Last Hotline		Last Hotline
Hotline #01-06	Hotlines 01-01 thru 01-05 | Hotlines 00-39 thru 00-45
Hotline #01-07	Hotlines 00-33 thru 00-38 | Hotlines 00-28 thru 00-32
Hotline #01-08	Hotlines 00-27 thru 00-20 | Hotlines 00-16 thru 00-19
	Hotlines 00-11 thru 00-15 | Hotlines 00-06 thru 00-10
	Hotlines 00-01 thru 00-05  | Archived Hotlines

Please make a note of a typographical error in the Contract, Section 12.F.22.b on page 12-15, line 41. The end of the last line in this paragraph should read "paragraph 16". This refers to the earlier paragraph F.16 in Section 12 regarding trip drops. This can be verified by going back to the British Airways wet lease agreement between AFA and company and the original ITD side letter of 1994.

Implementations Issues Effective May 1, 2001
As you know there are many provisions in our contract that were scheduled to become effective based on the implementation of SAP and Secondary Lines.  As we have previously mentioned, due to the complicated algorithm and computer programming, SAP and Secondary Lines for flight attendants will be delayed until September 2001.  In the meantime AFA has notified the company that absent immediate implementation of certain provisions (such as the Reserve override pay, additional inviolable days off), AFA would have no choice but to file an MEC grievance on this issue.  We await the company’s response to our demands. 

Procedures for Crewmember Illness or Injury
The Company has established procedures in place that address what happens in case you are injured or become ill while on a trip. Please familiarize yourself with these procedures, which are found in the Policies and Procedures Manual on page 5, "General Policies and Procedures”:

• Notify the Captain, who in turn will notify the Customer Service Manager or designee of the inbound station.

• If after business hours, and at the hotel, notify the Captain or another crewmember. Hotel personnel may assist in locating medical help, if necessary. The Customer Service Manager, or designee, may extend the hotel accommodations, if necessary.

• The Customer Service Manager or designee will arrange for medical services, transportation, and someone to accompany you to the hospital or doctor’s office.

To reach a crewmember in an emergency, family members may call the Operational Control Center number after normal business hours: 412-747-3535. During business hours, a Flight Attendant supervisor should be called.

New Shuttle Pre-Departure Snack Service
AFA has challenged Inflight Services regarding the new Shuttle Pre-Departure Snack Service that requires flight attendants to collect snack bag refuse during ground movement and allows passengers to stow the snack bag under their seats. 

After evaluating the pertinent FAA regulation and guidance regarding the new Shuttle snack service, AFA does NOT believe that the intent of the FAA is to allow Flight Attendants to collect anything more than paper & plastic cups during ground movement. Nor does it allow passengers to stow the snack bag under their seat. 

AFA contends that Flight Attendants should not be collecting refuse, other than cups, when their primary duty is to secure the cabin for takeoff.

For now, please conduct the service per Inflight procedures. We will keep you posted as this issue progresses. The FAA cannot fine you for following these procedures since the company has issued them.

Service Procedures During Extended Ground Delays
The Company has issued Domestic Service Bulletin 01-08 and Transatlantic Bulletin #4 which detail additional onboard service during extended ground delays. When implementing this additional service consider your personal safety as well as the safety of our passengers. The Bulletin states that the aircraft must be PARKED at the gate or PARKED away from the gate. While the aircraft is taxiing, we must be secured in our jumpseats.

The service Bulletin further states, "ground movement may not commence until the cabin is re-prepared for take-off." If you have any questions regarding safety implications of this new on-ground service please contact your local AFA Safety rep.

Pilot BID NO: 01-04
EFFECTIVE MONTHS: AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, and OCTOBER  2001

Pilot Bid 01-04 Features:

Retirement of all DC-9’s and 8 MD-80’s
Last A-321 delivery in August 2001

FORECAST FOR THE NEXT BID:

Continued retirement of MD-80 aircraft
PHL/LGW transferred to Domestic flying

SUMMARY of Effect on Flight Attendant Positions For Pilot Bid 01-04: 

BWI  MetroJet -27

PHL   A-330  -13   A-319 +15

PIT  MD-80 -63

CLT   A319 +15

BOS, DCA, LGA No Change

PIT LEC Council 40 Election Results

President       Theodora “Teddy” Xidas
Vice President  Mark Gentile
Secretary       Gineen Ferrara
Council Rep     Jeffrey Forbes
Council Rep     Emmett Freshwater

AFA Women's Caucus
AFA will hold a Women's Caucus in Charlotte, NC on May 22 & 23 starting at 3:00 pm at the Embassy Suites Airport. The Caucus is open to all AFA members and the registration deadline is May 15. Panel discussion will focus on experiences with mentoring programs and developing leadership.

