• LAST TRIP OF THE MONTH

• RECIPROCAL CABIN SEAT AGREEMENT WITH DELTA AIRLINES

• SOUTHWEST AIRLINES EXEMPTION FOR FLIGHT ATTENDANT STAFFING

• Accessing The Hub

• AFA Local Numbers

LAST TRIP OF THE MONTH

Section 9.G.5.a of the Flight Attendant Agreement reads:

5. Last Trip of the Bid Month Pay and Credit

a. When a flight attendant's last series of trip(s) in a bid month is cancelled in its entirety, or when a flight attendant is illegal through no fault to originate his/her last trip of the bid month, he/she shall be paid and credited for the entire pairing(s).

With respect to a carry-over trip, the Company has applied the language to only "pay protect" the portion of the trip in the current bid month. The Union believes that "paid and credited for the entire pairing" means exactly that-the ENTIRE PAIRING.

The Union brought this belief to the Company's attention and after a series of discussions the Company now agrees with our position. If your last trip of the month is a carry-over trip and you are illegal through no fault to originate the trip or it is cancelled in its entirety you will be pay protected for the entire trip including the portion that carries over into to the next month. If you have been denied a claim for such a trip contact your local office.

In a related situation, if the trip is an ETB trip, it is treated no differently. If a Lineholder or Reserve Flight Attendant's last trip of the month is an ETB trip and the trip cancels in its entirety or the Flight Attendant is illegal through no fault to originate the trip, such Flight Attendant will be pay protected for the entire pairing.

RECIPROCAL CABIN SEAT AGREEMENT WITH DELTA AIR LINES

The Company has entered into a Reciprocal Cabin Seat Agreement with Delta Air Lines effective August 1, 2007. I have copied the CBS message below:

Date: Monday, 16 July 2007 13:06 ET
To: Emc2-News-c
From: SHAMBLIN.S
Subject: Reciprocal Cabin Seats on Delta

You asked... We listened... On August 1, it's here...

I'm pleased to announce our first Reciprocal Cabin Seat Agreement. The agreement is between US Airways and Delta Air Lines and is effective August 1, 2007.

The program is designed for flight attendants to travel (for commuting purposes or personal leisure) in what would otherwise be empty cabin seats, free of charge. Transportation is applicable on US Airways and Delta Air Lines flights within the continental United States to/from the U.S., Hawaii, Alaska and the United States Virgin Islands and is on a space available basis.

Guidelines and details for travel on Delta will be posted to theHub and Compass prior to the August 1 effective date.

This is only our first. Be on the look out for other carriers to be added to the program.

The Company is actively pursuing agreements with other carriers.

How did this agreement come about? The answer is primarily because of Union solidarity. At last year's AFA Board of Directors meeting the Board unanimously passed a resolution calling for an AFA-wide campaign of Member Mobilization with the goal of obtaining reciprocal cabin seat agreements. In mid April, AFA Council 66 and the US Airways Master Executive Council launched a joint email advocacy campaign aimed at getting the Company to secure Reciprocal Cabin Seat Agreements with as many carriers as possible. Advocacy campaigns don't work without membership action. In this case the Company received over 2000 emails from members within a period of a few days and began pursuing reciprocal cabin seat agreements with other carriers. You should be applauded for your efforts and the Company recognized for responding to your call for action.

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES EXEMPTION FOR FLIGHT ATTENDANT STAFFING

As you know, at intermediate stops it is permissible for Flight Attendants to leave the aircraft as long as one-half (rounded down) of the minimum crew remains onboard with any through passengers. During boarding and deplaning the number of required Flight Attendants have to be onboard the aircraft-except for Southwest Airlines.

Southwest Airlines has long had a practice of allowing two Flight Attendants to be off the aircraft during deplaning and one Flight Attendant off the aircraft during boarding. Pilots are used in place of the Flight Attendants during the boarding and deplaning process. The FAA instructed Southwest Airlines on several occasions to comply with the FAR. Southwest Airlines filed a petition for exemption to FAR 121.391. On July 5, 2007 the FAA granted Southwest Airlines the exemption to FAR 121.391.

