• LINEHOLDER TO RESERVE TRANSITION

• 24/7 Q AND A AND TRAINING REGISTRATION CLARIFICATION

• HOW TO CLAIM SICK WHEN THE PAIRING CONTAINS A DEADHEAD

• JUMPSEAT DENIALS DUE TO WEIGHT AND BALANCE RESTRICTIONS

• SINGLE AGREEMENT NEGOTIATIONS

• Accessing The Hub

• AFA Local Numbers

A Lineholder who is transitioning to Reserve from one month to the next may encounter a 24/7 conflict. The Company was denying a Lineholder the ability to maximize her/his time in the month she/he is a Lineholder, if by doing so, a 24/7 conflict was created. In other words, the Company was trying to protect the Reserve availability of the Lineholder who was transitioning to Reserve. The MEC filed a grievance citing Section 9.C.2.d (page 9-6). The language reads as follows:

A flight attendant awarded a primary line will have his/her monthly flying obligation set equal to the published line value he/she is awarded. However, accepting such line does not preclude the non-high option flight attendant from exceeding the line value to the monthly maximum. Further, if such flight attendant participates in SAP, his/her monthly flying obligation will be set at the greater of his/her primary line value or post-SAP line value.

The Company agreed to settle this grievance in the following manner:

Mike Flores
MEC President
Association of Flight Attendants-CWA
200 Marshall Drive
Coraopolis, PA 15108

Dear Mike:

As and for a full and final settlement MEC Grievance #30-99-02-045-2006 US Airways and the Association of Flight Attendants agree as follows:

1. XXXX XXXXX will be paid for time lost for October 31, 2006 as result of the Company's restricting his use of the bid sheet as a lineholder during of month October.

2. Moving forward the Company agrees that any flight attendant transitioning from a lineholder status to a reserve status will retain all contractual rights, privileges and obligations while in a lineholder status for such month. When a lineholding flight attendant flies a carryover pairing or pairing at the end of the month which results in a month to month transition conflict that would cause the flight attendant to remain on duty/on call for seven (7) consecutive calendar days or more without twenty-four (24) consecutive hours free from all restraint or duty, the Company will award a "NFL" day on the flight attendant's reserve line. All provisions regarding the "NFL" day/s as outlined in the "Assignment of NOT FAR Legal ("NFL") Days" Letter of Agreement (January 10, 2005) will apply.

This decision is non-precedent setting and non-referable. Please denote your agreement to the terms of this settlement by executing a copy of this letter below, and returning it to my attention. This fully resolves all outstanding issues in MEC Grievance #30-99-02-045-2006, with prejudice.

If a Lineholder wishes to maximize her/his time in the month she/he is holding a line and a 24/7 conflict is created the potential conflict will be solved by the placement of an NFL in the month the Lineholder has transitioned to Reserve. Furthermore all provisions contained in the NFL Day Letter of Agreement will apply. The complete NFL Day Letter of agreement was signed in October as is available on our website at:

http://www.afausairways.org/contract/nfl_side.htm

The same settlement will apply to Flight Attendants in the High Option Group.

24/7 Q AND A AND MODIFICATION TO TRAINING REGISTRATION CLARIFICATION

On November 28, 2006 the Company, via CBS, and AFA, via an Eline, published a Q and A regarding the 24/7 FAA interpretation and the awarding of NFL days. On Dec 21 the Company and AFA agreed to a new procedure for training registration and published a document that also contained 24/7 rules as they apply to training. The December 21 document appears to in some ways contradict the original November 28, 2006 Q and A; therefore the following clarification is being distributed. The following three questions were from the November 28, 2006 Q and A and the clarification appears after each of the original answers -

(6) Q. If scheduled for flight assignments for six days, can a Flight Attendant be required to attend training on the 7th day?

Pursuant to Section 21.G.4 - NO.

Clarification:

Technically this is correct. The Contract language is clear that a Flight Attendant can not be assigned Training if she/he has been on call, on duty or any combination of the two for six days. At the Flight Attendants option she/he may waive the contractual provision and schedule training on the 7th day and not be in violation of the FAR.

(7) Q. If scheduled on call or a combination of on call and flight assignments for 6 days can a Flight Attendant be assigned to training.

Yes. However, the Flight Attendant would have to be given a 24-hour period free from all duty after the completion of training. Other solutions, at the F/A's option, would be to move the training day if another day is available, or to request the 24 hours free of duty prior to the training event.

Clarification:

We have contractual language, 21.G.4, that prevents the Company from assigning training on the seventh day. This question is actually the same as question number 6, however there may be the need to assign training on the day following 6 days of on call/duty or combination of the two (i.e., there are no other available training dates). If that is the case and the Company assigns training on the seventh day a 24 hour period free from all restraint or duty must be provided following training.

