To All US Airways Flight Attendants:

During the December 2002 round of negotiations, the Company
proposed changes to our current seniority based reserve system
to one that's called a time balancing reserve system. The system
proposed was the same time balancing system that the Company had
proposed to ALPA and that ALPA had already agreed to accept. The
AFA negotiating committee appointed by the MEC in December
(myself and Pam Hook, MEC Vice President) attempted to negotiate
alternatives, but the Company was threatening to liquidate.
Ultimately, the provisions that make up the time balancing
system were presented to the membership and were ratified by a
majority of the flight attendants.

The MEC added two additional members to the Negotiating
Committee - Mollie McCarthy, LEC President PHL and Carol Austin,
PHW Flight Attendant. AFA's Negotiating Committee (comprised of
Perry Hayes, MEC President, Pam Hook, MEC Vice President, Mollie
McCarthy, PHL flight attendant and LEC President, and Carol
Austin, PHW flight attendant) and the Company have been meeting
over the course of the last nine months in an effort to resolve
our disagreements over the application of the new reserve
system. Those meetings progressed until early June when the
Company presented AFA with what it called its Final Proposal.

In that proposal, the Company presented a reserve time balancing
system driven by percentages (i.e., credited hours divided by
each flight attendant's option maximum) instead of one driven by
credited monthly projected hours, as stated in the language of
December's agreement. After several more meetings during the
remainder of June and July, AFA and the Company were unable to
reconcile our different interpretations. We then agreed to
mediate the portions of the reserve section on which we could
not reach agreement. In addition, we agreed to exclude from
grievance mediation the portion that relates to hours/minutes
versus the Company's proposed percentage system and two other
related issues: when vacation time will be credited for the
purposes of time balancing, and the elimination of leveling.
These issues would instead be submitted directly to arbitration.


On September 23, the MEC met and agreed to accept the Advisory
Opinion and Award of the mediator on the unresolved issues that
were not submitted to arbitration. A summary of that Opinion and
Award follows. On October 7, the arbitration was held to
determine whether or not the language agreed upon by the parties
in December 2002 supports the Company's percentage based reserve
system, or instead is consistent with AFA's position that the
percentage based reserve system is a completely new idea,
neither proposed by the Company, nor agreed to by AFA in the
December negotiations. The outcome of the arbitration will not
be known until later this month or perhaps early next month. The
Company plans on implementing its percentage based system on
November 1, 2003, right before the busiest travel season of the
year. We have repeatedly requested that the Company delay
implementation until early next year, but at this point, the
Company has not indicated any plans to delay implementation.

We will update the Hotline and the e-line as soon as we have the
decision from this arbitration. The Negotiating Committee will
begin roadshows about the new reserve system after November 1.
In the meantime, we are providing highlights of the new reserve
system for your information. We encourage all flight attendants
to go to www.afausairways.org and sign up to receive the e-Line
by clicking on e-Line and then clicking on Sign-up.

In Solidarity,

Perry Hayes
MEC President

Highlights or Advisory Opinion and Award - New Reserve System

Reserve flight attendants will continue to bid for days off. There will now be eight (8) inviolable days off and three (3) non-inviolable days off.

The eleven (11) off days can be divided into two (2), three (3), or four (4) periods. Each period must have no fewer than two (2) days and no more than eight (8) days.

If non-inviolable days are grouped with inviolable days, the non-inviolable days will precede the inviolable days; the grouping must have no fewer than two (2) inviolable days, and there can be no more than two (2) groups having both non-inviolable and inviolable days off.

Trips will be awarded to reserves on the basis of time balancing among all reserves at each flight attendant domicile.

Reserves with more available days than a trip flies or with fewer available days than a trip flies will not be passed over and may not pass.

Reserves returning at 1500 or beyond, reserves on uninterrupted domicile rest and reserves on non-inviolable or inviolable days off will not be called unless the flight attendant requests to be called or unless the Company invokes the provisions of Letter of Agreement 13. If uninterrupted rest is broken, reserve can demand a new uninterrupted rest period as per Sec.11.F.3.

If multiple trips are open at the time the reserve is contacted, the reserve must select a trip that does not require a split if one is available.

