Commuter policy is broken

[jimntx]

From the Commuter Policy on the Flight Service Website...

"If a commuter attempts to commute to work on two (2) consecutive American or American Eagle scheduled flights from their Designated Commuter City (both of which were originally scheduled to arrive at the base city in time for normal sign-in), and because of a
flight cancellation or delay beyond the commuter's control, is unable to arrive in time to permit normal sign-in at the domicile, the commuter must notify Crew Schedule immediately, but in no case later than two (2) hours prior to the originally scheduled signin time. In addition, the flight attendant will need to contact his/her FSM and provide them with their flight cancellation or delay information. Such flight attendant will be removed from the trip without pay and without credit; however, no attendance occurrence will be charged against the flight attendant's attendance record. Full loads and other airline cancellations will not constitute an excused absence under this policy." (Emphasis mine)

Now, whether it is being implemented that way is not my concern. Full loads are not an excuse, period. By the way, it is not part of the contract. The commuter policy was stated in a letter to all flight attendants from Laurie Curtis in Dec. 2003. It is a decision made by the company that can be revoked at any time by the company. However, I will grant you that if the policy is being applied unevenly, this would give the APFA some ground to stand on in a grievance if it can be proven.

P.S. My bad, it is only 2 flights not 3.

 

[Skymess]

Among other things, checking flight status since the company sees no need to notify crews at the hotel that their outbound flight is delayed. The company has no problem with us arriving at the airport from the hotel only to find out that the flight is delayed 3 or 4 hours, and the company knew it the night before.

Since our agreement with all hotels is that check-out time for us is whenever we leave the room, we could stay and get some extra rest or go exercise, or have a decent breakfast.

One of the reasons AA doesn't tell us, if you ask me, at many international locations is because the company only reserves the EXACT amount of rooms and if you don't leave and the next crew comes in they could be hosed. IF you leave and come back, you are almost always hosed. Try getting extra rooms in Rome when the plane has a mechanical. You can't even get rooms until the outbound vacates their rooms and housekeeping cleans them. The wait is usually an hour to 1 1/2 hours after you arrive.

 

[jimntx]

Verifying flt status cannot be done via some other method? Could the #1 be designated to contact AA for flt status and advise the other FA's on their crew if there is a delay? Does dial-aa-flight still exist?

Well, someone would then have to be designated to get up early to check, then call the limo service (at hotels that don't provide a van) to change the pickup time. That is also something the company is not willing to do.

Also, how many crew members actually fly with their lap tops?

A lot of us. I want one, but then I would have to carry the dang thing. I find a my most recent issues of Newsweek and The New Yorker to be infinitely lighter.

And, a lot of f/as who commute and have to spend a lot of time in crash pads during reserve months consider having their laptops to be life savers. Again, I would love one, but then I would have to carry it.

 

[Garfield1966]

As far as I see it, the "ONE" who started this post is the WHINER who can't deal with the " ACTUAL" contract?.....Garf? what is your favorite " CHEESE" ?

When I reassign you because a commuter did not get into base for their sequence we will see how much you whine or will you take it like the man you pretend to be.

It seems that several of your co-workers agreed with me. Several are people who live in NYC and are held to a different standard than those who who choose to live outside of NYC.

I'll work with what ever contract is in effect. I could care less. I work 8 hours and I go home. I get no commission of RA's. If I RA 10 or 0 it makes not difference to me. If a commuter calls me at 11pm for a 4am SI I could care less. I'll call a reserve at 12m (will it be you?) and tell them they have 4 hours to be at the airport. I get to go home after my shift and get a full night sleep.

What you seem to be unable to grasp is that a lot of the b1tching I do would benefit you and your co-workers but because of that chip on your shoulder, you can't see that. The junior FA's get screwed over on a regular basis by AA and the APFA. Several of us have come up with some very good ideas on how to fix some of them? What have you done?