On its face the petition indicates that Flight Attendants are off the aircraft for personal reasons. In fact, that is not true as Southwest Flight Attendants perform a number of other duties while off the aircraft. The petition gets to the heart of the matter by stating the following:

The petitioner states that granting the petition is in the public interest, as it would enable Southwest and its flight attendants to continue performing necessary safety, operational, and service responsibilities to which the traveling public is entitled without having to increase Southwest’s average 25-minute aircraft ground time between flights. The petitioner states that Southwest is the Nation’s leading provider of low-fare airline service and is recognized by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the public at large as a primary competitive force in commercial aviation to ensure that affordable air transportation services are available to travelers and shippers in this country. The petitioner states that Southwest’s ability to offer low fares is predicated on its operational efficiencies and relatively high aircraft utilization, which hinges on Southwest’s short average aircraft turn time, allowing Southwest to operate additional flights per aircraft per day and offer the public lower fares.

The petitioner states that the denial of this petition would undoubtedly result in increased ground time in order for flight attendants to conclude off-aircraft duties prior to the commencement of passenger enplanement, leading to widespread flight delays throughout Southwest’s system or require increased scheduled ground times, resulting in higher costs and ultimately higher fares. The petitioner states that the grant of this petition, at no increased safety risk, will greatly help preserve low-fare airline competition for the benefit of the traveling public.

The petitioner also states that Southwest’s procedures provide an equivalent level of safety.

The petition clearly refers to Flight Attendants performing "off-aircraft duties" and that in order to continue to provide low cost service any change to their existing practice would ultimately result in higher fares.

The FAA found that the petition, if granted, would set a precedent and therefore the petition was published in the Federal Registrar on September 6, 2000. This is done to allow for comments from other parties. The FAA received 12 comments from airlines, labor organizations and individuals- 8 supporting and 4 opposing a grant of exemption.

Both ALPA and AFA opposed the grant of exemption, while the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWPA) and the Transport Workers Union (TWU), representing Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants, supported it.

As expected the Airlines that commented, Delta, American AirTran and US Airways all supported the grant of exemption. Here are US Airways comments:

US Airways, Inc. (US Airways), and America West Airlines, Inc. (America West), support a grant of exemption and request that the FAA grant each carrier similar relief to that requested by Southwest Airlines. The carriers agree with the petitioner and other commenters that the requested relief would continue to provide the high level of safety expected by the traveling public, while supporting the needs of individual crewmembers and giving carriers greater ability to assist passengers. US Airways and America West state that no flight attendant would exit the aircraft without ensuring that the number of other fully trained and qualified crewmembers required by regulation remain onboard and that the substitution of a fully trained and qualified pilot for the forward flight attendant would only occur when operationally necessary and never when it would interfere with or disrupt required preflight duties.

US Airways and America West state that the grant of exemption would give their employees more flexibility to assist individuals and prove a better experience for the traveling public without posing additional risk to passengers, employees, or aircraft. The commenter also states that in the event of an emergency, the location of the aircraft at the gate with the engines shut down would enable assistance from both the airport and tarmac area.

The comment, "the requested relief would continue to provide the high level of safety…while supporting the needs of individual crewmembers is designed to make you think the airline is thinking of your welfare. They are not, as the comment continues, "giving the carriers greater ability to assist passengers", means Flight Attendants will be assisting passengers off the plane.

The comment, "the grant of exemption would give their employees more flexibility to assist individuals", means essentially the same thing- the airline would have the ability to require more duties for Flight Attendants to perform.

We all know it would be good for Flight Attendants to be able to get off the aircraft to purchase food or use the Jetway phone but that is not what this exemption sought. This exemption sought to maintain Southwest Airlines' ability to require Flight Attendants to perform off-aircraft duties in order for the airline to have short turn around times and keep their costs down.

Every other airline will want the same exemption to remain competitive.

This exemption is bad for the following reasons:

• A pilot acting in the place of Flight Attendants is an unsafe practice. Pilots are trained to fly airplanes. Flight Attendants are trained to assess and monitor the passengers (and carry-on bags). Flight Attendants have years of experience doing this-pilots do not.
• The exemption places more duties on the Flight Attendants during an uncompensated period of time. In today's world, duty rig credit is almost non-existent; therefore pushing a wheelchair or assisting unaccompanied minors into the terminal will be done for free.

The exemption and comments by supporters purport the request to be a good thing for Flight Attendants as they will be able to take care of personal matters while off the aircraft yet, by design that will be impossible. If a Flight Attendant is performing "off-aircraft" duties during short ground times (in order to keep costs low) how will she/he ever have a chance to get something to eat?

The Association of Flight Attendants is considering filing an appeal with the FAA. If US Airways seeks an exemption to the FAR you can be sure that we will oppose it. Unless of course they want to pay us the Southwest Airlines top pay rate of $54.77. If that is the case, we may consider talking about an exemption that would allow us to step off the aircraft to use the Jetway phone.

Thank you,

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


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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

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