If the only trips available at the time the reserve is contacted conflict with non-inviolable days off and reserve coverage is inadequate, the Company may require the reserve to fly into such off days. If this occurs, the Company must restore those non-inviolable days as follows:

-- Days will be moved to the end of the affected period or if not practicable, moved to another period of off days in the same month;
-- With mutual consent, move such off days to create an additional period of off days within the same month provided that such additional period of off days is not adjacent to an existing period of off days;
-- With the reserve flight attendant's consent, move the non-inviolable off days to another period of off days in the subsequent calendar month.

If the only trips available at the time the reserve is contacted conflict with non-inviolable days and reserve coverage is adequate, the Company will offer the following options to the reserve in the order listed. If the reserve declines to select from the options offered, the Company may require the reserve to remain on call.

-- Give up all or a portion of the non-inviolable days off to complete the trip in which case such days will not be restored;
-- Release early into non-inviolable days with Company consent;
-- Remain on call with Company consent;
-- Select a trip to split in domicile;
-- If no trips are available that can be split in domicile, then with Company consent, select a trip to split in a domicile that operates in the same time zone as the reserve's domicile in the continental United States, or,
-- If not trip is available that can be split in a domicile that operates in the same time zone as the reserve's domicile in the continental United States, then with Company consent select a trip to split in any station in the continental United States or Canada.
-- Fly up to 2359 on the first inviolable day in any period of inviolable days in order to complete at trip in which case that portion of the inviolable day will not be restored;
-- With Company consent, give up all or a portion of the inviolable days in order to complete the trip in which case the inviolable days will not be restored;
-- Select a trip to split in domicile or in a domicile in the same time zone as the reserve's domicile in the continental United States, or,
-- Select a trip to split in any station.

High option (95, 105, and six-trip option) flight attendants may give up inviolable days by making themselves available to Future or Daily crew scheduling with Company consent and days given up will not be restored. Consent will be granted unless there is a compelling operational reason to withhold consent.

Reserves will be released upon award or assignment unless in the case of irregular operations declared by the Director of Crew Scheduling or his/her designee. However, a reserve holding an award/assignment from Future scheduling may elect to remain on call for an award/assignment from Daily scheduling.

A reserve may request to be released into non-inviolable or inviolable days off and depending on the adequacy of coverage, the Company may grant the request to be released early into non-inviolable and/or inviolable days off. Similarly, the Company may offer to release a reserve early into non-inviolable or inviolable days off.

ITD reserves having fewer available days than the shortest trip operating out of the reserve's ITD domicile may request an early release into either non-inviolable or inviolable days off by contacting crew scheduling at any time after 2400. The Company will grant such a request for early release prior to inviolable days at the point the ITD reserve would no longer be able to complete a trip prior to commencement of inviolable days and depending on the adequacy of coverage, may grant such request for early release prior to non-inviolable days.

In order to ensure adequate coverage during protected holidays, there will be a four-day blackout period, such period to begin four (4) calendar days prior to the holiday. Reserve may fly into the blackout period in order to complete a trip that originates outside the blackout period. Reserves having non-inviolable days or inviolable days off during the blackout period may be prohibited from picking up trips that originate on days off (non-inviolable or inviolable) during the blackout period. Reserves having available days within the blackout period may be required to split a trip for non-inviolable or inviolable days falling within the blackout period.

Quick Calls - Volunteers will be awarded trips in seniority order (current contract language); Assignments for quick calls will be in inverse order of seniority (current contract language); When trips are assigned in inverse order of seniority, trips will be assigned to the reserve who would have the least amount of non-inviolable days impacted.

OPR - OPR will be offered to reserves in time balanced order; If after all trips have been awarded/assigned, there remains OPR assignment(s), that have not been selected, OPR will be assigned by the Company to the next reserve(s) on the list in time accrued order. 

If there is more than one OPR assignment which check in at different times, the reserve will be able to select the assignment he/she prefers. Among reserves sitting OPR duty, trips selection will be based on seniority, regardless of time accrued. The limitations of OPR assignments contained in the current contract are unchanged.

