"Easties" out West

[HPGUY]

Something doesn't quite ring true here.....

In an average month, there's X hours of AUTOs awarded (which seems to be totally within the company's descretion), Y hours of sick/misconnect/etc, and Z hours of open time to be covered. There's also three "pools" of reserves to cover that time - HOTs (or OPRs in the East), those available to be tagged, and those on call.

While the company undoubtedly benefits from having great flexibility in using the reserves as it sees fit, this sounds like a failure to properly manage the reserve "pools" more than anything else. In other words, the reserves are paying for management laziness (or incompetence).....

Jim

I'm not sure I Follow your logic Jim. The conversation was on the topic of reserves not wanting to be tagged or called in for short unproductive turns. So that just leaves one pool the HOTS or OPRs.

Fill in the gap for me please.. I feel I have missed your point.

 

[nyprincess]

You go girl... :jerry:

I love the show...

Surely you have an opionion to this...i know it affects you too....

 

[algflyr]

Surely you have an opionion to this...i know it affects you too....

Hey, I'm just a furloughed pilot watching this from the outside... and you after all are a FA princess.... :mf_boff:

nap?

 

[nyprincess]

Hey, I'm just a furloughed pilot watching this from the outside... and you after all are a FA princess.... :mf_boff:

nap?

sure.... 😀

 

[algflyr]

sure.... 😀

 

[nyprincess]

I'm not sure I Follow your logic Jim. The conversation was on the topic of reserves not wanting to be tagged or called in for short unproductive turns. So that just leaves one pool the HOTS or OPRs.

Fill in the gap for me please.. I feel I have missed your point.

I think what he's tryin to say and correct me if I'm wrong Jim is that....Reserves are being royally abused on the account of management being lazy and not making a better environment for the reserves. And as Mr.Parker said in one of the f/a meetings is that.....Reserves are here to make the blockholders lives easier. Need I say more....

 

[HPGUY]

Is that so.....I know for a fact that a fellow f/a called to tell scheduling that she was going to get something to eat. Scheduling then called her right as she was getting her food and started screaming asking what she was doing and why. Then told her to go straight to the gate because they have been waiting for her. Now the f/a never yelled back. Went to the gate and it wasn't due to arrive for 20 mins. So was this certain scheduler tryin to make her job easier? Tapes are in the process of being pulled!!!!

I'd like to hear that tape. The last time I heard a complaint like this I was standing right next to the scheduler. His tone while not cheery was far from screaming. Five minutes later the FA called me about how the scheduler was just so rude and screaming at her. It was all I could do not to laugh.

Now i don't think this FA was trying to mislead anyone... I'm sure she felt the schedulers tone (like i said far from cheery) as him yelling at her. Which was of course not the case.

I think what he's tryin to say and correct me if I'm wrong Jim is that....Reserves are being royally abused on the account of management being lazy and not making a better environment for the reserves. And as Mr.Parker said in one of the f/a meetings is that.....Reserves are here to make the blockholders lives easier. Need I say more....

I believe that you chose AFA to represent you in this matter.
The company of course will utilize the reserves according to the current labor agreement.

How is that lazy on Managements part?

And you can't say the union is lazy.. while I disagree with them on many points I can't deny their work ethic. I don't think some of them sleep 😛

 

[nyprincess]

I'd like to hear that tape. The last time I heard a complaint like this I was standing right next to the scheduler. His tone while not cheery was far from screaming. Five minutes later the FA called me about how the scheduler was just so rude and screaming at her. It was all I could do not to laugh.

Now i don't think this FA was trying to mislead anyone... I'm sure she felt the schedulers tone (like i said far from cheery) as him yelling at her. Which was of course not the case.

Well if your from scheduling which sounds to me like you are...I'm sure you'll soon hear it. I know for a fact the f/a was not yelling back. She was in shock to think that someone would yell at her like this. I'm not saying all are like this but this one in particular....is not making her own life easier.

 

[HPGUY]

Well if your from scheduling which sounds to me like you are...I'm sure you'll soon hear it. I know for a fact the f/a was not yelling back. She was in shock to think that someone would yell at her like this. I'm not saying all are like this but this one in particular....is not making her own life easier.

Only time will tell on this one... I think scheduler or FA found to be out of line in these situations should have to apologize to the other. Possibly instill some respect for each other.

 

[PITbull]

sky high states: Works both ways, buddy. If management wants to see profits, stock value, labor harmony and good on-time, customer satisfaction stats, they better realize that some THE LOWEST PAID employees in the industry EXPECT.............BETTER!
ONLY stating opinions!
sky high states: SUREEEEEEEEEEE, Rat on A CREW SCHEDULER with an attitude. Piss them off, and your next 10 years on reserve will be more hellish. BUF in January, Anyone???
Only stating an OPINION.

The union LEC can get the tapes pulled.

 

[BoeingBoy]

I'm not sure I Follow your logic Jim. The conversation was on the topic of reserves not wanting to be tagged or called in for short unproductive turns. So that just leaves one pool the HOTS or OPRs.

