- May 22, 2003
- 1,788
- 18
E-line 2/16/06
Please educate yourselves.
---------------------------
WHY AM I GETTING A HIGH BLOCK LETTER WHEN I ONLY FLEW 80 HOURS?
I was asked that question recently by a flight attendant, who had been notified by her Supervisor she was being given a "High Block" letter for the month of December. Sue (not her real name) went on to ask, "If the Company MAX was 85 hours; how can this be?" She went on to say, "I only flew 80 hours so shouldn't I be getting a Low Block letter?"
After discussing her flying activity for December with her, I was able to determine the reason for Sue being charged with over flying. Her December block was worth 85:00 hours. She flew her block with two exceptions; 1) she dropped a 20 hour four-day trip December 11-14 on the Electronic Trade Board (ETB), and 2) she picked up a 15 hour three-day trip on December 17-19 from the AIL on days off.
Some history may be in order at this point. The ETB was created in response to the company's proposal to eliminate the options and require all Flight Attendants to fly 90 hours per month. In the "old world" low option flight attendants would drop trips in order satisfy their flying options of 50/55 and 70/75. Flight attendants did not have to use the AIL to accomplish this but rather could call crew scheduling and drop trips into open time. The company wanted to eliminate those dropped trips from becoming the company's responsibility to cover. In negotiations the ETB was created as a mechanism to allow for some of the flexibility afforded by the various flying options. The catch was time dropped on the ETB would be picked up by other flight attendants directly rather than being put in open time. Therein, the distinction between "Company Time" (AIL) and "Flight Attendant Time" (ETB) was created.
With regard to the ETB the Contract states:
"The Company will provide an electronic method of picking up, dropping, trading pairings, and trading vacations days (prior to the beginning of the month the vacation occurs) for use by flight attendants on a first come/first served basis." Furthermore, the Contract states:
"trips picked up from the ETB will increase a lineholder's projection (PRJ), maximum (MAX), and obligation (OBL) and trips dropped via the ETB will reduce a lineholder's projection, maximum, and obligation."
I explained to Sue that in her case when she dropped her 20 hour four-day via the ETB it reduced her obligation to 65:00 hours (original line award of 85:00 hours minus 20 hours) AND reduced her company MAX to 65 hours (original company MAX of 85:00 hours minus 20 hours). With her MAX now reduced to 65 hours she could not exceed that amount of time via the AIL. By picking up the 15 hour three-day trip December 17 off the AIL (Company Time) she exceeded the 65 MAX, she had created through the ETB drop, by 15 hours. She therefore over flew in December and received the High Block Letter.
Sue told me she had dropped the four-day trip via the ETB because it conflicted with a previous engagement. She also said she had to fly 85 hours for financial reasons. She did not realize that dropping a trip via the ETB would reduce her MAX and picked up time on the AIL to financially recover the dropped time. Sue's only legal avenue to pick up more time in December would have been via the ETB.
AFA receives a High Block Report from the company each month. In looking through the January report I found there are hundreds of flight attendants who could receive High Block Hour notifications for January. There are cases of Flight Attendants over flying by 50 -60 hours. I began researching some of the individual cases with the company and saw many examples like the one above. It all adds up to thousands of hours of time in January that was picked up illegally from the AIL.
Obviously there is a learning curve involved with the ETB. The key points to remember are:
The ETB was created in part as a mechanism to replace the options.
The ETB is a mechanism to drop, pick up or trade trips, vacation or days off amongst ourselves and not through the Company.
Any time dropped or picked up from the ETB will reduce or increase the projection, company maximum and obligation fields by the corresponding amount. For example, a ten hour ETB drop reduces all three fields 10 hours and correspondingly a ten hour ETB pick increases all three fields.
Once a Flight Attendant drops a trip on the ETB and the fields are reduced the only legal way to increase the fields and thus time is via the ETB.
If a flight attendant uses the ETB to get rid of trips they don't like or want to fly, the company MAX will be reduced. With a reduced MAX the only way to legally increase time is via the ETB.
There is no limit to the amount of ETB time a flight attendant can pick up
A flight attendant can't drop below 50 hours for the month via the ETB.
