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AFA US Airways MEC E-Line

July 19, 2005

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VPLOA Awards for Sept. (Explanation)
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AFA Local Numbers

Dear Members,

Below is a note from the Director of Crew Scheduling, Rob Fuhr, who offered an explanation from his Department regarding the limited number of VPLOAs which became base specific. AFA believes that a message could and should have gone out from In-flight BEFORE the closure of the VPLOA to give some notice to the flight attendants in other bases along with the MEC that a VPLOA would be limited for September because of the VFLRII offering. It would only make sense that not everyone would be offered a VPLOA along with 300 additional VFLR participants and merely a simple note to the flight attendants would have decreased the disappointment and anxiety for those who did not receive the VPLOA for September and planned it. However, an explanation is in order, and Rob Fuhr is only relaying his view of the situation. However, he is not the person responsible to send out messages of communication to our group. He is only offering up an explanation to us and to you.

The MEC would have preferred a notice to all flight attendants before the closure of the VPLOA last week emphasizing that the Company "may" be offering a VPLOA for September and that it was not definite what the staffing needs would be for all bases, nor could they award a VPLOA in all bases as a result of the VFLRII offer.

His note to me is below and I am sharing it with you for your better understanding.

Teddy
MEC President

-----------------

Teddy,

Unfortunately things have been changing rapidly here with respect to the fleet and the marketing schedule. All of this has a direct impact on flight attendant staffing. On June 29th (the day the VPLOA solicitation was put out), we did not have a final schedule for September. We knew, based on the previously announced aircraft reductions, that there would be an overall decrease in flying. We did not know to what extent the schedule would be reduced or which bases would be impacted. Hence a CBS message was sent out stating that "We may be offering Voluntary Personal Leaves of Absence (VPLOA) for the bid month of September 2005 for all bases." As soon as the September schedule was finalized and we had a better idea of the level of operations for the remainder of the year, we contacted you to discuss a longer term solution to the overstaffing issues created by the return of the aircraft. These discussions lead to the offering of the VFLR2 program. Had we not offered a VFLR, we would have been able to award additional VPLOAs.

We will not know exactly which bases the 300 VFLRs are coming from until near the end of August. If we assume a proportional distribution of VFLRs, the only bases that would still remain overstaffed in September is PIT and CLT. Hence, the only bases awarded VPLOAs were PIT and CLT. Going forward, if the schedule stabilizes, we should be in a position to only offer VPLOAs in those bases where we know we have an excess.

Hope this helps.

Robert A Fuhr/CSV/USAIR

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AFA Local Numbers

Council 40 PIT 724-695-3329
Council 41 DCA 703-690-6859
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

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