The following explanation applies to the first day of each bid month only. When awarding assignments, all reserves who have submitted an assignment preference will have their preference awarded in seniority order, provided they are legal and available.
Example: On day one of a bid period, there are fifteen reserves available and the following reserve assignments:
4 Airport Reserve
3 Trip Sequences
Leaving a balance of 8 reserves to be assigned RAPs
Trips, Airport Reserve and RAPs may all be preferenced; Crew Scheduling will determine at the time of assignment how many reserves will be on each RAP.
For time balancing purposes, Airport Reserve has a value of 3:45. This means that a flight attendant who sits Airport Reserve accrues (for time balancing purposes) the greater of 3:45 or any time actually flown. The 3:45 Airport Reserve Credit has no pay value.
Starting at the top of the list in seniority order, Crew Scheduling awards all assignments (i.e., credit time assignments such as trips and Airport Reserve, RAPS) in the order preferenced provided the flight attendant is legal and available for the assignment. Keep in mind that this is only on the first day of the bid months when all flight attendants have the same time accrued (0:00).
Anything not preferenced is assigned in inverse seniority order; trips and Airport Reserve first. RAPs are assigned to the remaining reserves, if any.
Remember, RAPs have no credit value for time balancing purposes. Therefore, if no trip assignment is given to the flight attendant on a RAP, she/he finishes the day with 0:00 credited hours for time balancing purposes. This greatly increases the chance she/he will receive a credit assignment (a trip or Airport Reserve) on the following day.
(11-6-08)
Remainder of Bid Month
The following explanation applies to the second and each subsequent day of each bid month. When awarding assignments, Crew Scheduling uses its best efforts to honor the preference of all reserves who have submitted an assignment preference. This will be done in order of time accrued to date – least to most, provided the flight attendant is legal and available and provided further that a reserve with less time accrued was not already awarded the assignment.
Understanding the method by which reserves are assigned and making the system work for you becomes more complicated because time balancing now becomes a relevant factor. The two concepts – (1) time balancing and (2) assignment preferencing - contradict each other. Pure Time Balancing depends only upon the amount of time a reserve flight attendant has accrued. Pure preferencing depends only on the preference submitted by the reserve. The American Eagle Reserve Assignment system is a combination of the two. Unlike on day one, each reserve will have accrued a different amount of time.
Applying this system, it is necessary to understand the order in which Crew Scheduling covers open assignments. Very broadly speaking, Crew Scheduling assigns in the order in which it is necessary to keep the airline running. Reserve preference requests are honored as nearly as possible but not to the extent that honoring a preference would force a flight attendant to work on a day off.
The responsibility will be on the individual reserve to submit sufficient preferences. A reserve with less time accrued to date relative to the other reserves available for the day will more likely than not be awarded a credit assignment (trip or Airport Reserve) because uncovered credit assignments are awarded first. For the same reason, a reserve with more time accrued relative to the other reserves available for the day will more likely receive an assignment without “credited time” (in other words, a RAP). Reserves with accrued hours placing them in the “middle of the pack” receive assignments that depend on what must be covered and how many reserves are available. Activities with “credit” time,” (meaning trips then Airport Standby) are assigned first, followed by non-credit activities (meaning RAPs).
Example: On day ten of a bid period, there are nine reserves available. Armandito has the least time accrued relative to the other reserves available that day. Isidore has the most time accrued relative to the other reserves available that day. The available reserves with their accrual and days of availability on this example day are as follows:
(11-16-08)
Reserve Armandito: 6 hours accrued
6 days of availability prior to days off
Reserve Bernice: 7 hours accrued
1 day of availability prior to days off
Reserve Carlotta: 8 hours accrued
5 days of availability prior to days off
Reserve Donna: 9 hours accrued
5 days of availability prior to days off
Reserve Elmer: 10 hours accrued
4 days of availability prior to days off
Reserve Francesca: 11 hours accrued
3 days of availability prior to days off
Reserve George: 12 hours accrued
2 days of availability prior to days off
Reserve Herbie: 13 hours accrued
1 day of availability prior to days off
Reserve Isidore: 14 hours accrued
2 days of availability prior to days off
The following eight assignments with credit time are available (plus non-credit time RAPS):
Sequence #1: 1 day trip worth 5:00
Sequence #2: 2 day trip worth 8:00
Sequence #3: 2 day trip worth 8:30
Sequence #4 3 day trip worth 11:15
Sequence #5: 4 day trip worth 13:30
RAP-1 and 2 No credit time unless assigned a trip
(number of positions to be determined)
(11-6-08)
Airport Reserve: 3:45 credit time for time balancing
A.M. (one position) purposes only unless assigned a trip
Airport Reserve: 3:45 credit time for time balancing
P.M. (two positions) purposes only unless assigned a trip
The flight attendants submit the following preferences:
Armandito preferences P.M. Airport Reserve
Bernice preferences A.M. Airport Reserve
Carlotta preferences RAP-1
Donna preferences RAP-2
Elmer preferences Sequence 4
Francesca preferences Sequence 3
George submits three preferences in the following order: (1) Sequence 2; (2) A.M. Airport Reserve; (3) RAP-2
Herbie preferences Sequence 1
Isidore submits no preference
How will Crew Scheduling make the assignments?