TDY - Volunteers for TDY will be awarded in seniority order. When in the TDY domicile, TDY reserves will be processed in time-balanced order after the domiciled reserves are processed in time-balanced order. Quick calls will be handled as follows: volunteers in seniority order, assignments in inverse order of seniority.

Claiming trips - wherever current book calls for claiming trips flown junior, trips claimed under the new system will be those that could have been flown had the trip not been awarded to a reserve lower on the time accrued order list.

Double-up for reserves - No different than today.
====================
AFA reviewed the Company's RSV Handbook and suggested several additions and changes. The Company did not incorporate all of our suggestions/changes into this document. For instance, the Company did not include a section on Buddy Bidding which did not change in the contract. AFA had also suggested several examples to better help the reserves understand certain aspects of the new system. The Company again elected to omit those examples.

US Airways Flight Attendant Reserve Time Balancing System
Implementation: November 2003

The following information contains the provisions of the Reserve Time Balancing System that will be implemented in November 2003.

What Hasn't Changed?

While you will notice a number of changes with the new reserve system, there are many areas that will remain the same. The rule of thumb is that, if an item is not addressed with the new time balancing system, the contract or current practice will govern. The following are just four examples of current practices that will remain the same:

-- A reserve's duty period begins and ends at 1500 (domestic) and 1700 (ITD)

-- All reserves must live within one (1) hour traveling time by ground transportation to the check-in point and have a minimum of one hour and thirty (1:30) minutes to report to the airport

-- A reserve has fifteen (15) minutes from the time Crew Scheduling contacts him/her to return the call and avoid receiving a No Contact 

-- Flying obligations and reserve guarantees according to your applicable option.

What Is Time Balancing?

Under the reserve time balancing system, trips are awarded based on the percentage of a reserve's month-to-date time credited and/or flown to his/her option maximum*. When covering trips, Crew Scheduling will first call the reserve with the lowest time balancing percentage and continue to contact flight attendants from the lowest to the highest percentage within the domicile. In the case of reserves with identical time balancing percentages, trips are awarded based on seniority. The order of contact for ITD reserves is the same as that of domestic reserves (from lowest to highest time percentage based on hours flown/credited to his/her option). The same holds true for LOD/O's, who will be contacted in time balanced order within the applicable LOD/O group. LOD/O's choosing to fly in a non-LOD/O position will be contacted in time balanced order within the applicable non-LOD/O group. 

How Percentages Are Calculated

To calculate the percentages, the sum of each reserve's monthly credited time, including pay time, vacation, and, if applicable, training, is divided by the option maximum*. Domestic reserves will use 85 hours as the non-option maximum while ITD reserves will use 85/95/105 for the 4/5/6 trip option flight attendants. The figures are used strictly for calculating the percentage and do not reflect flying obligations**. This calculation provides a percentage (ratio) for each reserve which reflects how close the reserve is to meeting his/her option. For example, if a reserve on the 55-hour option flies a 4-day trip worth 21 hours, the reserve will be at 38.18% of his/her option maximum. A non-option reserve who flies the same 21 hour trip will be at 24.71% of his/her option maximum. Therefore, because the flight attendant at 24.71% of his/her option is further away from meeting his/her option flying for the month, he/she will be contacted by Crew Scheduling before the reserve at 38.18% of his/her option maximum.

*  Non-option denominator is 85:00
** Flight attendants may continue to call out of time at the low end of their options or may choose to fly to the high end of their options. The non-option flight attendant may call out of time at 80:01 or may continue to fly to 90:00 Credited time will include all credited time for trips flown, vacation time credited as each day is completed, and training time as that day is processed. Any claims, such as jury duty or bereavement, submitted by the reserve will be included when approved by Claims Administration. Sick time will not be included in the credited time daily totals since all sick pay is credited upon completion of the bid month. Therefore, reserves are no longer able to call out of time sick. 

The CATCREW (Option 18) screen will reflect the reserves in the order in which they will be called for assignment. The column entitled LTO (Least Time Order) will be used as the contact list. The listing will include all reserves with available days (as well as those flight attendants who choose to be available on his/her OFF days) and the amount of credited hours each reserve has month-to-date. The reserve with the smaller ratio percentage will be the first to be contacted by Crew Scheduling for processing.
  

