CT)
Phone: (817) 540-0108
Contract & Scheduling Desk
M-F: 7:00AM - 7:00PM (CT)
Phone: (817) 540-0108
After-Hours Live Chat
M-F: 3:00PM - 11:00 PM (CT)
Sat-Sun: 9:00AM - 5:00PM (CT)
APFA Headquarters
1004 West Euless Boulevard
Euless, Texas 76040
M-F: 9:00AM - 5:00PM (CT)
Phone: (817) 540-0108
Contract & Scheduling Desk
M-F: 7:00AM - 7:00PM (CT)
Phone: (817) 540-0108
After-Hours Live Chat
M-F: 3:00PM - 11:00 PM (CT)
Sat-Sun: 9:00AM - 5:00PM (CT)