Reserve

[jbragg476]

How many people are a fed up with this reserve system as I am? Can't get them to put your NFL day where you want them too, Can't hold a weekend, Can't get released like our contract says we're supposed to be able to do. "oh, there's weather in the system so we aren't releasing!" Well that's generic... BTW I go on INV, so not like you can do anything with me anyways come late afternoon.

Pretty bad when you gotta take some NCTs and some sick time just to get a break. How come all the other airlines have reserve windows where you're only on call for so many hours during the day? Where's my window. Oh that's right, that would force the company to HIRE more people. Imagine that? Well, I know I'm not safe to fly to Europe when they call me that afternoon and I've been up since 6am. No, not refusing to fly, but if they want to compromise safetly just to fill a position, I'll get there name and employee # and notify FAA.... all reserves should not compromise safety and get harassed. Where's our union leadership? They all know the system sucks, but can't do much. Pretty typical.

anyways, just my rant. Any other thoughts?

 

[iheartairbus]

How many people are a fed up with this reserve system as I am? Can't get them to put your NFL day where you want them too, Can't hold a weekend, Can't get released like our contract says we're supposed to be able to do. "oh, there's weather in the system so we aren't releasing!" Well that's generic... BTW I go on INV, so not like you can do anything with me anyways come late afternoon.

Pretty bad when you gotta take some NCTs and some sick time just to get a break. How come all the other airlines have reserve windows where you're only on call for so many hours during the day? Where's my window. Oh that's right, that would force the company to HIRE more people. Imagine that? Well, I know I'm not safe to fly to Europe when they call me that afternoon and I've been up since 6am. No, not refusing to fly, but if they want to compromise safetly just to fill a position, I'll get there name and employee # and notify FAA.... all reserves should not compromise safety and get harassed. Where's our union leadership? They all know the system sucks, but can't do much. Pretty typical.

anyways, just my rant. Any other thoughts?

if we came together east/west and united showing the company we won't except anything but the BEST in our new contract and really stuck TOGETHER, but we have no unity because the company feeds us all the crap to keep us seperate to prevent us from being UNIFIED for a new contract that benefits all, trust me im RSV out in phx and it's waaaaaay worse than anything out east... it's pathetic mixed w/ terrible wages, it's really bad... SICK days are for a rest and break! lol, it gets tiring. I WISH people would stop feeding into all the companies propaganda and self started rumors to keep us seperate, that way we can get a good contract not only for us but the FUTURE F/A's that will come into US Air down the road.

 

[Travelpro72]

Remember the important words when you are called for an int'l trip after you have been on duty for days, "I am FATIGUED and cannot perform my flight attendant duties". YOUR CLEAR. On duty for 24 hours upon 24 hours and your to all of the sudden called to fly to Europe because someone couldnt get their A$$ into base early enough to check in. Circumstances DO happen but we all know that THAT my friends is the majority of quick calls we reserves cover. Plain and simple without debate. And NO that is NOT what we are supposed to be here for.

 

[EMBFA]

When they call you in the middle of the night for a transatlantic crossing, accept the trip, but state, "I am accepting this trip but would like to announce on this recorded line that I am fatigued, since I have only recieved two hours of sleep due to my continuous reserve duty. I feel unsafe to fly, so if anything happens the company is aware of this in advance."

 

[Travelpro72]

If you are called in the middle of the night and have been on duty for 24 hours you must say "I am FATIGUED and cannot perform my duties". That is not refusing to fly. Then call the union.

 

[beachboy]

You should accept the trip if you feel as though you can fly the trip safely. Being up all day just going to sleep at 10pm to be called at midnight for a 8 hour flight is unsafe no matter which way you slice the cake. If you took a nap during the day or slept late then you might feel alright. This is how incidents happen with slides and other safety events. You say you are to fatigued to fly. You have been on duty for X amount of hours and you feel like you can't perform your safety duties. That is the end of the issue. Now you only do this if you really are tired NOT just because you don't want to roll out of bed and stop watching CSI. It's just not safe to have people on duty for 24 hour a day expecting them to perform like robots.