Days Off

Reserves will continue to bid for days off by bid lines until Preferential Bidding becomes available, at which time they will input day off preferences into the Preferential Bidding System.

The number of days off remains at eleven (11) per month, with an increase in the number of inviolable (INV) days from six (6) to eight (8) days, leaving three (3) non-inviolable (OFF) days per month.

All reserve lines will initially have days off divided into either two (2), three (3) or four (4) periods. If OFF days are grouped with INV days, the OFF days must precede the INV days and the group must contain no fewer than two (2) INV days. Additionally, once Preferential Bidding is in place, there can be no more than two (2) groups having both OFF and INV days together.
  

Flying On Days Off

High option flight attendants (95 hr, 105 hr, and 6 trip) may, with Scheduling's consent, continue to fly into OFF and INV days to complete or originate trips. As has been the practice in the past, Scheduling will continue to liberally allow this for high option flyers when it is operationally feasible. The Company will grant consent unless there is a compelling operational reason to withhold consent.

All flight attendants, regardless of their options, will continue to have the ability to fly into OFF days to complete a trip or originate trips by contacting Scheduling and making themselves available (AVV). Such days off will not be restored. However, if a reserve is assigned into an OFF day by Scheduling, the OFF day will be restored using parameters in the current agreement. 

All reserves may choose to complete a trip that is scheduled to return to domicile between 15:00/17:00 and 23:59 (including the :15 and :30 debrief as applicable) of his/her first INV day. A reserve may fly into his/her INV day past 23:59 to complete a trip with Scheduling's consent. In such cases the INV day(s) will not be restored.

The exception to flying on INV or OFF days will be during blackout periods. To ensure adequate coverage during the protected holidays (as defined in 9.B.1.d. of the Agreement), there will be a four-day blackout period to begin four (4) calendar days prior to the holiday. Reserves may fly into the blackout period to complete a trip that originates outside the blackout period but may only originate a trip during the blackout period with the consent of Crew Scheduling. 
  
Crew Scheduling Processing

When contacted by Crew Scheduling, a reserve will be given a choice of all available trips. A reserve may not pass but must select any trip that avoids a split if there is one available. If all remaining trips require a split, the following options will be offered, depending on coverage: 
  

OFF Days: 

If the only available trips at the time of reserve processing conflict with non-inviolable (OFF) day(s) and reserve coverage is adequate, the Company will offer the following options to the reserve in the order listed. If the reserve declines to select from the options offered, the Company will require the reserve to remain on call (see ROC on page 6). 

give up all or a portion of the day(s) off in order to complete the trip in which case the day(s) off will not be restored, release early into day(s) off with Company consent (refer to page 6), remain on call with Company consent (refer to page 6), select a trip to split in domicile, if no trip is available which can be split in domicile, then with Company consent select a trip to split in a domicile that operates in the same time zone as the reserve's domicile in the continental United States, or if no trip is available which can be split in a domicile that operates in the same time zone as the reserve's domicile in the continental United States, then with Company consent select a trip to split in any station in the continental United States or Canada. 

If the only available trips at the time of reserve processing conflict with OFF day(s) and reserve coverage is inadequate, the Company may require a reserve to fly into OFF day(s) despite the conflict. If the Company requires a reserve to fly into OFF day(s), the day(s) will be restored as follows (which is current agreement):

-- move the non-inviolable (OFF) day(s) to the end of the affected period of off days, or if moving the non-inviolable (OFF) day(s) to the end of the period of off days is not practicable, then
-- add the non-inviolable (OFF) day(s) to another period of off days in the same calendar month, with mutual consent use the non-inviolable (OFF) day(s) to create an additional period of off day(s) within the same month provided that such additional period of off day(s) is not adjacent to an existing period of off days, or with the reserve's consent, move the non-inviolable (OFF) day(s) to another period of off days in the subsequent calendar month.
  

INV Days: 

If the only available trips at the time of reserve processing conflict with inviolable (INV) days and coverage is adequate, the Company will offer the following options to the reserve in the order listed. If the reserve declines to select from the options offered, the Company will require the reserve to remain on call. 