(1) Armandito
(2) Bernice
(3) Carlotta
(4) Donna
(5) Elmer
(6) Francesca
(7) George
(8) Herbie
(9) Isidore
(11-6-08)
Once the group of reserve flight attendants who are legal and available for assignment on a given day is created, it becomes necessary to determine which listed flight attendants will be assigned a trip or Airport Reserve (as opposed to an assignment to a RAP, which has no credit time). The eight flight attendants who have the least amount of accrued time and therefore would ordinarily be assigned a trip or Airport Reserve are:
(10) Armandito
(11) Bernice
(12) Carlotta
(13) Donna
(14) Elmer
(15) Francesca
(16) George
(17) Herbie
(11-6-08)
(1) All assignments are awarded to flight attendants in the order of flight attendant with the least accrued time to most accrued time
(2) There are five trips and three Airport Reserve positions to assign, therefore the eight legal and available reserve flight attendants with the least amount of accrued time will ordinarily be assigned some trip or Airport Reserve.
(3) This means that Armandito, Bernice, Carlotta, Donna, Elmer, Francesca, George and Herbie should be assigned either a trip or Airport Reserve, whether or not they submitted a preference for a trip, Airport Reserve or a RAP (which carries no credit time towards time balancing) or submitted no preference.
(4) After trips and Airport Reserve has been assigned, Crew Scheduling will use its best efforts to honor preferences of the remaining reserves in the least time accrued to most time accrued order, considering legalities, availability and time balancing.
(5) All remaining reserves are awarded a RAP in the least time accrued to most time accrued order, considering legalities, availability and time balancing. In this example, following the award of credit assignments, the only reserve remaining to receive a non-credit assignment (i.e. a RAP) is Isidore.
(1) Five trips and three Airport Reserve shifts are open. Eight flight attendants have been identified who will be awarded a credit assignment (as stated in paragraph “B” above). Beginning at the top of the list, Crew Scheduling awards assignments to those reserves who preferenced a credit assignment. Since Carlotta and Donna only preferenced a RAP, they will be assigned the remaining credit assignments after the others. Armandito and Bernice preferenced an Airport Reserve shift and each will be assigned one. Skipping Carlotta and Donna, we assign credit assignments to Elmer, Francesca, George and Herbie, based on their preferences and availability.
(11-6-08)
(2) Trip 5 and a PM Airport Reserve shift remain open. Crew Scheduling will assign these to Carlotta and Donna under Section 9.C.4.c. of the Agreement, which states: “A Reserve Flight Attendant who does not express any preferences, or who cannot be awarded any of her/his preferences, will be assigned flying, Airport Reserve or RAP at the Company’s discretion.”
(3) Isidore is assigned a RAP per Section 9.C.4.c.
G. Keep in mind that from time to time, there are fewer reserves available than there are positions to cover. This presents Crew Scheduling with a dilemma – how to cover all open positions. There is no one hard rules for what happens in this circumstance, but here are several possibilities:
(1) Leave one or more RAP positions uncovered.
(2) Leave one or more Airport Standby positions uncovered. Which position to leave open will be left to the discretion of the Crew Scheduler to decide, based on her/his expertise.
(3) Extend a flight attendant who is inbound to cover an open trip.
(4) Junior Man a flight attendant on days off to cover an open trip.
Remember that scheduling the airline is a continuing process. It is not possible to plan for all routine occurrences which may affect Crew Scheduling’s ability to comply with all preferences submitted. Such factors as legalities, when a trip comes open, last minute sick calls, mechanical problems and misconnecting flight attendants mean that it may not always be possible to rigidly follow the order of preferencing reserve flight attendants submit.
(11-6-08)
Finally, for flight attendants for whom a “visual” explanation is helpful, this is how the scheduling of the reserve flight attendants mentioned in this article looks.
Activity to Assign Duration in Days Credit or Pay Time
Sequence # 1 1 5:00
Sequence # 2 2 8:00
Sequence # 3 2 8:30
Sequence # 4` 3 11:15
Sequence # 5 4 13:30
Airport Reserve (One Position) 1 3:45
06:00-14:00
Airport Reserve (Two Positions) 1 3:45
14:00-22:00
Name Available Days Sequence Awarded
Armandito 6 Airport Reserve 14:00
Bernice 1 Airport Reserve 06:00
Carlotta 5 Sequence # 5
Donna 5 Standby 14:00
Elmer 4 Sequence # 4
Francesca 3 Sequence # 3
George 2 Sequence #2
Herbie 1 Sequence # 1
Isidore 2 RAP
(11-6-08)
