MEC Scheduling Chair Report

Eric Brahm June 18, 2008

In April I finished my 6 months stint in Dallas working with the Planning Dept. at HDQ1. I went to Dallas with the hopes that I would be able to come up with ideas that could make a difference. Unfortunately that wasn’t really the case, not because the ideas were so bad but because of the constraints we’re up against. We are restricted by what we’re given by AMR to meet their changing needs. Often the connections needed by them are not what is convenient for us.

During my time there I gained a much better understanding on how our lines are constructed. I also had the opportunity to become better acquainted with the Planners. I was initially concerned that familiarity breeds contempt. Thankfully, in this case I think the opposite was true. I know I now have more respect for the job they do. I came to believe that for the most part the planners take pride in their work and make an honest effort to meet our requests.

For much of the last year the company was experiencing a severe pilot shortage. At most bases the lines were not what we wanted to see. To alleviate this effect of flight attendants, additional lines were made for us at the bases with sufficient FA staffing to make it possible to do so.

We handed out a chart at the most recent Planning Round Table, which showed that there were several hundred additional lines over that time frame. In order to build an extra line, you need to remove sequences from at least 4 other lines. Consequently there were many more FA who were affected by being able to bid for a line with a lower line average and more days off. Unfortunately for the past 2 months staffing has not permitted additional lines.

The pilot shortage is for the most part a thing of the past. Because several other airlines have gone out of business there are many more pilots looking to join our workforce. The recruitment department also was offering incentives to help candidates reach the number of hours necessary to come to Eagle.

Our biggest problem now is the high price of fuel, which has taken away any profit the company might have otherwise seen. The company is scrambling to find ways to stay competitive in these trying times. They’ve announced the grounding of the SAABs. It has also been stated that they will be moving both planes and crew to DFW for an Executive base, which will fly ATRs. It is not entirely certain how this will all play out- but what does seem apparent is that we will probably have an imbalance of FA at some bases and displacements will probably take place. I haven’t seen the exact numbers and I believe they are changing on a daily basis as management tries to best accomplish these moves.

Amidst all the doom and gloom from the rising price of oil, there have been some positive elements as well. Starting in July the RSV flight attendants who sit standby will be credited for time balancing purposes. This was accomplished by the CIC. Because there were many scheduling issues being discussed at the CIC and because I had time available due to my SA, I was invited to attend several of the recent CIC meetings. The CIC was very interested in trying to try to improve on the RSV system. Deb Sutor gave me copies of 7 other airline contracts. I read through all of the sections on RSV in an attempt to see if anyone else had already developed something we could emulate. All contained good points but usually with something negative as well. In the end we decided to focus first on the Preferencing System that we use now. I wrote a quick blurb recently, which was sent out to the membership as a MEC email. The actual guide that will go into Jetnet is still being finalized, but will be posted in place of the original RSV Preferencing Guide. Starting in July. the Standby flight attendants will receive the greater of; the value of a day (3:45), or actual time flown. This will allow more flight attendants to receive their preference and it should also bring us closer to achieving Time Balancing. It is my hope, that in the negotiations for the new contract, we will be able to get the credit for pay as well as time balancing, as is done at many other airlines.

For several months now the Swaps and Drops Department has conducted an experiment agreeing to approve a higher percentage of drops. They have for now agreed to use a lower number for the thresh hold limit that must remain available in order for a drop or trade to take place. There was some internal confusion in the beginning. This caused a few days that ended up short on RSV FA causing extensions and junior mannings. Most of these kinks have been worked out and it seems that the experiment has been a success that the AFA is trying to get extended to other bases.

Another great bit of news, which I can’t take credit for but am happy to announce, is that beginning in July for the August bids we will once again have the opportunity to Buddy Bid. This topic was brought to our attention at the May Planning Round Table, by some DFW Scheduling Reps. In our prep meeting, it became apparent that this was desired at all bases and that it should discussed as a MEC Issue. At that meeting, Carol Pavlik informed us that the Round Table wasn’t the correct forum. From here , Veronica picked up the ball. Through discussions with Linda Kunz and Brent Lykens, she was able to have this made available to us once again. It will be done manually by the Swaps and Drops Department when the bids are run. They will need to reacquaint themselves with the procedure, because we haven’t had this for some time. It might be time consuming. I’m very pleased that we have been able to regain this feature that can be an invaluable tool to many.

I have been appointed as a liaison between the AFA, the company, the IT people who are working diligently to provide us with the long awaited TTOT. I have had several meetings with members from these groups. and we have been informed that the project is on schedule. Our TTOT will be similar in many respects to what the pilots have. For that reason I’m attaching the User Guide to TTOT for Pilots. This was taken directly from Jetnet. Something similar, but more pertinent to our TTOT will be developed and published on Jetnet for our usage in advance of the commencement of our actual ability to trade automatically. There is supposed to be a monthly meeting to keep us informed of the program’s developmental progress. The project is scheduled to be ready for user testing in Nov of 2008 and actual implementation in Dec..

TTOT will be a vast improvement over the manual process we presently have. The flight attendant will know immediately if their transaction is approved. If not, they will be able to attempt it in another manner. There will be system of red light, green light like the one used by the pilots. It will also include a type of hiboard, where we will be able to post trips that we want to drop or trade out of. If we can convince our members to utilize this, it can become a very powerful tool and far more effective than postings on a bulletin board. There are also some disappointing limitations. As designed now, it will not be able to merge trips for either a straight pick up or a trip trade. TTOT will not function for any type of RSV transaction. I’ll keep you informed as I receive more information.

I apologize for not being able to report on what the schedules will look like after the Sept. reductions. Until the company provides more information there isn’t much to discuss.

MEC Scheduling Chair Report

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