If you need a room, act now to reserve the rate of $129. After May 8, depending upon availability, the rate could go as high as $185. 

You need not be an AFA officer or committee member to attend. Any flight pay loss and all expenses are the responsibility of the individual.

To register, call Georgeanne, 800-424-2401, ext. 826 or email: gwiggin@afanet.org

International Youth Exchange Program
The International Youth Exchange Program (IYE) for families of airline employees is accepting applications for participation in the program for the summer of 2001 until May 15th.

Youths, ages 12-18, have an opportunity to spend two weeks during the summer with an airline family in another country. At a later date during the summer, the other youth visits the student and their airline family for two weeks. Matches are based on families with students close in age. 

Begun in 1994, The International Youth Exchange Program (IYE) has facilitated the exchanges of more than 600 youth, worldwide. An airline employee coordinates the program.

Youth from families that work for Lufthansa, British Airways, American Airlines, Alaska Airways, Northwest Airlines, Air France, SAS, United Airlines, Iberia, US Airways and KLM have been involved in the program.

Who is eligible?

• Youth ages 12-18 with an interest in learning about a new culture
• Youth with an open and flexible attitude that will enable them to adapt to the host family life
• Youth with a parent who works for an airline
• Knowledge of a foreign language is NOT necessary

• An airline pass
• Spending money
• Application fee of $200.00  (refundable if a match is not found)

Consequences of Alcohol Misuse
Terminations for misuse of alcohol can be traced to mistakes made in two distinct categories:

• Reserve flight attendants who mistakenly believed they were automatically released from duty.
• Flight attendants on layovers who miscalculate the 12-hour rule.

More detailed info on this subject can be found in the next edition of the "AFA Connections", on the website at www.afausairways.org and the *E-line*.

If you are ever test positive to an alcohol test, contact your local Union office immediately.

SAP and Secondary Line Implementation
The Flight Attendant Scheduling Committee continues to work on the details of the new flight attendant Scheduling Adjustment Process (SAP) as well as setting the parameters for construction of new secondary lines.

As you will recall, the company informed us in February that due to programming difficulties, they would not be able to meet the May 1, 2001 contractual deadline for the implementation of SAP. 

We are addressing the issue of contractual items that are tied to SAP and/or secondary lines which were also to be implemented on May 1. Including:

• Increasing the number of Reserve Inviolable days from four to six
• Reserve override pay of $1.00 per block hour flown for reserves with more than five years seniority
• Company consent to fly on inviolable days
• Priority trip assignment
• Automatic sign-in for lineholders 

New Flight Attendant LTD Plan
The Company has finally implemented an in-house Long Term Disability (LTD) plan for flight attendants beginning April 1, 2001. The new plan:

• Provides a greater monthly benefit
• Redefines the term "disability" 
• Eliminates the mandatory Return to Work program except where such flight attendants choose to apply for positions within the company.

Members who are currently on LTD or who were injured/ill prior to April 1, 2001 will fall under the old plan as outlined in Section 22-F.1.a-d. 

Contract Spotlight
Language of Destination/Origination (LOD/O) Flying - Section 13

As a review, the company has the right to designate which positions are LOD/O positions and whether to fill the LOD/O positions to the maximum limit per aircraft (Section-13.A, see page 13-1). 

The Contract limits the number of LOD/Os to the number of passenger seats and per class of service (Section 13-A.1.a - b.) Any LOD/O position cannot be one of the FAR required positions and is considered an ADD position (See the Note on Page 9-24 of the Contract).

Flight Attendants participating in the LOD/O program are required to bid LOD/O monthly lines of flying. However, LOD/O's are not obligated to fulfill their entire monthly obligation, either trip or hourly option, exclusively with LOD/O flying. 

LOD/O flight attendants, as per Section 13.E.8 may bid for non LOD/O trips with awards based on system seniority. Of course, flight attendants in the ITD are restricted to flying within the ITD. 

If crew scheduling withholds such trips due to coverage, LOD/O flight attendants can never be financially disadvantaged. Also keep in mind that a LOD/O flight attendant qualified in the language specified or the required LOD/O position, who is on the flight but not filling a required LOD/O position, will be paid $1.25 per hour for each block hour flown. (See Section 13.E) 

Contract Spotlight: Maximizing Time
All flight attendants may split a trip to maximize flying time. Lineholders may do this any time during a given month. 

