Hello, this is Mark Kilayko, director –Worldwide Flight Attendant Scheduling, with an Update for Monday, July 17, 2006.

As we're at the middle of summer, I'd like to start by updating you on how the operation has been running and how we look for the balance of the summer.

Although we continue to experience high load factors and irregular operations, scheduling has been able to manage coverage and staff trips appropriately. In fact, we granted 201 special leaves of absence for June and July, and for the month of June, the amount of daily ANP we granted was the equivalent of giving 254 flight attendants the entire month off. We also increased trade with open flying allocations by 41 percent and same-day allocations by 132 percent.

We're going into August with a manageable overage of reserves, and that gives us some flexibility. But just to be safe, we've not going to award 30-day ANP, but rather when appropriate, we will grant daily ANP to manage this overage. While there may be days when the weather will cause shortages, we should not experience extended periods of understaffing or coverage issues.

Recently we've seen reports about departure and arrival block times.

The automated system we and other airlines use to automatically transmit messages between aircraft and ground stations to record aircraft movement for pilot, flight attendant and aircraft scheduling is called ACARS. ACARS is very reliable and in the few instances where discrepancies have been reported, we have processes in place to ensure accurate information is captured.

Rest assured that we'll investigate and correct any instance of inaccurate block times that are reported to us. If you feel the block times you see when you use “DSPID” are incorrect, contact the operations manager at OPBSK at 847-700-3070. They will ensure Flight Operations investigates and, if necessary, update your ID. Please keep in mind that the crew desk cannot make changes to the block times in your ID.

Since May, we've made adjustments to the way IDs are built to enable you to follow the airplane more often. Since the May schedule, the total number of instances in which flight attendant crews are scheduled to follow the aircraft has increased from 31 percent to 44 percent. Although there is a cost associated with this, the operational benefits, mainly a reduction in misconnecting crews, have outweighed the costs. We're also working on technology enhancements that will help us better schedule extra positions in the international operation and better plan the number of reserves we'll need.

Finally, I'm sure you've either read or seen evidence of the consolidation of our crew desk operations. We've completed the consolidation of scheduling for San Francisco to OPBSK on July 1. This follows the consolidation of Los Angeles on April 15.

I'm happy to report that both transitions went very well, and we have had no significant issues managing these operations from a central location. In fact, as we plan for the Denver and O'Hare transitions later this year, we're taking a close look at the way we manage flight attendant scheduling for the entire system at OPBSK. We want to make sure that our processes are efficient and that we're there to support you when you need us, regardless of where you're based or where you're laying over.

That's all for today. Thanks and fly safely.