Fill in the gap for me please.. I feel I have missed your point.

Since I haven't seen you say that there aren't enough reserves to cover the open time, I assume reserve coverage is generally adequate. Yet you said:

If you expect not to be tagged... then you can also expect more people on reserve

Taken together, it sure sounds like the problem isn't not enough reserves, but managing the "pools" of reserves.

For example, I assume the West trips (just like the East) terminate at various times during the day. Why not put two or three AUTOs together so that it's beneficial for a reserve to drive to the airport to cover? Why tag (or call out) 2 or 3 reserves to cover those AUTOs? Sounds like it's just taking the easy way out.

Why not have enough HOT reserves to cover some of the AUTOs? Conversely, why approve AUTOs if there isn't enough HOT coverage? Again, it sounds like taking the easy course.

Without knowing anything about the West contract, it sure sounds like scheduling is taking the easy way out - picking whoever they please to cover whatever they please. Tag, call at home, extend HOT. Makes life a lot easier on the schedulers, no thought or effort required. Sure seems like it plays havoc on the reserve F/A's though.

Jim

 

[USstew23]

More power to ya!!! Have your say and you vote!! That's the benefit of being in a union.

But someone answer me this. If I have a let's say a PHL BOS PHL turn open. And I can't call a reserve from home to do it and I can't tag it. What does the company do with the the BOS turn?

How about NO Autoing turns at all, if you don't feel like or cannot do the turn then whoever it is should have to either 1. Drop the whole trip or 2. Pick up another trip from the trade board that does not interfere with their plans. This is absurd that people are being tagged and REPEATEDLY called in to do silly turns in this day in age. And yes you can bet we WILL have our say and VOTE!! Hopefully vote that SOC in PHX right out of this airline. Too many good friends went out to PHX and were burned and treated like dog $#!t mostly by people that do not have 1 ounce of the professionalism that our OCC has. And to answer your question about the BOS turn... We usually do not have stuff like that laying around (at least that I was ever called for) yeah there is an occassional split trip but nothing like that mess going on in PHX and usually if I have ever done something like that it was for more than a little turn. But hey if I have 1 duty period that I'm good for and that happens every once in a blue moon then so be it.

For the record you might as well give up, that Mesa on steroids method of scheduling is NEVER going to happen on the East. That regional mentality doesn't fly here.

Makes life a lot easier on the schedulers, no thought or effort required. Sure seems like it plays havoc on the reserve F/A's though.

Jim

Yes and this is why their sick call and turn over are out of control. It's sad really, I know so many good people who went out to PHX and now the ones who are left are just about beside themselves and want out.

 

[Happy_People]

HP GUY you must be from flight attendant scheduling on the west side! Trust me when I say this its a nightmare with scheduling on this side. A friend of mine was rerouted the other day out of the east coast they were told their flight was cancelled. Long story short their flight wasn't cancelled, it was cancelled the day before. So their flight went operated by another crew and this crew arrived home about 4 hours later than originally scheduled. I'm sure scheduling laughed it off... but if we are even late to the plane. BIG TROUBLE!

 

[TheNewLowFare]

The problem with "Auto-ing" can be resolved if we are allowed to split our trips and put them on the ETB.

We have suggested this to the union before and I don't know why this was not negotiated in the last contract.

Reserves hates being tagged with a turn after a hellacious trip, why not allow us to put part of our trips on ETB for others to pick up? Union are you listening??? We want split-trips in the merged contract!

 

[IMisstheAladdinTrays]

I've already replied to the first scenario a few times so I'll leave that be.

Ok let's tally the expectations of the flight attendants for the new "improved" contract. No tagging...Pay protection for loss of flight hours...and we're gonna pay twice the time a flight is worth when it's assigned to a reserve at home.

How realistic do you think it is that you will get all of these things? The FA group needs to right size their expectations.

If you expect not to be tagged... then you can also expect more people on reserve which means "tagging" antoher year or so on your reserve sit. If you expect to be pay protected to flight cancellations then you can expect that Lineholders (Blockholders) will be subject to reassignment. If you expect reserves to have a 5hr guarantee per day then you can expect partial AUTOs (drops) will not be an option.
And if you expect your pay scale to go up and get all these costly work rules... You can also expect to be disappointed.

I'm not saying don't go after any or all of these things. Because I would if I were in your shoes. I'm saying be realistic in your requests and know what you're asking for. When you tell your union rep what you want you need to ask what you might have to give up to get it.


Hot reserves are there for last minute sk calls and PLs etc which are numerous from the FA group.

The conversation you replied to was in reguards to an FA who didn't want to be called out for short turns or tagged. Now if we give all our short turns to the hot reserves. Who will be there for last minute absences or misconnects?

My point is you can't have both.. You can't not be tagged and not be called out for small turns.

Unless you're Doug Parker himself...you can't say for sure what we will or will not have in our new CBA! We do not tag on the East and things run just fine! And we used to have a minimum day (and we will again, everyone wants that back!).