Fly up to 23:59 on the first inviolable (INV) day in any period of inviolable (INV) days in order to complete the trip, in which case that portion of the first inviolable (INV) day will not be restored, with Company consent, give up all or a portion of the inviolable (INV) days off in order to complete the trip in which case the days off will not be restored, release early into days off with Company consent, remain on call with Company consent select a trip to split in domicile or in a domicile in the same time zone in the continental United States as the reserve's domicile , or select a trip to split at any station. 

If the only available trips at the time of reserve processing conflict with inviolable (INV) days and coverage is inadequate, the Company will offer the following options to the reserve in the order listed. If the reserve declines to select from the options offered, the Company will require the reserve to split a trip in the order listed. 

Fly up to 23:59 on the first inviolable (INV) day in any period of inviolable (INV) days in order to complete the trip in which case that portion of the first inviolable (INV) day will not be restored, with Company consent, give up all or a portion of the inviolable (INV) days off in order to complete the trip in which case the days off will not be restored, select a trip to split in domicile or in a domicile in the same time zone in the continental United States as the reserve's domicile, or select a trip to split in any station.
  
Release Until Check-In 

Reserves will be released by Crew Scheduling automatically once they have received an assignment until the check-in for that assignment. A reserve may request to remain available to Daily and therefore decline to be released to check-in even though a Future award has been accepted. The exception to the automatic release is when an irregular operation is declared by the Director of Crew Scheduling or his/her designee. The reserve will be told at the time of assignment if an irregular operation exists. Remain On Call (ROC)

On days with adequate coverage, reserves may opt to Remain On Call to protect days off or vacation days. Therefore, if a reserve is unable to fly a trip in its entirety, he/she may request to remain on call instead of flying into days off or requiring that a trip be split. Scheduling will then continue processing the remaining reserves available in that processing period (Daily assigning or Future assigning). Should trips become available later for which reserves who have chosen to ROC are legal, Scheduling will contact the reserves that opted to ROC in least time order who are able to complete the trip in its entirety.
  
Release Early into Days Off 

When there is adequate coverage, a reserve may request to be released early into days off when the remaining trips would conflict with their days of availability. Such releases will only be granted with Company consent. 

ITD reserves who have fewer days available than the shortest ITD trip in his/her domicile may request an early release into either OFF or INV days by contacting Crew Scheduling after 2400. The granting of such a release into OFF days will depend on coverage. The Company will grant such a request for early release prior to INV days when the ITD reserve would no longer be able to complete a trip prior to the beginning of INV days.

Quick Call 

Reserves may continue to make themselves available to Crew Scheduling for quick calls. When a trip becomes available within two hours prior to departure, quick calls will be awarded to volunteers in seniority order provided there are no OPR's on duty. Thereafter, trips will be assigned in inverse seniority order to reserves who are available to fly the trip in its entirety. After this group has been processed, trips will be assigned to reserves in inverse seniority order who would have the least amount of OFF days impacted.

On Premise Reserve 

Assignment for OPR duty will be in least time order. If an OPR assignment remains after all trips have been awarded/assigned to reserves, OPR will be assigned to the next reserve(s) on the list in time balancing order. If more than one OPR shift is available, the reserve may select his/her assignment. The reserve must be available for a trip of at least three days and 18 hours of time. No flight attendant may be involuntarily assigned to OPR duty more than twice a month unless all other reserves have been assigned twice a month. Once the reserve arrives at the airport and checks in with Crew Scheduling, trip selection will be based on seniority. 

Temporary Duty Assignment (TDY)

Temporary duty vacancies will first be offered to reserves in seniority order, as we do today. In the event of insufficient bidders, temporary duty may be assigned in inverse seniority order. Once the reserves arrive at the temporary base, they will be placed below the reserves residing in the base and will be processed in time balancing order within their group after all reserves residing in the domicile have been awarded trips. The temporary duty reserves will be called in inverse seniority order for quick call assignments unless there are reserve volunteers from the domicile.


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AFA Local Numbers
Council 40 PIT 724-695-3329
Council 41 DCA 703-690-6859
Council 69 BOS 978-352-7401
Council 70 PHL 215-492-0840
Council 82 LGA 201-803-6141
Council 89 CLT 704-527-0325