If you want to let commuters get away with not working. Go for it. I'll be happy to reassign someone to cover their position. When I run out of moves, it will go short or cancel. I have done my job and that is all I am worried about. I had a commuter the other day who no showed and gave me less than 2 hours notice. Four people (all line holders) had their lives changed. All were involuntary reassignments. Some went from TA's to 2 days, some just got different seq. All because one person 1. did not get to base and 2. did not give me enough time to call someone out.

 

[Flyboy4u]

GARF? Get 1 thing straight here.You STARTED this Post....One of my fellow "JUNIOR" F/A's gave her life for this company,, and we will never forget her, nor those that have also given their lives for AA ,and the standards that everyone on this board also Stand for..However, your comments, and attitude towards those who actually do their job , and believe in it . Show more dissrespect than deserved...Please keep in mind, these are F/A's whether TWA or AA, that have been thrown on the street, and forced to bases out of their control....We " ALL " love to Fly , but you and your comments Are out of control. Have some misunderstanding about us, and need to get over yourself....Yes, the Commuter policy, "IN YOUR MIND" isn't fair, but deal with it. We have to deal with the Schedling "Incompetency"you give us, so deal with ours! Trust me!...This CompAAny does't care what is fair! BTW>.....Next round of bonuses due this April!

 

[Garfield1966]

I'm not going to argue that it would not be nice to have internet access. When I travel I always have my laptop with me and I always try to stay at a hotel with internet access.

Having said that, it's a cost item. Most hotels who do not give free access charge $5 or $10 a day for it. That is going to add up. I can think of quite a few other items that the money would be better spent on. There are other ways to check flt status that are perhaps not as convenient (the company I am sure will say to call crew skd, that's what we are here for) but free.

Unless there are other reasons to have internet access (maybe the cockpit has other concerns) I do not see access being paid for by AA but good luck.

I want one of those new slim line Apple notebooks with the flash memory. They are as thin as your magazine and nearly as light. They also cost about $3,500 (but that's another story) which I don't have laying around at the moment.

 

[Garfield1966]

When have I been disrespectful? I disagree with quite a few on this board but I have had PM conversations with several of them and they seem to trust my answers. I could care less if you do not like my answer. If I am wrong, tell me, if not... deal with it.

As I posted. I will deal with any contract in effect. I could care less. I am just pointed out things that affect you in an adverse way that ought to be changed.

The four people I reassigned I did in about 1/2 hour and did not break a sweat. It did not affect my life in the least. I ate my dinner wen I was hungry, I harassed a few folks here who I work with. Surfed the web to find a battery for my camera and went home at the end of my shift.

If you want to leave the commuter policy the way it is, go for it. There are a few on this board who fly that disagree with you. Either way, I don't care.

How does the fact that someone lost their life in the line of duty have anything to do with this issue? When did I ever show disrespect for any of those individuals?

There are a lot of people who are out of work. We lost 8 or 9 up here (that 1.5%). I would like to do what ever I could o make sure that more do not get laid of. Saving money and making things more efficient is part of solution.

 

[Mach85ER]

What do crews need internet access for?

There are many things that crews do with internet access that can help awareness, safety and scheduling of the airline. While I can't speak for the FA's, on the pilot side we can trip trade, HISEND, check MELS for the early am next day flight as well as other info best left off a public board. It also cuts the need for people in SOC to answer phones during OSO. On my last layover while watching the last of 1 foot of snow fall, I was able to see the inbound flight arrive, see if the FA's made it (different hotel) and check the field report, as well as have equal or better weather access than available in SOC. You might say, "well, we'll call you if there are changes", my response is "riiiiiiiigggggt" how many 3-5 am wake ups has crew schedule failed to notify the crew before airport arrival? More than a few for me. That becomes a fatigue safety issue if the duty day extends.We also had a limited amount of time to cover operational issues before departure. It would have been a delay without my FREE hotel internet.