To determine if you qualify for splitting a trip:

• Add all credited time flown including vacation and sick time to the time remaining in your line.
• Subtract this amount from your line value or maximum option amount. 
• If crew scheduling has a complete trip equal to this amount, no split will be permitted. 
• If no whole trip exists, then you may split a trip.

• Adding all credited time plus any sick and vacation time 
• Subtracting from either 85:00, 90:00 or the maximum option amount
• If a complete trip is available at your Reserve flight attendant seniority that brings you under your option maximum, no split will be permitted. 

Please review both Sections 9-I and 10-Q for more information about splitting trips.

Pay Date Grievance
You may notice this week that your pay date is April 16th. The Company explains that this is due to a bank holiday which conflicts with the 15th payday.

The MEC has filed a grievance saying that for those who have not changed direct deposit status, this is a violation of the Contract. We will keep you informed as this issue progresses.

Holiday Pay - Section 3
Memorial Day is considered a "compensated holiday" for the purposes of holiday pay. Please review the Section 3.P (Page 3-8 of the Contract) to see how flying a trip on Memorial Day can result in additional pay. 

Keep in mind that the amount of holiday pay varies from trip to trip depending on the credited time, hours away from base on the compensated holiday, and total hours away from base. Additionally, flight attendants who are awarded/assigned OPR and Shuttle Standby or experience "Report/No Fly" situations are also entitled to receive holiday pay on Memorial Day. 

Uniform News

• The new uniform vendor, UFY, has assumed control of the uniform order/return process. As the old "Lion" Company apparel is depleted, you will see new stock uniform pieces from UFY. The new fit lines in the domociles will reflect these new garments. AFA has requested that UFY compare their sizing to the "Lion: so that you may order replacement pieces accordingly.
• Commencing May 1st, you may wear the short sleeve shirt without the uniform jacket. You may still wear the jacket but remember that your wings must always appear on the short sleeve shirt.

BWI Council 87

   When: Thursday, April 19 
   Time: 1:00 P.M.
   Where: Holiday Inn Express 

    Guest Speakers: 
          AFA International President, Pat Friend, 
          US Airways MEC President, Lynn Lenosky 
          MEC Benefits Chair, Rod Norwood 
 

Local Elections for LEC Officers

PIT Council 40 
      Election Ballots must be postmarked -      April 20 
      Election Ballots counted -                 April 30 

If you do not receive your ballot, contact your local AFA office for a duplicate.  Your Union works best when you participate.

CLT Council 89 - RESULTS 
      LEC President -      Steve Hearn
      LEC Vice President - Clare Jones
      LEC Secretary -      Glenda Talley 
      Council Rep. -       Thomas Graves
      Council Rep. -       Marianne Moore

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to those who exercised the right to vote.

Scope
The AFA-UAL contract has strong "Scope" language that protects job security of UAL flight attendants. Any air carrier that United owns and operates must use flight attendants from the United flight attendant seniority list. 

But, in order to proceed with an operational merger, United MUST operate the two carriers and flight attendant groups separately until a merged contract has been negotiated with the flight attendants at both carriers.

So, in order for United to operate the two carriers separately, United needs a waiver from its flight attendants to the "Scope" language in the AFA-UAL contract.

Major Dispute
If United proceeds with the purchase of US Airways without a waiver from the flight attendants, it will be considered a unilateral change to the Contract and "Major Dispute" under the law. 

This change to the Contract would be similar to United unilaterally lowering wages, without first getting an agreement from AFA; United's actions would be illegal. 

If United insists on creating a "Major Dispute", AFA-UAL has the right under the law to respond in kind.

CHAOS™
The response from AFA-UAL will be CHAOS™ as United Airlines flight attendants have now overwhelmingly voted to authorize CHAOS™ strikes.

CHAOStm cannot begin until the U.S. Department of Justice approves the merger and United proceeds with the purchase of US Airways without a waiver that would allow the airline to own and operate US Airways legally under the AFA-UAL flight attendant contract.

United has said it hopes to have a decision on the merger by mid-May.

New Flight Attendant LTD Plan
After unsuccessfully searching for an outside vendor, the Company finally implemented the new Long Term Disability (LTD) plan for flight attendants beginning April 1, 2001 as outlined in Section 22 of the Contract. The new plan will be administered in-house and provides:

• A monthly benefit equal to 60% of salary not to exceed $2350.00
• Establishes the definition of disability as the flight attendant’s inability to perform the flight attendant job during the first 24 months of receiving the benefit. 
• After 24 months, in order to continue LTD benefits, he/she must be disabled from any occupation for which the flight attendant is reasonably suited. 
• Elimination of the Return to Work Program except where the flight attendant chooses to participate. 

