AFA E-Lines: Oct 27, 2022

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 AFA Debrief – October 27, 2022

•      First Round Vacation Bidding – Bid to Cover Yourself
•      Relocating Adjustment Request Page within CCS
•      Annual Open Enrollment for 2023 Benefits
•      Fall 2022 Regular MEC Meeting Recap

First Round Vacation Bidding – Bid to Cover Yourself

First round vacation bidding is currently open and will close this Monday, October 31 at 0800 (HDT).

As you may recall, last year, based on bids submitted by Flight Attendants, the award of first-round vacation periods created a different dynamic than compared to previous awards. Many Flight Attendants who bid found themselves awarded unexpected vacation periods based on the insufficient bid logic of the award program for a number of reasons.  Chief among the reasons for these unexpected awards were:

• Many Flight Attendants did not bid to cover themselves.
• Many Flight Attendants were unaware of the actual dates on which schedule months begin and end
• Transferring Flight Attendants were not aware they were not bidding vacation from the allocation at their current base.
• Transferring Flight Attendants were not aware of the allocations at the base from which they will be flying as of January 1, 2023.

In all the above referenced situations, because bids had been submitted that were not able to be awarded, were treated as if an insufficient bidder in the first round.

Our Contract provides in an insufficient bid situation, vacation will be awarded after all vacation bids have been processed starting from the back of the year moving forward. 

Given the number of Flight Attendants who were awarded vacations due to an insufficient bid in the first round, the result was a reduced number of allocations toward the end of the year, especially in November or December.  For Flight Attendants participating in Second Round Vacation bidding, allocations toward the early part of the year were all that was remaining from which to select vacation.

Historically, July and August allocations are usually the first to go, and as a result many second-round vacations were awarded during the period from January through April.  

The takeaway from all this is that last year, many Flight Attendants may not have held a vacation period more to their preference due to the change in the bidding dynamics. 

We strongly encourage you to read all the information we’ve made available and bid to cover yourself. If you’re unsure how much to bid, some Flight Attendants bid to cover themselves by bidding the entire year in order of preference.

As always, we strongly encourage you to read the information we provide on our Vacation microsite.

Relocating Adjustment Request Page within CCS

In an effort by the company to ensure Flight Attendants are familiar with the Adjustment Request page and, more specifically, RA days, the company has notified the Union of a plan to relocate the Adjustment Request tab from the Scheduling tab in CCS.  The page change will occur late in the day on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, and will not affect any requests on file prior to this date.

The Adjustment Request page is used to advise the company that you do not want the company to place RA days on your schedule as a means of addressing an end of month conflict.  We should be clear, when RA days are used to adjust (placed on) the schedule, the Flight Attendant needs to be available to be called for assignment in the same way as a Reserve and may participate in Reserve Preferencing.  At their option, the Flight Attendant may contact Crew Scheduling to be assigned to a trip in Open Time prior to Reserve Preferencing.   The person retains their lineholder status for the bid month in which the RA days are placed on the schedule.  When RA days are applied, there is no reduction in line guarantee resulting from the end of month (EOM) conflict.  (Refer to pages 99 – 100 in the Trip Trade and Adjustment Guide

The Adjustment Request page will be relocated under the General Settings Tab and will provide you with the ability to specify if you do or do not want to use RA days up to five months in advance.  Requesting RA days be used is specific to the schedule month to which the request is tied.  It is not a one-time request; it must be requested and applied to each unique schedule month.  While we made recommendations for this Adjustment Request to be placed elsewhere in CCS, ultimately it was decided that placing this with other “elections” such as max “opting.”  Please make a note of this relocation.


Annual Open Enrollment for 2023 Benefits

Annual Benefits Open Enrollment for active employees starts October 31, 2022 and runs through November 18, 2022.  From the Flying Together website, you can access the Your Benefits Page (YBR) and, using the technology that is part of the page, compare up to three plans side-by-side, including 2023 costs, using the “Price & Compare” tile. This feature is intended to provide information that will help you to determine the health and wellness programs and their costs that best fit your needs for coverage for the upcoming year.

Staying informed and being aware of the available benefit options is incredibly important as we start our Benefits Enrollment process. For proper coverage and a plan that best suits you and your families, we need to keep in mind the important dates that are quickly approaching:

·      October 31 Annual Benefits Enrollment begins.

·      October 31 – November 18 Use the Enrollment Reimagined tool on YBR to receive a plan suggestion based on your healthcare needs. Answer a few simple questions about your healthcare usage, and the tool will recommend which 2023 medical plan is most likely to best fit your needs.

·      November 18 Annual Benefits Enrollment ends

Enrollment is completed through United’s “Your Benefits Resource (YBR) website, which may be accessed through the “Useful Websites Link” on our website; or you may call the United Airlines Benefits Center with questions regarding enrolling or using the “Your Benefits Resource” website at (800) 651-1007.

Fall 2022 MEC Meeting Recap

This week the United Master Executive Council met for our Fall 2022 Regular Meeting in Chicago. The MEC met, discussed, and deliberated on a number of issues of importance to our Union and our Members.

A copy of the Day 1 and Day 2 MEC Meeting Summaries are available from our MEC website along with the actions taken on the Advance Agenda Items discussed during the course of the meeting.

Reminders:

OCT – Breast Cancer Awareness Month
OCT – October 31, 2022 – Domestic Violence Awareness Month
OCT 23 – October 31, 2022 – First Round Vacation Bidding Period
OCT 25 – 26, 2022 - Fall 2022 Regular MEC Meeting, Hyatt Rosemont, IL
OCT 30 – Fall 2022p1 CBT Due at 2359 CT
NOV 8 – November 16, 2022 – Second Round Vacation Bidding Period
NOV 8 – Midterm Elections
NOV 14 – December 2022 Special COLA Requests Due at 0800 CT

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