In another case without hotel internet, we departed normally from a South America city late one night. Later,as we flew by one city and agreed to use it as an emergency/medical divert alternate. Little did we know that at that same moment, there was a gun battle with protesters going on there (in the news before departure).

Are you starting to see some advantages yet?

It also has gotten a little old asking hotels about the internet and hearing, "Oh, American, no you guys don't get it. SWA, UAL and DL do, but not you guys". Many of the hotels do have internet for free already.

 

[Garfield1966]

Are you starting to see some advantages yet?

For cockpit yes.

I think I would leave the TT part out of the argument. That will go over about as well as the priority Non-rev and wanting the superbowl off. Just my $0.02.

 

[Mach85ER]

For cockpit yes.

I think I would leave the TT part out of the argument. That will go over about as well as the priority Non-rev and wanting the superbowl off. Just my $0.02.

The non-rev issue has been hashed here ad naseum. Don't be an idiot.


Most trip trades involve picking up more time. I've run into the hassle of being out of the country for AA and unable to trade. I've then just stayed home low time and listened to whiney phone messages asking to cover trips. Thursday no internet, can't trade, Friday, can't trip trade, and Saturday the phone starts ringing. I've watched CNX's for some when they've run out of RA's. Great $10 internet access savings for that one.

I'll give you the Super Bowl thingy. A sliced tee shot for a group that has been dead on otherwise.

By the way, everyone in SOC seems to enjoy their internet. nfl.com seems to be popular in season.

 

[jimntx]

One other thing, Gar. Since the company has seen fit to cut staff in Scheduling and Tracking to the bare bones, I've been on hold during OSO operations for over 30 minutes on my cell phone. All the land lines in Ops were in use with f/as or pilots also on hold. 2 of the last 3 times I never got my call answered. The other time, I informed the tracker that I was calling in for the entire crew to let him know we were aware of the fact that our sequence had busted (as we are supposed to do) and we were standing by in Ops in SLT for instructions. His response: "So?"

 

[Garfield1966]

I do not think we are understaffed. On a day to day basis we have enough people to operate efficiently. Any more people and we would have people sitting around doing nothing more so than we do not on a good day. he bad days are fairly rare and if we were to staff for that level, we would be like the rest of management which is to say useless.

I will not excuse the behavior and I cannot really explain what goes on up here on a OSO day. Suffice to say the first time I saw one was an eye opener. No idea how stuff gets done but some how it does. I have had people on hold for a long time and I have had people on hold who I have ignored till they hung up. If I have crap going on that is time sensitive, and you do not have something that I need to deal with right now, you wait. I don't know if it is right or wrong to do that but it is what it is and that is how we have to operate sometimes. We have your empl number and we see your skd. If you were in STL and your seq/leg was xcled, they probably knew you were there. They will find you ...or not.

All I can say is if you want to see it, come on up during a OSO. You live here in DFW. It might make sense then.

 

[jimntx]

If you were in STL and your seq/leg was xcled, they probably knew you were there. They will find you ...or not.

Then you need to get the management types off their high horse of accusing f/as of avoiding re-assignment by not contacting tracking when a sequence gets busted. You can't say, don't bother calling we know where you are, and then have people issued TMs because they gave up and went home.



And, one of the (I'm sure unintended) consequences of the current staffing levels...

Last Summer during the storms in DFW, an SLT crew that went illegal at 5:30pm, sat in Ops at DFW until 10:30pm waiting for the hotel desk to assign them a hotel. Hotel desk excuse: we can't give you a hotel until tracking "fixes" your sequence--even though everyone was willing to admit that there was no fixing to do that day because they were already illegal.

That same day, an LGA crew slept in Ops at STL because the hotel desk NEVER assigned them a room. Sufficient staffing in your department?

 

[AirLUVer]

Tracking is understaffed for weather sessions, but major weather sessions only happen realistically 4 or 5 times per month with some months being worse than others.

 

[Nor'Easta]

I do not think we are understaffed.

Think again! :blink: :blink: :blink: