• FEBRUARY STAFFING AND VPLOA
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FEBRUARY STAFFING AND VPLOA

Flight Attendant Block Hours have been reduced as a result of the winter capacity reductions and the pull down of transatlantic seasonal flying. In addition, further capacity reductions due to the economy and the industry will result in decreased scheduled Block Hours for 2009. Therefore, February 2009 scheduled Block Hours will be roughly the same as the January 2009 scheduled Block Hours. March 2009 Block Hours have not been finalized. The Company plans on increasing scheduled Block Hours beginning in April. In short, for the next several months the Company has more Flight Attendants than it needs.

A comparison of January and February 2008 and 2009 Block Hour system wide and by domicile is detailed below:

To combat the overstaffing problem without an Involuntary Furlough, the Company offered a three- month Voluntary Furlough that ended at the beginning of December. 100 Flight Attendants are currently on the eight-month Voluntary furlough and will return in May.

The Company has also tried to offset the overstaffed situation through the use of Voluntary Personal Leaves of Absence (VPLOA) with limited success. The Company would have awarded 339 January VPLOAs, but only 140 VPLOA bids were received, leaving the system overstaffed by approximately 200 Flight Attendants. The most glaring example of overstaffing is in PHL. The Company would have allowed 274 VPLOA awards but only 74 PHL Flight Attendants bid for a VPLOA.

February is not going to be much different. The Company has projected system wide overstaffing to be approximately 340 positions. The Company is projecting a need for 236 VPLOA based on for February for Flight Attendants based in LGA, CLT, BOS and PHL. The reason the numbers do not match are based on unknown factors (i.e. medical leaves and attrition). Obviously, the number of projected VPLOAs is based the staffing levels but that is a fluid process. The largest numbers would be in the most overstaffed bases.

The bottom line is, rather than involuntarily furlough, the Company is trying to use the voluntary process to ease the overstaffing. The staffing levels will begin to match Block Hour projections beginning in April.

Depending on VPLOA bidding within each domicile, the possibility exists that more senior Flight Attendants than ever before will be on Reserve for the next several months.

The Union has published the Block Hour recap in order to highlight the disparity between Block Hours and staffing by domicile. Today the Union, convinced the Company to extend the closing of the February VPLOA bid from today's closing until Friday December, 19, 2008 in order to allow Flight Attendants to make a more informed decision relative to the Block Hour projection and Flight Attendant's position within their domicile.

The Union believes the expansion and contraction in PHL, which overall affects the entire system, could be reduced by operating more seasonal transatlantic flying on year-round basis. Marketing continues to tell the Union that converting seasonal transatlantic flying to year round flying to certain transatlantic cities would be unprofitable- the Union disagrees. The Union does not believe that paying Reserves 73 hours a month and only getting a 30-40% utilization works well for either party.

This is a fine line for both the Company and the Union, but the fact remains our current Reserve system and a seasonally dominated approach to both transatlantic flying and winter reductions in most domiciles can't co-exist without the continued disruption to our membership's lives and earning potential.

Thank you,

Mike Flores, President
The US Airways Master Executive Council
AFA-CWA

The following CBS message has been sent to all BOS-CLT-DCA-LGA-PHL-based FAs:

Date: Monday, 15 December 2008 12:54 ET
To: Emc2-News-c
From: STELZER.M
Subject: Feb 2009 VPLOA deadline extended

The February 2009 Voluntary Personal Leave of Absence (VPLOA) deadline has
been extended until 0900 (ET), Friday, December 19, 2009. These leaves are
effective February 5, 2009 and are being offered to the following domiciles:

--BOS
--CLT
--LGA
--PHL

All VPLOA requests must be submitted electronically via theHub prior to the
deadline of 0900(ET), Friday, December 19, 2008.
Please note the following items regarding the terms of the VPLOA Award:

--The VPLOA will be without pay.
--Any scheduled vacation will be paid.
--Required training scheduled for the month must be attended and will be
compensated accordingly.
--Benefits will remain active for the duration of the leave. Any unpaid
amounts of employee contributions for these benefits will be deducted in
full from the first available paycheck after your return to work. If you
fail to return to work, you will be billed for the total amount and it will
immediately be due and payable.
--Coordinate directly with the vendor or Credit Union if any loan payments
are being deducted from your paycheck.
--No unemployment compensation is available.
--As a blockholder, if you have a lead-in trip into the VPLOA month and are
unable to adjust your schedule via the AIL or ETB, you are responsible for
flying that entire trip.
--As a reserve, your leave begins on February 5th. Depending upon your
February schedule, you could be available to scheduling up to 23:59 on
February 4th.

PAUL KINSEY
DIRECTOR
INFLIGHT PLANNING & ADMINISTRATION

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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AFA Local Numbers
 
Council 41 DCA 703-212-8090
Council 69 BOS 781-289-8454
Council 70 PHL 215-492-0840
Council 82 LGA 315-736-3483
Council 89 CLT 704-527-0325

New Hotline Number Toll Free: 866-USA-AFA2
US AIRWAYS Benefits Information 800-872-4780

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