United has announced a system-wide bid for Special Leaves of Absence for the two-month period of January through February 2009.

Should you choose to bid for one of these leaves it is important to carefully review the company's Special Leave of Absence information, particularly as it pertains to insurance, pass travel, vacation and sick leave accrual. Special leave status will impact each of these benefits and could also impact seniority accrual if on special leave status for more than 180 days in a 12 month period, per Section 23.B. of the Contract.

Flight Attendants awarded special leaves totaling 180 days or more within a 12 month period will not accrue seniority for each of the days in excess of 180 days on special leave status.

We continue to advocate management carefully reviews the schedule prior to awarding any Special Leaves, especially as other schedule options remain available such as 30-day and daily ANP. These schedule options in and of themselves would not interfere with your benefits. The exceptions to this would be the award of 30-day ANP directly touching another 30-day ANP or single day of ANP without at least one day off in between, and 30-day ANP in conjunction with a Special Leave of Absence extends the period of the Special Leave. This circumstance would trigger change of status to a Personal Leave of Absence, which would also affect benefits.

Bidding for the Special Leave of Absence

After carefully reviewing all of the information about a Special Leave of Absence, bidding for the January/February leave may be accomplished through your LOAREQ screen starting today, December 3rd through Monday, December 15th at 0830 Central Time. The special leave TYPE on the bid screen is indicated by the abbreviation "SP" and the dates of the leave should be listed as scheduled month dates, which include 12/31/08 - 03/01/09 – the start and end dates of the January and February Flight Attendant schedule months, respectively. Awards will be posted by 1730 Chicago Time on Monday, December 15, 2008.

Flight Attendants currently on the December 2008 through January 2008 Special Leave who wish to extend their LOA, should ensure a 30-day ANP request for the month of February is on file. Information regarding 30-day ANP can be found on DIS*27241 and 27242. To enter a request for 30-day ANP, use DSPFAI, indicate WOP and enter your file number. If awarded, this 30-day ANP period will extend the December through January Leave of Absence.

Whether you intend to bid or not, every Flight Attendant should check the LOAREQ screen to ensure there is not a request on file that is no longer wanted. This is especially important since your benefits could be affected with the award of a Special Leave of Absence.