9.28.22 – APFA LGA Base Brief – Hurricane Ian

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

IMPORTANT LGA BASE BRIEF

HURRICANE IAN

As hurricane IAN approached the coast of Florida, I understood that some flight attendants have family members, property, and other commitments they may need to attend. Please do not wait and contact your AFSM – Attendance Flight Service Manager as soon as possible to discuss a plan. You are entitled to two contractual PO days a year for personal emergencies and additional days at the discretion of a member of management for personal emergencies. Please copy in an APFA representative when you communicate with any member of management so that we may be able to track your needs and be ready to help facilitate any conversation necessary. I cannot stress enough how important it is that you initiate that conversation via a phone call in the case of the storm and email to follow up. New York flight attendants can email [email protected] to contact the AFSM team, including support staff in HDQ. I have requested that management make the specific AFSM assigned to flight attendants visible on the flight service website, as is the FSM– Flight Service Manager.

Yesterday, APFA sent all members a hotline reminding us of the rescheduling language that applies to hurricane IAN, and you may find it via this link;  as well as another hotline regarding the last sequence of the month which you may find via this link. Please get into the habit of either printing or saving these important hotlines to carry with you. Having this contractual language with you at all times allows you to quote your contract when dealing with crew schedulers, trackers, and any member of management who may meet a flight to reschedule you. We no longer have reassignments, and reserve flight attendants, once on an assignment/pairing, are considered line holders for rescheduling purposes.

Due to hurricane IAN affecting the US during the last days of the month, there may be some confusion on what is pay protected under the last sequence/series or any possible storm protections. Currently, because the storm is not affecting the NYC area, there is no letter of agreement to protect NYC flight attendants. However, that does not mean I cannot dispute loss of time/pay because of cancellations. Please save copies of your fully canceled pairings, especially those canceled because of the storm. If your pairing partially cancels, it is crucial that you follow the hotlines mentioned above so that you understand when there is the possibility that you may be split back onto your pairing and when you may not. As easy as it is to post a question on a social media page, if you start to try to read your contractual language that applies to the issue at hand, you will realize that the more it happens, the less you will need to ask because it will make sense to you. Contractual language may not be as clear and precise as we would like it to be, but it is to avoid management misinterpreting or adding their meaning. We already experience contractual violations more than we can say is expected. Please read and familiarize yourself with the contract that protects your pay and quality of work-life.
If you have a dispute related to the storm, please email me directly with the following information:

• Subject: IAN TIME LOSS
• SNAPSHOT OR COPY OF PAIRING, BOTH ORIGINAL AND CANCELLED, IF YOU HAVE IT.
• WHAT IT IS YOU ARE DISPUTING
• ARE YOU DISPUTING INDIVIDUALLY OR ON BEHALF OF MORE THAN ONE MEMBER?

If you have family or loved ones in the path of the hurricane, I am sending you and your loved ones positive thoughts for a safe outcome. You are not alone in dealing with these events, and you have EAP and the CIRT team ready to assist you 24/7.

EAP [email protected]
817-540-0108 EXT. 8701

Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT)
800-998-8194

Please, fly & stay safe, and take care of one another.

Christian M. Santana
APFA LGA Base President 
PROUD to represent New York-LGA