Contents:

• Short Reserve Coverage for May

The Company is experiencing a shortage of flight attendants systemwide for the month of May.  Historically, the Company finds the weekends of Mother's Day and Memorial Day difficult to cover.  In order to deal with this and because May was forecast to be an already-tight staffing month, the Company tried to "bulk up" the reserve coverage around those weekends.  That leaves the other weekends in May disproportionately short on reserve coverage.

In order to cover the schedule the best they can, the Company has been eliminating positions on flights where feasible.  Time and safety constraints may make it advisable to use "expedited service procedures" on those flights in which the crew is eligible for understaffing pay.  Please refer to Section 3, paragraph F of the Contract.  Of course, as always, we should offer our passengers the full range of services onboard.

The first group of voluntary furloughees returning in June should improve the systemwide staffing situation.