 

[jbragg476]

hence my point with getting called for a transatlantic... but how about my other points....
BS.. and the union does nothing

 

[700UW]

You are the union.

 

[jbragg476]

I know..and when was the last time we had a local meeting???

 

[beachboy]

The last time we had a meeting how many showed? All RSV as I remember. You are the union. you don't like who you have in office then get together and fix it! More people showed up to the uniform road show than a union meeting. Boy everyone has such priorites Hope that tacky scarf looks great on yall girls while you are being abused left and right for no money!

 

[Bear96]

Well, I know I'm not safe to fly to Europe when they call me that afternoon and I've been up since 6am. No, not refusing to fly, but if they want to compromise safetly just to fill a position, I'll get there name and employee # and notify FAA.... all reserves should not compromise safety and get harassed.

So you admit you are not safe, but will still fly? Yeah, that's a good way to be taken seriously by the FAA -- and the company -- and the union. What are you going to say when the FAA asks you to explain that little contradiction?

If you're not safe, DON'T FLY! THAT will get their attention.

What do you expect a union to do for you if you are willing to fly when it is not safe? You're going to have to take a little responsibility for yourself if you want things to change.

When they call you in the middle of the night for a transatlantic crossing, accept the trip, but state, "I am accepting this trip but would like to announce on this recorded line that I am fatigued, since I have only recieved two hours of sleep due to my continuous reserve duty. I feel unsafe to fly, so if anything happens the company is aware of this in advance."

What on Earth good does that do?

See above -- if you are not safe, don't fly. If the company can always count on people flying, they'll keep doing what they are doing now, and ignore your little lecture about not being "safe."

 

[FlightChic]

Funny that you should bring this up because I was getting ready to post in my blog about this. The other morning in the crew room there was a flight attendant doing morning OPR (meaning check in was 5:15am) that he got from future. He went to bed and at 11pm scheduling calls him for a trip to Barcelona. He says no because he already has OPR. They said since they had not released him they were calling to see if he wanted it or not. They called others who did come on duty at midnight that night and the flight didn't leave until 5am or so.

Another f/a I spoke with told scheduling (this is for a different transatlantic trip) that she was too fatigued to fly that late and a supervisor told her she better fly that trip or her job would be in jeopardy. She is a good f/a and not on dependibility. Explain that!

I have been quick called in the middle of the night for transatlantic trips. It just isn't right! How can a reserve who has been on duty for 24 hours or more, especially when you think daily is going to call you early in the morning so you get up and are ready to go at 7am and worried about being called all day, possible be expected to work an 8+ hour flight overseas? It is cruel and unsafe and I will be writing the FAA about this! I will also refuse to fly if I have not had any sleep. Just because we are sitting on reserve and not flying does not mean we are sleeping in everyday! If the company wants to fire me so be it! I will do everything to make sure that this stops.

This has been happening so much lately. Just about every reserve I have talked to has been quick called in the middle of the night at least once for a transatlantic trip. This has got to stop!

 

[missthe727]

Funny that you should bring this up because I was getting ready to post in my blog about this. The other morning in the crew room there was a flight attendant doing morning OPR (meaning check in was 5:15am) that he got from future. He went to bed and at 11pm scheduling calls him for a trip to Barcelona. He says no because he already has OPR. They said since they had not released him they were calling to see if he wanted it or not. They called others who did come on duty at midnight that night and the flight didn't leave until 5am or so.

Another f/a I spoke with told scheduling (this is for a different transatlantic trip) that she was too fatigued to fly that late and a supervisor told her she better fly that trip or her job would be in jeopardy. She is a good f/a and not on dependibility. Explain that!

I have been quick called in the middle of the night for transatlantic trips. It just isn't right! How can a reserve who has been on duty for 24 hours or more, especially when you think daily is going to call you early in the morning so you get up and are ready to go at 7am and worried about being called all day, possible be expected to work an 8+ hour flight overseas? It is cruel and unsafe and I will be writing the FAA about this! I will also refuse to fly if I have not had any sleep. Just because we are sitting on reserve and not flying does not mean we are sleeping in everyday! If the company wants to fire me so be it! I will do everything to make sure that this stops.