(8) Q. Can a training day be awarded/assigned before being on call or duty for six days?

Yes, however, during such period an NFL day must be provided because looking back seven days from the last day of flying, a period of 24 hours free from all duty did not exist.

Clarification:

Technically the answer to this question is no as the Company could not create a 24/7 conflict. However, as in the above example, training may be assigned, but at the same time an NFL day would have to be inserted into the seven day period in order to resolve the 24/7 conflict.

HOW TO CLAIM SICK WHEN THE PAIRING CONTAINS A DEADHEAD

Jane calls in sick for a published two day trip for 8+29 pay/credit. Associated with such trip is a deadhead of 1:31 (DH 46 minutes), and a VM claim (45 minutes) because of Letter 45. Jane knows she is entitled to more than 8+29 but is unsure how to get paid. The following will tell Jane how:

All sick claims automatically pay only the published pay and credit. Therefore, when Jane called in sick for a pairing worth 8+29 pay/credit (which should yield 10+00) she will be required to fill out a PE-39A form to obtain the difference of 1+31.

Jane's sick call will be handled in the following manner.

Step 1, Jane will see her "automatic sick claim" in CATS (option 27) showing published pay/credit time (8+29):

Step 2, If Jane elects, she may claim up to the value of the scheduled deadhead/vm claim (1+31) as a sick claim. She must submit a PE-39A form for the additional amount of time she would like to claim (this would be any amount up to 1+31, which is over the amount automatically charged by the system). If Jane chooses to claim the deadhead time (50% pay/no credit) and the applicable VM claim, the claim will be deducted from her sick bank and the entire sick claim will be paid as "pay and credit". Please keep in mind that this time will be added to the monthly projections. The claim should be submitted in the same month of the sick call to ensure that the claim is reconciled properly. If this is Jane's first sick call the claim will be paid at 100%, not 70%.

As a result of the deadhead portion of the sick claim being paid as "pay and credit", a flight attendant will not be charged with high block hours should the deadhead sick claim portion of the pairing result in the flight attendant exceeding his/her maximum by that amount of time.

Additionally, a flight attendant who over projects his/her hours by claiming sick deadhead "pay and credit" he/she will not be afforded the opportunity to split a trip for over projection.

JUMPSEAT DENIALS DUE TO WEIGHT AND BALANCE RESTRICTIONS

We have received numerous reports from Flight Attendants that they have been either denied or removed from the jumpseat due to weight and balance restrictions. Our contract specifically provides that Flight Attendants are NOT to be removed from the jumpseat due to weight restricted flight. The exact language is from Section 30.F.6 (page 30-6) and reads as follows:

6. A flight attendant awarded the cabin jumpseat will not be removed for weight restricted flights.

The Company has been made aware of this problem on numerous occasions and has issued the following clarification to all stations:

Jumpseat Riders

The following jumpseat riders must not be removed when there are weight restrictions on a flight.

- Riders with priority codes of P1 - P7 and A1
- Flight Attendant jumpseat riders

If necessary, denied boarding must be offered to revenue passengers and if no one volunteers then involuntary denied boarding must be invoked.

Refer to F*PPD/WEIGHT/RESTRICT for
additional information.

The Company will put this information out in a CBS message that you can print and carry with you. If you have any problems with a particular agent, please ask to speak to the station manager or the manager in charge. In addition, please make your local officers aware of any problems you may experience.

SINGLE AGREEMENT NEGOTIATIONS

The Company and the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) will meet on January 10-12 in PHX and on January 20-22 in CLT. The Company "owes" the JNC responses to four proposals made by the JNC in December. I will update you after each session. Again I would like to remind everyone, the JNC will only negotiate a contract that adequately addresses the needs of our members. Company terms of "cost neutral", "highest common denominator" or "business as usual" are not part of our committee's vocabulary.

Thank you,

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

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

Accessing The Hub:

http://thehub.usairways.com 
Logging in the first time your user name is u0(zero) and your five digit employee number. Your initial password is the first five digits of your social security number. Questions about the Hub? Please contact the EDS Help Desk at 336-744-6000 for assistance. More information can also be found HERE.

AFA Local Numbers

Council 40 PIT 724-695-3329
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

Reply to Inflight: askinflight@usairways.com

Got Questions? Get Answers

The *E-Line* is now in a new and improved format. By updating your profile at unionvoice.org you will be able to enjoy improved services in the near future! Visit your subscription management page at: http://www.unionvoice.org/

Got questions about This *E-Line* from AFA - US Airways or any other Union matter? Do NOT REPLY to the *E-Line*. PLEASE contact your local AFA officers or committee chairs directly: http://www.afausairways.org/emailaddresses2.htm

Your MEC Officers
Association of Flight Attendants
Hotline & *E-Line* - US Airways