1.02.21 – Furloughed Flight Attendant Recall Information: Q&A – Part II

Saturday, January 2, 2021

Furloughed Flight Attendant Recall Information: Q&A – Part II

Happy New Year! We are thrilled to welcome back all of our 7,985 furloughed Flight Attendants. The deadline to submit your decision to accept recall or resign from American isMonday, January 4, 2021 at 2359 CT. Please remember to submit the electronic form accepting recall and the ballot to bid for your bases.

This is a two-step process. Use the first form below to accept recall or resign from American, and the second form to bid for your base assignments:

You may find the form to accept recall or resign from American here.

You may find the ballot to bid for your bases here.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]. Below, we have compiled more of your questions in a ‘Part II Q & A’. You may reference Part I Q & A’s here.

As a reminder, a ‘Recall from Furlough Virtual Town Hall’ has been scheduled for Wednesday, January 13, 2021. More information may be found here.

1. If I decide to take the EVLOA I was tentatively awarded before furlough, will I have to pay back the 35-hour paycheck I received on December 24th? 
Yes. If you choose to stay out on your previously bid EVLOA, you will pay it back beginning with the mid-month January paycheck. The Company made the decision to issue the December 24th paycheck to all returning furloughed Flight Attendants once the Payroll Support Program was extended. The deadline to inform the Company of your choice to stay out on your previously bid EVLOA is January 4th, 2021; therefore, paychecks to all returning furloughed Flight Attendants would have been delayed until after that date.

2. Do I receive a confirmation for my ballot to bid for bases?
No. You may screenshot your ballot for your records.

3. What if I’ve changed my mind and want to change my rankings?
You may submit as many ballots as you would like. The Company will read your last submitted ballot as your final choice.

4. Do I have access to CCI and Jetnet now?
Yes.

5. Will I be reimbursed for making a COBRA payment in December now that our benefits are backdated to December 1, 2020?
Yes. Alight will process the reimbursement before January 5, 2021.

6. I never received my recall letter, but I submitted the electronic form and the bid for my base online. Do I have to do anything else?
No. Once you submit your electronic form and ballot, you have completed the process to accept recall and bid for your base.

7. Why will it take so long to return furloughed Flight Attendants to line flying? Why am I automatically placed on a 70-hour leave until that time?
Under the law passed by Congress, if the company wishes to access the Payroll Support Program (PSP) funds, they must return the furloughed Flight Attendants to active status effective December 1, 2020. What the law did not do, however, is provide any “shortcuts” in the governmental/regulatory process for returning the furloughed Flight Attendants to flight-ready status. Because you have been out for more than 30 days, you must be fingerprinted and have a new background check. This requirement not only applies to our 7,985 Flight Attendants but in fact to every furloughed airline employee in the U.S. With only a limited number of authorized facilities and tens of thousands of returning employees to be processed, we expect that this process is going to take longer than usual.

Additionally, many of you will need to attend CQ or other training. Training cannot be completed until you have cleared the governmental/regulatory hurdles. With the pandemic still raging, class size is still limited.

Because the law requires the furloughed Flight Attendants to be returned to pay status, subject to the existing collective bargaining agreement, you will be placed on 70-hour leaves until cleared to fly. If you were on leave at the time of furlough, you would be returned to that leave and the pay and provisions it provided. If you were tentatively awarded an EVLOA in the bid just before the furlough, you would have the option of accepting that leave or returning to flight status.

In Solidarity,

Brian Walsh
APFA National Contract Chair
[email protected]