Bidding for Purser Recurrent Training – Proceed with Caution - Excerpt from E-Lines 05/18/10:

The latest Purser Recurrent Training (scheduled as "LDR") has prompted some questions about Contractual provisions for bidding training. Sections 9.P.6 & 12.D.7. of the Contract provide the mechanism for recurrent training for F/As who are purser qualified. This recurrent training is separate and distinct from the Contractual provision to attend periodic meetings for which compensation is paid based on the language in Section 15.A. Over the past several years, the company has offered optional ‘seminars’, held in the Operations Planning Center in ORD. Attendance at these seminars has been on a strictly voluntary basis and, over time, F/As attending these seminars were able to satisfy the requirement to attend periodic meetings.

The training currently outlined in the Bid Package Cover Letter – Purser Recurrent Training – is not a seminar or a meeting. Attendance at Purser Recurrent Training is a requirement and scheduling is accomplished based on the language in Sections 15.G. & H. – the same language that’s used for Recurrent Emergency Training (RET).

Preference months for training were bid and awarded in late 2009. Check your FAINFO screen, field 7, to determine your bid preference month. This bid preference month is the equivalent of the RET "must go" month and bidding is conducted in the same manner. Lineholder F/As are expected to attend training on days off but are not required to waive any legality to attend training nor are Flight Attendants expected to RDO, trade or PTO IDs to attend this training. If scheduling of this training cannot be accomplished without violating minimum days off or other legal rest provisions, IDs will be dropped to attend training and F/As will be paid consistent with the provisions of Section 15.G. & H. of our Contract. 

Keep in mind, the company will schedule you to attend training on any dates during the month where scheduling can be accomplished on a day off without the need to pay protect an ID. If you bid for a date that requires waiver of any legality other than the 24-in-7, or the minimum ‘rest before work’ Federal Air Regulations – the legality is considered waived. Pay protection for any ID(s) is based on the original line of flying and does not include ID(s) traded or picked up from open flying or by RDO.

Reserves do not bid. Purser recurrent training is scheduled on days of availability based on the reserve line awarded. There is no requirement to trade days of availability in order for training to be scheduled on the ‘first or last’ days of a reserve block of availability. If it is your preference month, you should be scheduled to attend recurrent based on the dates on which the company has made training available. 

Purser Position, F/A Work Positions & Jumpseat Assignments - Excerpt from E-Lines 01/19/07 (repeat from 9/29/06 E-Lines):
 

Reserve F/As who are purser qualified should be aware that they may be assigned out of time accrued order to fill open positions requiring a Purser qualification. If the position is still open at briefing, it is filled as specified in Section 9.F.7 of the Contract. Section 9.P.2. of our Contract that provides a F/A must have a minimum of one year of service prior to being assigned the purser position, unless there is no other F/A with at least one year of service working the flight. In this case, the most senior F/A on the crew will assume the position. Once the position is filled it is held by the person assuming it at briefing until she or he leaves the crew, even if she or he has not yet completed one year of service. This means that a F/A who is purser qualified or more senior may not take the position from a non-qualified or more junior F/A who has assumed the purser duties and is mid-sequence of an ID. 

Recognizing these Contractual provisions naturally turns us to briefings for the assignment of jumpseats and work positions. Our F/A Operations Manual (FAOM) page 2.50.17 addresses the assignment of jumpseats, which takes place during the pre-flight crew briefing in seniority order. F/As arriving after the briefing will be assigned the next available jumpseat in numerical order. Check your FAOM for a full review of these procedures.

 NOTE: Assignment of jumpseats does not predetermine work positions, which should be assigned in seniority order of the entire working crew.

Mixed Crew & Late Arriving Crewmembers - Excerpt from E-Lines 02/14/07:

Before every single flight, whether with the same crew or different, we perform a briefing of flight information, crew responsibilities and work assignments. Page 2.50.16 of our F/A Operations Manual (FAOM) covers briefing content and locations for each of our flights. When a crew includes a mixture of F/As from different domiciles it is prudent to remember that F/As reporting from out of base have a different reporting time than those reporting at their home domicile. This is important when determining where and how best to accomplish a crew briefing.

Consider that late arriving connecting flights, hotel transportation or a waiver of report time associated with our legal rest may all contribute to late arriving crewmembers. While briefing sheets associate jumpseats with work positions, the assignment of jumpseats does not predetermine work positions. While jumpseats must be assigned in numerical order according to federal regulations, work positions should be assigned in seniority order of the entire working crew.

Narrow/Wide-Body Mixed IDS & Qualified Pursers - Excerpt from 11/14/06 DEAR-AFA:

Further complicating the award of schedules, the use of widebody aircraft on certain segments during the month in combination with the Company's continuing practice of mixing widebody and narrowbody aircraft in domestic IDs will result in an increased need for F/As with a purser qualification. In some locations, this increase is significant. The reserve requirement set by the Company at each location and this increased need for F/As with a purser qualification will have a significant impact on the award of schedules.

We encourage all F/As to review the Bid Package Cover Letter for the reserve and purser requirements at your location. In all instances, we strongly recommend you bid to cover yourself to ensure the schedule you fly during the holiday is one in which you have exercised your seniority rather than one in which you have been assigned as the result of an insufficient bid.

Wide-Body Purser Pay for Entire Duty Period

F/As flying IDs with mixed flying will be paid wide-body Purser pay as outlined in Section 5.B of the Contract for the entire duty period containing the wide-body segment. We encourage all F/As to review their pay files to ensure this activity is properly posted in the DFAP.