The AIL and the ETB are two completely different systems with different purposes. While it is perfectly legal to use the ETB for "trip improving" one can not go to the AIL to recover time given up via the ETB without consequences. The consequences are two-fold. For the flight attendant who receives a High Block Letter, that letter becomes an event in the dependability arena that could ultimately jeopardize that flight attendants job. Flight attendants who illegally pick up time from the AIL are taking time away from other flight attendants wishing to use the AIL or time that would ultimately go to reserves.
If you have any questions or doubts about the use of the ETB please call your union representatives or your supervisor.
Thank you,
Mike Flores, President
-------------
April 2006 Primary Lines of Flying: The Director of Crew Scheduling, Mike Finn set the maximums in ALL bases at 85 hours of Company time for the month of April. The blocking objective was a flight attendant window for April of 70-85 hours. However, the pilot's scheduling committee and the computer built the primary lines as follows:
CLT A319 75-90 PHL A319 75-90 PHL 76M 70-90
CLT 733 70-85 PHL 733 70-85 PIT 733 70-85
CLT 76 D 75-90 PHL 76D 75-90 PIT 21M 75-90
CLT 21M 70-85 PHL FAI (INT) 75-90 PIT A319 75-90
CLT 33F (INT) 75-90 PHL 33F (INT) 70-85 DCA 733 70-85
CLT FAD 70-85 PHL FAD 70-85 DCA A319 75-90
CLT FLS (LODO) 70-85 PHL 21M 70-85 LGA A319 75-90
CLT 32J (LODO) 70-85 PHL 32J (LODO) 70-85 LGA 21M 75-90
BOS A319 75-90 PHL FLS (LODO) 70-85
Note: The way the pilot lines are built (by aircraft type and all separately constructed) some lines exceeded the proposed high end of the flight attendant blocking window (85+00). AFA agreed to publish such lines in order to give more flight attendants primary blocks.
Lines Exceeding 85+00: Flight attendants awarded a line that actually exceeds 85 hours can come in with between 80-85 hours for the month of April. Such affected flight attendants may call Crew Scheduling and drop a trip to downward project his/her block or drop via SAP. Flight attendants that received such a block are encouraged to drop time during the SAP window. Further, the AIL may be utilized to eventually get to the aforementioned window of 80 to 85 hours. Additionally, on a non precedent-setting basis an over-fly letter will not apply to a flight attendant that flies his/her awarded line which exceeds 85 hours and he/she make no changes to such line.
April SAP: The timelines are: Group 1 (PIT, PHL, and BOS) opens on February 24th at 1800 and closes on March 2nd at 1800 - Group 2 (CLT, DCA, and LGA) opens on February 24th at 1800 and closes on March 3rd at 1800. Further, the SAP non-high option window is MAX of 85 and MIN of 60.
Secondary Lines of Flying for April: The blocking objective will be a window of 70 - 85 hours. The secondary lines of flying will open on March 8th at 1800 and close on March 13th at 1800.
April Reserve Maximum: The reserve maximum for the April bid month will be 85 hours; therefore, a reserve may call out of time at 80:01.
April IT Lines With Line Lead-in Pairings - CLT Only: Line lead-in trips are added to IT lines in order to bring such lines up to the minimum or to make an additional line. Line lead-ins are pairings at transition time (i.e. March into April) that originate in one month and terminate in another. The practice of adding such pairings in IT lines has been on going for over 10 years and yields more lines of flying and some extra flexibility. CLT Example: Review April IT Block 5026. Pairing 21006 on Mar 30th transitions from the March bid month into the April bid month and is owned by the originating crew. However, duty period 2 of such pairing (21006) is also placed in April's line 5026 as "artificial time" to create a legal line. Line 5026 has a published value of 83+20 but when the "artificial time" of 8+50 is subtracted the recalculated value of the line will be 74+30.
The flight attendants that are awarded such a line may come in with the published time less the "artificial time". The recalculated value of 74+30 will be entered as an adjusted obligation in CATS. Or, the affected flight attendants could SAP upward to 85 hours of Company time to increase his/her flying time in which case the increased post SAP line value would be his/her new obligation for April. Additionally, the AIL may be used to increase the flying time up to a maximum 85 hours of Company. However, in the case of using the AIL this action increases your flying time (projection) but not adjusted obligation of 74+30. Note: Whenever a line lead-in pairing (artificial time) spans a Saturday or/and Sunday such affected flight attendants are NOT required to "touch" for a restricted weekend.