• Monthly benefits are based on the previous year's gross salary divided by the number of months actually worked.
• The coverage is on a 24:00 hour basis with benefits beginning upon expiration of ninety days after the disability commences.
• The coverage continues until the earlier of: the flight attendant no longer being disabled or reaching age 65.

Other features:

• Benefits will be integrated with retirement income, Workers’ Compensation, Social Security, and other statutory disability laws. 
• The new plan maintains the LTD Board to resolve disputes. 
• Members who are currently on LTD or who were injured/ill prior to April 1, 2001 will fall under the old plan as outlined in Section 22-F.2. 

Cabin Jumpseat
New procedures for awarding the cabin jumpseat will go into effect only after the company has completed the printing and distribution of seniority integration date "SID" cards that verify flight attendant system seniority integration date (SID). The company estimates completion in the next month. 

SID cards can also be used for determining seniority in: 

• Selection of positions covered from the AIL or for reserves
• Equipment substitution ("who stays/who goes") situations 
• Coverage of vacated FAR required positions

The new procedures are designed to protect and benefit all flight attendants. Seniority is maintained until the last possible moment (10 minutes prior to scheduled departure/close out of the flight) since the jumpseat is not given out until all passenger seats have been allocated.

There is no "revolving door" or "bumping out" of the jumpseat. Flight attendants still have the ability to get the jumpseat on less than full flights; however it will be awarded just prior to the flight’s close-out. 

In the past, junior flight attendants could be left at the gate while a more senior flight attendant, who could have held a passenger seat, received the jumpseat. Under the new procedures, on full flights, junior flight attendants will stand to benefit when more senior flight attendants take passenger seat assignments, when available, rather than the cabin jumpseat.

Finally, flight attendants will no longer have to worry about time stamping and possibly "losing" seniority because they were forced to stand in long lines while waiting to give the gate agent the jumpseat authorization form. Listing for a flight will ensure that your seniority is honored and the jumpseat is available to you. 

Airbus 321 Survey
If you have worked on the new A321, AFA encourages you to participate in a company-sponsored survey. It is essential that you follow the company designed service flow and procedures and adhere to all FAR’s and safety regulations. Equally important is that your input on any problems is sent to the company via these important surveys.

Contract Spotlight:
Language of Destination/Origination (LOD/O) Flying
Despite AFA's efforts to gain control of LOD/O position designation during the last contract negotiations, it remains the company’s right to designate which positions are LOD/O positions as outlined in Section-13.A (see page 13-1).

The company also has sole discretion to fill the LOD/O positions to the maximum limit per aircraft. 

The contract does, however, limit the number of LOD/Os to the number of passenger seats and per class of service (Section-13.A.) 

For example, currently the A330, with more than 175 seats, has three classes of service and a maximum of three LOD/O flight attendants. Should the company eliminate either First or Envoy on the A330 transoceanic international flights, the number of LOD/Os would be reduced to a maximum of two. It is within the company’s right to designate which two position these are, but on the A330, any LOD/O position, while a member of the original bid line crew complement, cannot be one of the FAR required positions and is considered an ADD position (See the Note on Page 9-24 of the Contract).

Contract Spotlight:
Maximizing Time
You may split a trip in order to maximize flying time. Lineholders may do this any time during a given month. To determine if you qualify for splitting a trip:

• Add all credited time flown including vacation and sick time to the time remaining in the line.
• Subtract this amount from your line value or maximum option amount.
• If crew scheduling has a complete trip equal to this amount, no split will be permitted. 
• If no whole trip exists, then you may split a trip.

• Adding all credited time plus any sick and vacation time 
• Subtracting from either 85:00, 90:00 or the maximum option amount

Trip splits for maximizing time are NOT limited to occur in your home domicile. Please review both Sections 9-I (page 9-22) and 10-Q (page 10-12) for more information about splitting trips.

Local Meetings

PIT Council 40

    When: Friday, April 6
    Time: 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
   Where: Hyatt - PIT Airport

  Agenda: General Local Update
          UAL/USA Merger Issues

BWI Council 87

    When: Thursday, April 19 
    Time: 1:00 P.M.
   Where: Holiday Inn Express 

    Guest Speakers: 
          AFA International President, Pat Friend, 
          US Airways MEC President, Lynn Lenosky 
          MEC Benefits Chair, Rod Norwood 
 

Local Elections for LEC Officers

  PIT Council 40 
      Election Ballots must be postmarked -      April 20 
      Election Ballots counted -                 April 30 

  CLT Council 89 
      Election Ballots counted -                 April 12

If you do not receive your ballot, contact your local AFA office for a duplicate.  Your Union works best when you participate.

