Don't just talk about the contract...

[safety stud]

I have heard and read many of the complaints flight attendants have with the present contract. I am appauled at how they want to b**ch about it, yet not act upon it. As an example...

Duty time limitations are in place within our contract. It states you cannot be scheduled or schedule yourself to fly more than 14 hours on duty. The company my require you to fly to 15 hour, but no longer. Let's say you are on the last leg of your trip. You are going through PHL, The last leg of your trip is PHL-PIT, The company wants you to fly the last leg. Doing so however will put you on duty time over 15 hours. How many times have you heard F/A's say. I just want to get home... I have to much to do... The sad fact is you are allowing the company to violate your contract. You... Not the company...YOU... You want a contract in place, but you only act upon it when it is convienent to you... If everyone read the contract and knew exactly what your rights are, there would be less b**ching and more compliance with our contract from the company. Period...

 

[PHL]

If you refused to fly that last leg which would put you over duty time, would the airline be required to put you up overnight, or could you deadhead and let them find a replacement?

 

[PHLfa88]

I have heard and read many of the complaints flight attendants have with the present contract. I am appauled at how they want to b**ch about it, yet not act upon it. As an example...

Duty time limitations are in place within our contract. It states you cannot be scheduled or schedule yourself to fly more than 14 hours on duty. The company my require you to fly to 15 hour, but no longer. Let's say you are on the last leg of your trip. You are going through PHL, The last leg of your trip is PHL-PIT, The company wants you to fly the last leg. Doing so however will put you on duty time over 15 hours. How many times have you heard F/A's say. I just want to get home... I have to much to do... The sad fact is you are allowing the company to violate your contract. You... Not the company...YOU... You want a contract in place, but you only act upon it when it is convienent to you... If everyone read the contract and knew exactly what your rights are, there would be less b**ching and more compliance with our contract from the company. Period...

Exactly!! Just Say NO!!

 

[BajaBabe]

It always easy to admire those who are so articulate and reading what little we have left of our contract is very important. I understand that an entire crew was talked into violating there contact. The plane full of passengers would have had to RON in Boston .With the appeal of Systems and with all the passengers that would have to sleep in the terminal,tihis taken into account there were deals bartered and finally the entire crew got the aircraft to Philadelphia. My information indicates that this flight number was 773 on November 3,2006. The following morning the entire crew was told that all deals were off the Table ? Can anyone tell me if this is a credible story.

 

[N109UW]

It always easy to admire those who are so articulate and reading what little we have left of our contract is very important. I understand that an entire crew was talked into violating there contact. The plane full of passengers would have had to RON in Boston .With the appeal of Systems and with all the passengers that would have to sleep in the terminal,tihis taken into account there were deals bartered and finally the entire crew got the aircraft to Philadelphia. My information indicates that this flight number was 773 on November 3,2006. The following morning the entire crew was told that all deals were off the Table ? Can anyone tell me if this is a credible story.

Here's a good one for you. I work a long day,we were on our last day of a three day trip. We were scheduled to do a MYR turn out of CLT. We took off for MYR, but as we got there, the weather closed up and Air Force Two(Vice Pres.) had priority for any landings and was holding. ATC turned us around back to CLT. We landed back in CLT and I told the crew, front and back, that if we go back to MYR tonight, we are going to be illegal to come back to CLT. I told the agent also. They refueled us, and we went back. Guess what? The rest of the crew was ready to go back and I said, I told you all in CLT, we were illegal. The agents opened up the A/C in MYR, said"We'll help you clean and get you right out of here". I said " I don't think we're going anywhere as we were illegal. Agent said we had a pretty full flight. Oh' well. The Capt got on the phone and sched said we were illegal. As we walked up the jetway, the MYR base manager said to me and I quote this. "Scheduling had called and said we were illegal to return to CLT, but not to say anything and the crew might fly it home" Now that is sad. What would have happened if something went wrong. The agent wouldn't have taken any responsibility, neither would crew sched. We ended up going to the hotel and flying back in the AM.

 

[rjh]

Does the east contract not allow FA's to exceed their contractual duty day? FAR's only restrict how many hours the FA can be scheduled; once the scheduled trip starts, there is no FAR restriction as to how long they can be on duty. The west contract allows the FA to volunteer to go beyond their 14.5 contractual maximum. That's a good solution, becuase it lets each FA make their own choice. They may want to get home, or they may want to earn the extra incentive paid for going beyond 14.5 hours.

 

[Itestwell]

Does the east contract not allow FA's to exceed their contractual duty day? FAR's only restrict how many hours the FA can be scheduled; once the scheduled trip starts, there is no FAR restriction as to how long they can be on duty. The west contract allows the FA to volunteer to go beyond their 14.5 contractual maximum. That's a good solution, becuase it lets each FA make their own choice. They may want to get home, or they may want to earn the extra incentive paid for going beyond 14.5 hours.

In da east, trips are built up to 14 hrs, crew sked can make you go to 15 during irreg ops. I do not think its a good idea to be able to "volunteer" to go above 14.5; the company will come to expect it, and then next thing you know, the next contract will have us responsible for 16 hours...or 17......

Protect what little we have left, and fight for what we deserve.

 

[rjh]

In da east, trips are built up to 14 hrs, crew sked can make you go to 15 during irreg ops. I do not think its a good idea to be able to "volunteer" to go above 14.5; the company will come to expect it, and then next thing you know, the next contract will have us responsible for 16 hours...or 17......

Protect what little we have left, and fight for what we deserve.

On the West, FA's can be scheduled up to 12 hours, but can be extended up to 14.5 hours. Each FA has to agree (on a recorded line) to exceed the 14.5 hour duty day. Sure, there are times during irregular ops when schedulers may try harder to get the FA's to exceed their duty day. But in the end, it's up the FA's. Schedulers have no jurisdiction to discipline crew members. If an FA doesn't want to go over 14.5, they just need to have the guts to say "no". There are no repercussions for not wanting to go over 14.5--something like that is not tracked. Sure, crew cancellations are tracked but people don't get in trouble for not volunteering to go over their duty day.