Thank You,
Carol Austin - MEC Scheduling Chair
[email protected]
Please educate yourselves.
---------------------------
WHY AM I GETTING A HIGH BLOCK LETTER WHEN I ONLY FLEW 80 HOURS?
I was asked that question recently by a flight attendant, who had been notified by her Supervisor she was being given a "High Block" letter for the month of December. Sue (not her real name) went on to ask, "If the Company MAX was 85 hours; how can this be?" She went on to say, "I only flew 80 hours so shouldn't I be getting a Low Block letter?"
After discussing her flying activity for December with her, I was able to determine the reason for Sue being charged with over flying. Her December block was worth 85:00 hours. She flew her block with two exceptions; 1) she dropped a 20 hour four-day trip December 11-14 on the Electronic Trade Board (ETB), and 2) she picked up a 15 hour three-day trip on December 17-19 from the AIL on days off.
Some history may be in order at this point. The ETB was created in response to the company's proposal to eliminate the options and require all Flight Attendants to fly 90 hours per month. In the "old world" low option flight attendants would drop trips in order satisfy their flying options of 50/55 and 70/75. Flight attendants did not have to use the AIL to accomplish this but rather could call crew scheduling and drop trips into open time. The company wanted to eliminate those dropped trips from becoming the company's responsibility to cover. In negotiations the ETB was created as a mechanism to allow for some of the flexibility afforded by the various flying options. The catch was time dropped on the ETB would be picked up by other flight attendants directly rather than being put in open time. Therein, the distinction between "Company Time" (AIL) and "Flight Attendant Time" (ETB) was created.
With regard to the ETB the Contract states:
"The Company will provide an electronic method of picking up, dropping, trading pairings, and trading vacations days (prior to the beginning of the month the vacation occurs) for use by flight attendants on a first come/first served basis." Furthermore, the Contract states:
"trips picked up from the ETB will increase a lineholder's projection (PRJ), maximum (MAX), and obligation (OBL) and trips dropped via the ETB will reduce a lineholder's projection, maximum, and obligation."
I explained to Sue that in her case when she dropped her 20 hour four-day via the ETB it reduced her obligation to 65:00 hours (original line award of 85:00 hours minus 20 hours) AND reduced her company MAX to 65 hours (original company MAX of 85:00 hours minus 20 hours). With her MAX now reduced to 65 hours she could not exceed that amount of time via the AIL. By picking up the 15 hour three-day trip December 17 off the AIL (Company Time) she exceeded the 65 MAX, she had created through the ETB drop, by 15 hours. She therefore over flew in December and received the High Block Letter.
Sue told me she had dropped the four-day trip via the ETB because it conflicted with a previous engagement. She also said she had to fly 85 hours for financial reasons. She did not realize that dropping a trip via the ETB would reduce her MAX and picked up time on the AIL to financially recover the dropped time. Sue's only legal avenue to pick up more time in December would have been via the ETB.
AFA receives a High Block Report from the company each month. In looking through the January report I found there are hundreds of flight attendants who could receive High Block Hour notifications for January. There are cases of Flight Attendants over flying by 50 -60 hours. I began researching some of the individual cases with the company and saw many examples like the one above. It all adds up to thousands of hours of time in January that was picked up illegally from the AIL.
Obviously there is a learning curve involved with the ETB. The key points to remember are:
The ETB was created in part as a mechanism to replace the options.
The ETB is a mechanism to drop, pick up or trade trips, vacation or days off amongst ourselves and not through the Company.
Any time dropped or picked up from the ETB will reduce or increase the projection, company maximum and obligation fields by the corresponding amount. For example, a ten hour ETB drop reduces all three fields 10 hours and correspondingly a ten hour ETB pick increases all three fields.
Once a Flight Attendant drops a trip on the ETB and the fields are reduced the only legal way to increase the fields and thus time is via the ETB.
If a flight attendant uses the ETB to get rid of trips they don't like or want to fly, the company MAX will be reduced. With a reduced MAX the only way to legally increase time is via the ETB.
There is no limit to the amount of ETB time a flight attendant can pick up
A flight attendant can't drop below 50 hours for the month via the ETB.