Please remember - this is for the entire Duty Period, not the entire ID.

Purser Relief Lines - AFA Wins Arbitration Award - Excerpt from E-Lines 03/09/07:
 

This evening we have some important information addressing changes to relief line construction that will be effective with the award of the April 2007 flying schedules. These changes may affect the bidding behaviors of some of our flying partners and ultimately change what we might normally expect to hold in the line award process.

Historically, there has been a mutual understanding and practice that “relief lines should not indicate any work positions. The position to be filled by a F/A assigned to a relief line will be determined at the pre-flight briefing, regardless of whether or not the relief line is covering a vacant premium position.” In October 1999, the Company violated this long standing practice by designating and awarding purser relief lines. Our Union immediately filed a grievance, MEC 10-99, to resolve the issue through the System Board of Adjustment. The case we heard last spring and the written award sustaining the position of the Union was issued on January 20th of this year.

As a result of this award, the Company will stop designating purser relief lines when monthly flying schedules are put out for bid.

Consistent with the requirements of Section 9.A.5. of our Contract and as will be indicated in the April Bid Package Cover Letter, once the primary line award is complete, IDs will continue to be dropped from the primary line awards of qualified pursers for vacation and other known absences. These IDs will then be incorporated into the relief bid package along with IDs dropped from non-purser qualified awards. Relief lines will be constructed without regard to the work position and available for bid by all F/As who were awarded a relief line of flying. Domicile cover letters will no longer indicate purser relief lines for any location. No changes have been made to language qualified relief lines of flying since they are separately numbered IDs, and by comparison, cannot be filled by a F/A who is not language qualified.

All trip trades for IDs contained within the relief lines will be governed by Section 9.G. of our Contract. Open premium positions are filled in briefing according to Section 9.F.7. of our Contract and the FAOM Section 2.50.14 contains additional information on the filling of open premium positions in briefing.

Additional Info From Relief Cover Packet: EFFECTIVE WITH SEPTEMBER 2007 RELIEF LINE AWARDS, FLIGHT ATTENDANTS WHO ARE NOT PURSER QUALIFIED AND ARE AWARDED A RELIEF LINE WITH PURSER IDS WILL NEED TO USE DSPFAI TO INPUT A TRADE REQUEST TO TRADE THEIR PURSER ID AWARDED IN THE RELIEF LINE WITH A FLIGHT ATTENDANT WHO IS NOT PURSER QUALIFIED. THE SERVICE CENTER WILL NO LONGER PROCESS THESE TRADES MANUALLY. ONCE APPROVED, ALL SUBSEQUENT TRADES FOR THE PURSER ID WILL REQUIRE PURSER QUALIFICATION.

Mid-Sequence Purser Position - From 5/30/06 Council 10 SEA E-Newsletter:

We continue to receive questions about filling the Purser Position, mid-sequence of an ID. Please review the following information and share it with your flying partners. MEC Central Scheduling Chairperson, Jeff Heisey and CSC Committee Member, Mark Farnsworth have prepared this comprehensive explanation. Print and keep this with you!

We continue to receive a flood of inquiries about line awards since United implemented its decision to break down IDs and combine widebody and narrowbody staffing. Remember that AFA objected to this scheduling change as it had created disastrous results when the company previously employed the strategy. This time we have experienced several additional issues that include complications associated with assigning the Purser position.

A Purser qualification is required in order to be awarded the Purser (FS) position on any domestic line that has scheduled within it a trip pairing that includes a working wide body segment. Combining widebody and narrowbody flying has caused an increase in the need for F/As with a Purser qualification, which has forced many F/As with the qualification into lines they did not bid. Conversely, it has denied schedules for other F/As who would have had access to certain narrowbody flying without the mixture of widebody flying in these IDs. 

The end result of the company's decision to combine this flying is that some F/As are awarded less desirable schedules. As Members use our negotiated Contractual schedule flexibility to adjust their schedules, sometimes positions are left open. On a positive note, this can create opportunities and greater earning potential for other F/As who may not have had access to this flying.

The Purser Position is Filled at the Beginning of the ID

Our Contract provides the company with many avenues to fill an open position requiring a purser qualification. Reserve F/As who are purser qualified should be aware that they may be assigned out of time accrued order to fill open positions requiring a Purser qualification. If the position is still open at briefing, it is filled as specified in Section 9.F.7 of the Contract. Remember Section 9.P.2. of our Contract that provides a F/A must have a minimum of one year of service prior to being assigned the purser position, unless there is no other F/A with at least one year of service working the flight. In a case such as this, the most senior F/A on the crew will assume the position. Once the position is filled, it is held by the person assuming it at briefing until she or he leaves the crew, even if she or he has not yet completed one year of service.

This means that a F/A, who is purser qualified or more senior and joins a crew in mid-sequence of an ID, may not take the position from a non-qualified or more junior F/A who has assumed the purser duties. F/As with a purser qualification may certainly offer support to the F/A who has assumed the purser position in addition to fulfilling the responsibilities associated with work position determined their seniority among the crew.

Remember that a vacant PQ position may be filled within two days of departure by a F/A who is not Purser-qualified provided a qualified Purser is scheduled on the base or a like ID and no other qualified Purser has requested the position through the open flying process. In such an instance, F/As without a Purser qualification may request and be awarded the PQ position on the ID through trades with, or picking up open flying. Additionally, if there are no available Reserves with a purser qualification and no other qualified Purser has requested the position through the open flying process, F/As may be awarded the PQ position without another F/A with the Purser qualification on the ID.