This has been happening so much lately. Just about every reserve I have talked to has been quick called in the middle of the night at least once for a transatlantic trip. This has got to stop!

This is why we all need to write to Mike Flores and Carol Austin on the East and whoever is negotiating on the West and tell them we need a RSV system with 12on/12off call during EACH day. The company is not allowed to schedule us for longer than a 14 hour duty day and if we go to irreg. ops it can go to 15/domestic---16/Intl. Period.
If we are "on-duty" w/ the 24/7 ruling then we need a break every day where they cannot call us.
Why should they be able to think that when we get up w/ our kids at 0700 that when they call at midnight after we've had two hours of sleep we ARE safe to fly.
In addition I think that every time something like this happens, we should e-mail the FAA.
To give the union a little bit of credit (and I'm talking those in Washington not our MEC) the Legislative Affairs department has been trying to push the FAA to stop dragging their feet on the F/A Fatigue Study.
I have called the office time and time again about this and nothing is being done. Next time they call me in the middle of the night to go across the pond and I am fatigued, before I leave my house,I am sending an e-mail to our LECP, both the local and nat'l safety reps and perhaps even the FAA as to the situation....I'm going to CMA just in case.
I am SICK of this !!!!!!!!!!

 

[FlightChic]

This is why we all need to write to Mike Flores and Carol Austin on the East and whoever is negotiating on the West and tell them we need a RSV system with 12on/12off call during EACH day... Next time they call me in the middle of the night to go across the pond and I am fatigued, before I leave my house, I am sending an e-mail to our LECP, both the local and nat'l safety reps...

Maybe when this happens to us we could all call MF and CA in the middle of the night (anybody have their cell phone numbers?) to let them know what is going on! They'll never get any sleep because this happens all the freakin time! Imagine 9 people calling them every single night (or almost every night) and complaining about being quickcalled for transatlantic at 12 or 1 in the morning and wanting to know what they are going to do about it! We could spread out the call times too so just when they fall asleep again their phone rings again, and again, and again night after night. They might get the message then! Or maybe they'll just turn off their phones and ignore us. Well, it was a nice thought for the moment.

 

[N109UW]

This is why we all need to write to Mike Flores and Carol Austin on the East and whoever is negotiating on the West and tell them we need a RSV system with 12on/12off call during EACH day. The company is not allowed to schedule us for longer than a 14 hour duty day and if we go to irreg. ops it can go to 15/domestic---16/Intl. Period.
If we are "on-duty" w/ the 24/7 ruling then we need a break every day where they cannot call us.
Why should they be able to think that when we get up w/ our kids at 0700 that when they call at midnight after we've had two hours of sleep we ARE safe to fly.
In addition I think that every time something like this happens, we should e-mail the FAA.
To give the union a little bit of credit (and I'm talking those in Washington not our MEC) the Legislative Affairs department has been trying to push the FAA to stop dragging their feet on the F/A Fatigue Study.
I have called the office time and time again about this and nothing is being done. Next time they call me in the middle of the night to go across the pond and I am fatigued, before I leave my house,I am sending an e-mail to our LECP, both the local and nat'l safety reps and perhaps even the FAA as to the situation....I'm going to CMA just in case.
I am SICK of this !!!!!!!!!!

Actually, Joe Conti, FAA. is the one people need to be contacting. He is the one who will evaluate this. Most likely, we would end up with a system similar to the pilots. An 8 hour break during the day somewhere. But we need the rsv's to voice their concerns to him, not just talk about it here. Mike Flores won't do anything to help yoy on this. He didn't want the 24/7 rule to come out, even though the AFA knew about this for years. Problem was, it would make it tougher for BH's to drop trips, due to the fact rsv's would have stricter limitations on the ETB. Again, geared toward one certain group. I can try to get Conti's address for you all, if you want, bu this needs to be a mass mailing. One or two letters aren't going to do anything.