Both US Airways and United stated that the Justice Department has requested more information on American's Airline’s involvement. 

Unnamed sources said they expect the deal to be delayed about a month.

CHAOS™ Actions Threatened at UAL
Ongoing talks between the Association of Flight Attendants and United Airlines have broken down resulting in AFA's negotiators warning United of things to come. UAL management seems to be unwilling to negotiate seriously with AFA – offering a paltry 4% raise while failing to address other flight attendant issues such as job protection.  If United proceeds with its plans to purchase and operate US Airways without a waiver from UAL’s flight attendants, AFA will view this action as a “major dispute” and illegal under the law. 

A “major dispute” involves an unapproved, unilateral change to a contract. For example, if UAL lowered pay rates or wages without first getting approval from the flight attendants this would result in a “major dispute”. With a “major dispute” AFA can respond in kind under the Railway Labor Act by taking action of its own.

Wholly Owned Subsidiaries
Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings Inc., a commuter operation with a presence in the Eastern and Midwestern United States has announced that it has entered into an agreement with UAL Corporation to acquire the three wholly owned US Airways regional carriers, Piedmont, Allegheny and PSA. This agreement is subject to regulatory approval and is contingent upon and would occur concurrently with the closing of the proposed United/US Airways merger.

AFA has begun an investigation into what the legal effect of this deal as proposed would be.

At issue, once again, is the AFA-UAL “scope” clause that in effect would place the flight attendants from the wholly owned US Airways regional carriers under the richer terms of the United flight attendants' labor contract should United buy the subsidiaries. 

According to UAL management, the regional carriers would be extremely uneconomical to operate in this case. In order to avoid this, UAL management sought a waiver from its flight attendants to permit the purchase without placing the Express carrier flight attendants under the AFA-UAL working agreement. 

It is unfortunate that UAL management has chosen to sell off a valuable asset rather than seriously negotiate with their flight attendants. 

Safety Equipment Relocation
US Airways Corporate Safety, Inflight Services, Engineering & Maintenance Departments all supported AFA's contention that the current onboard location of the AED/EEMKs under the last row of seats, outboard, is absurd. As a result, the AED/EEMK will be moved to the overhead bin.

The process of relocating this safety equipment for the entire fleet will take time, of course, but we should be proud of this accomplishment.

A special thanks to those flight attendants who filed Cabin Safety Reports bringing attention the inaccessibility of the AEDs.

Contract Spotlight – Training 
Flight attendants are free to select training dates from a list of available dates designated by the company. Keep in mind that failure to do so could result in training dates being assigned to you. 

When required to attend training, you will be paid 3+00 pay/NO credit for each of the first two days of required training in the same bid month. Any additional required training days in the same bid month will be 3+00 pay/CREDIT. You may elect pay/NO credit for these additional training days if you wish. 

For those flight attendants attending “out of base” training, a travel day to and from training on a day other than an actual training day will be considered as a day in training for pay purposes.

Finally, when traveling to “out of base” training flight attendants are entitled to Crew Movement Authorization to and from the city were the training is being conducted from the city in which the flight attendant resides. Please refer to Section 21 – Trainings and Meetings for more detailed information on training.

Uniform News
Cintas/UTY, the new uniform vendor, will start fulfilling your uniform orders/returns the week of April 2. This includes processing orders/returns received after March 2nd and back orders.

LOCAL MEETINGS

Local Elections

Elections for LEC Officers

    PIT Council 40 
      Election Ballots mailed -                  March 30
      Election Ballots must be postmarked -      April 20 
      Election Ballots counted -                 April 30 

    CLT Council 89 
      Election Ballots mailed -                  March 12 
      Election Ballots must be postmarked -      April 2 
      Election Ballots counted -                 April 12

If you do not receive your ballot, contact your local AFA office for a duplicate. 
Your Union works best when you participate.

AFA’s Atlanta Blitz
The Atlanta Blitz is underway! Events include leafleting at the airport and calls/visits to Delta flight attendants. Polls have shown that Delta flight attendants prefer to hear from AFA members about Union membership and how contracts can make a difference. We need your help with this organizing effort, which runs until March 24.

Come for a day or stay for the whole week. We appreciate and need volunteers but some flight pay loss may be available. If interested in joining us in Atlanta, or for more information, call Carol Edelson at 888-997-8866 or email: cmeafa@compuserve.com or the website: http://www.deltaafa.org.