The AIL and the ETB are two completely different systems with different purposes. While it is perfectly legal to use the ETB for "trip improving" one can not go to the AIL to recover time given up via the ETB without consequences. The consequences are two-fold. For the flight attendant who receives a High Block Letter, that letter becomes an event in the dependability arena that could ultimately jeopardize that flight attendants job. Flight attendants who illegally pick up time from the AIL are taking time away from other flight attendants wishing to use the AIL or time that would ultimately go to reserves.
If you have any questions or doubts about the use of the ETB please call your union representatives or your supervisor.
Thank you,
Mike Flores, President
-------------
April 2006 Primary Lines of Flying: The Director of Crew Scheduling, Mike Finn set the maximums in ALL bases at 85 hours of Company time for the month of April. The blocking objective was a flight attendant window for April of 70-85 hours. However, the pilot's scheduling committee and the computer built the primary lines as follows:
CLT A319 75-90 PHL A319 75-90 PHL 76M 70-90
CLT 733 70-85 PHL 733 70-85 PIT 733 70-85
CLT 76 D 75-90 PHL 76D 75-90 PIT 21M 75-90
CLT 21M 70-85 PHL FAI (INT) 75-90 PIT A319 75-90
CLT 33F (INT) 75-90 PHL 33F (INT) 70-85 DCA 733 70-85
CLT FAD 70-85 PHL FAD 70-85 DCA A319 75-90
CLT FLS (LODO) 70-85 PHL 21M 70-85 LGA A319 75-90
CLT 32J (LODO) 70-85 PHL 32J (LODO) 70-85 LGA 21M 75-90
BOS A319 75-90 PHL FLS (LODO) 70-85
Note: The way the pilot lines are built (by aircraft type and all separately constructed) some lines exceeded the proposed high end of the flight attendant blocking window (85+00). AFA agreed to publish such lines in order to give more flight attendants primary blocks.
Lines Exceeding 85+00: Flight attendants awarded a line that actually exceeds 85 hours can come in with between 80-85 hours for the month of April. Such affected flight attendants may call Crew Scheduling and drop a trip to downward project his/her block or drop via SAP. Flight attendants that received such a block are encouraged to drop time during the SAP window. Further, the AIL may be utilized to eventually get to the aforementioned window of 80 to 85 hours. Additionally, on a non precedent-setting basis an over-fly letter will not apply to a flight attendant that flies his/her awarded line which exceeds 85 hours and he/she make no changes to such line.
April SAP: The timelines are: Group 1 (PIT, PHL, and BOS) opens on February 24th at 1800 and closes on March 2nd at 1800 - Group 2 (CLT, DCA, and LGA) opens on February 24th at 1800 and closes on March 3rd at 1800. Further, the SAP non-high option window is MAX of 85 and MIN of 60.
Secondary Lines of Flying for April: The blocking objective will be a window of 70 - 85 hours. The secondary lines of flying will open on March 8th at 1800 and close on March 13th at 1800.
April Reserve Maximum: The reserve maximum for the April bid month will be 85 hours; therefore, a reserve may call out of time at 80:01.
April IT Lines With Line Lead-in Pairings - CLT Only: Line lead-in trips are added to IT lines in order to bring such lines up to the minimum or to make an additional line. Line lead-ins are pairings at transition time (i.e. March into April) that originate in one month and terminate in another. The practice of adding such pairings in IT lines has been on going for over 10 years and yields more lines of flying and some extra flexibility. CLT Example: Review April IT Block 5026. Pairing 21006 on Mar 30th transitions from the March bid month into the April bid month and is owned by the originating crew. However, duty period 2 of such pairing (21006) is also placed in April's line 5026 as "artificial time" to create a legal line. Line 5026 has a published value of 83+20 but when the "artificial time" of 8+50 is subtracted the recalculated value of the line will be 74+30.
The flight attendants that are awarded such a line may come in with the published time less the "artificial time". The recalculated value of 74+30 will be entered as an adjusted obligation in CATS. Or, the affected flight attendants could SAP upward to 85 hours of Company time to increase his/her flying time in which case the increased post SAP line value would be his/her new obligation for April. Additionally, the AIL may be used to increase the flying time up to a maximum 85 hours of Company. However, in the case of using the AIL this action increases your flying time (projection) but not adjusted obligation of 74+30. Note: Whenever a line lead-in pairing (artificial time) spans a Saturday or/and Sunday such affected flight attendants are NOT required to "touch" for a restricted weekend.
Thank You,
Carol Austin - MEC Scheduling Chair
[email protected]
