Flight Attendants Only, Please

[jimntx]

At AA, bidding for the following month's schedule doesn't open until the 17th or 18th of the month, and bid awards for the coming month are rarely final before the 24th or 25th of the month. I.E., August bids will be final approximately 25JUL.

I know from a friend of mine at Frontier that their bids are final around the 5th or 6th of the preceding month.

Just curious, at your airline approximately what date each month does bidding open and close, and then how long does it take them to finalize the bid awards?

If you are in any other craft or area of the company, please do not respond. I am well aware that other unions bids have other schedules. I know that the pilots at AA usually know their next month bid award before we even get our bid sheets. Thanks

 

[USCREW]

Primary lines at US come out around the third week, and is due a week later. We bid them TWO months in advance. One month out would be the secondary blocks (left-over trips thrown together to make a mix/match line). Shortly after that is the reserve bidding, which is some time late in the prior month.
September's bid opens today and will close on the 24th at 1800. Results will be available on the 25th in the morning. At 1800 on the 25th, B/Hs will start SAP (schedule adjustment period)-fine tuning their primary line in the computer by add/drop. The trips left from these two processes will be arranged into secondary lines so that more F/As will be able to have a line. There is no SAP-ping for secondary lines; it is as-is. We also have the ETB (electronic trade board), for further flexibility. Reserves complain a lot about how B/Hs get it all and the reserves get nothing- that they sit around all month and don't get to fly.

 

[jimntx]

Thanks for the response. We have nothing like that at AA. Lineholders (what you call blockholders, I think) can drop trips for a short period of time before the month begins and at odd times throughout the month. It's called a trip going green. If the computer says a trip on your schedule is green you can drop it into Open Time or trade it for any other legal trip that is in Open Time.

Or, we have a feature called Hiboard where f/as can post trips they wish to drop/trade with other f/as.

Reserve f/as are not allowed to pickup trips from Open Time or Hiboard that would in any way reduce their availability to the company. And, regardless of the hours flown, a picked up trip for a reserve is paid at strictly base pay, no incentive pay.

It would really be nice to know my schedule two months in advance. Particularly for those of us who are junior. Imagine! Being able to plan a life. What a concept!

 

[Fly]

At United,

Bids open on the 12th of the month and close on the 18th. The lines come out that day or possibly the next. The relief bids (secondary bids I guess you call them) come out around the 24th and close around the 27th.

We can drop any and all trips to other f/a's, there is no minimum months. I have been able to trade into the best trips out there and then put them up for a drop and ended up with the whole month off. We also have unlimited trip trades with each other. There is a maximim trip trading allowed with the computer, depending on the size of the base. (DCA is about 30 a month, per day int'l, 40 domestic...something like that)

Reserves are straight reserve for 5 years, then go to every other month. Reserves can not pick up open trips from the computer or from another flight attendant.

 

[USCREW]

Now the ETB has been very controversial and is being grieved by the B/Hs! The reserves are guaranteed 71 hours whether they fly or not, and at US; many do not fly. RSVs can pick-up ETB trips and get paid for them above and beyond the 71 hrs that they are guaranteed, which they may not even work. Some are getting paid for 160 and only actually flying 80-90. I personally do not care since I think that RSVs are working those 70 hours, whether in the air on waiting on the ground, and should be compensated. Many B/Hs do not see this as fair and are doing everything they can to block reserves from being able to pick up their trips off of the ETB. One way is by removing the trip off the board if they see a reserve in the cue waiting for scheduling to approve the pick-up. It's a little crazy.