12.03.20 – Eligibility For Moving Expenses For Flight Attendants Displaced From Phoenix

Wednesday, December 3, 2020

Letters of Agreement: Moving Expenses and Priority of Return

• PHX Only: Eligibility for Moving Expenses for Flight Attendants Displaced from Phoenix
• All AA Flight Attendants: Displacement/ Priority Return: JCBA 22.H.4

 

This week, APFA has signed two Letters of Agreement (LOA) related to moving expenses for displacements and priority of return rights when transferring.

PHX Only: Eligibility for Moving Expenses for Flight Attendants
Displaced from Phoenix

This Letter of Agreement (LOA) with the Company aims to help those Flight Attendants being displaced from PHX who are not awarded their first choice of a new base. While we anticipate a small number of displaced PHX Flight Attendants may not receive their first choice of bases, all displaced PHX Flight Attendants will qualify for moving expenses as outlined in JCBA Section 5 using their new base of record as outlined below.

Before this LOA, relocation reimbursement only applied to the base to which you are displaced as of January 31, 2021. However, if you do not receive your first choice of bases for the February 2021 bid month, this LOA provides two (2) additional months to try to secure a transfer to your first-choice base. Relocation reimbursement will apply to the base to which you are displaced as of April 1, 2021.

You will have three (3) years from April 1, 2021, to complete your entire relocation. If you are on a leave of absence or any inactive status and would have otherwise been entitled to a paid move, your three (3) years will be extended by the amount of time you were on the leave of absence, and you will be entitled to a paid move upon return to active status.

Example 1:

I am displaced from PHX effective with the February 2021 bid month. My first choice base is MIA, and my second choice is DFW. I receive my award to DFW because no vacancies exist in MIA. Since I still want to be based in MIA, I keep my MIA base transfer request on file, and I am subsequently awarded a MIA transfer for the March or April 2021 bid month. MIA will now be my base of record for my eligible moving expenses.

Example 2:

I am displaced from PHX effective with the February 2021 bid month. My first choice base is MIA, and my second choice is DFW. I receive my award to DFW because no vacancies exist in MIA. Since I still want to be based in MIA, I keep my MIA base transfer request on file, and I am subsequently awarded a MIA transfer for the May 2021 bid month. DFW will remain my base of record for my eligible moving expenses. Relocation reimbursement only applies to the base to which I am displaced as of April 1, 2021.

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All AA Flight Attendants: Displacement/ Priority Return: JCBA 22.H.4 

Today, the APFA Executive Committee convened a Special Executive Committee Teleconference to discuss and approve a Letter of Agreement (LOA), which modifies the contractual language in JCBA Section 22.H.4.

With the current JCBA language, if a Flight Attendant is displaced from a base for any reason, the priority return to that former base is canceled if they subsequently transfer out of their new base. This modification allows a Flight Attendant to participate in unlimited transfers while maintaining a priority of return to the base from which they were displaced.

Modification of JCBA Section 22.H. is as follows:

Example 1:

I am displaced from PHX. I file my request to exercise a priority right of return to PHX within 30 days of my displacement, and I transfer to DFW. A few months later, I transfer to SFO. This LOA allows me to maintain my priority of return to PHX, regardless of my transfer activity, until I am offered a transfer back to PHX.

Example 2:

Due to the closing of the RDU crew base, I file my request to exercise a priority right of return to RDU within 30 days of my displacement, and I am now based in CLT. A few months later, I transfer to BOS.

A few years later, American decides to re-open the RDU crew base. This LOA allows me to maintain my priority right of return to the RDU base, even though I have participated in multiple transfers.

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We know that the news of displacements has been incredibly devastating for everyone based at PHX. As stated on the PHX Virtual Town Hall earlier this week, APFA will continue to advocate for the displaced Flight Attendants to make this process as smooth as possible.

In Solidarity,

Julie Hedrick
APFA National President
[email protected]

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Please remember, we have 7,985 involuntarily furloughed Flight Attendants at American Airlines.