Assignments

Some of the most frequent questions the Reserve Committee receives have to do with everyday basic reserve assignments-- "How did I end up with this trip?" With the significant fluctuations in reserve seniority and in the Flight Attendant population as a whole recently, and with the recent changes to our Agreement, we are in changeable times right now. This is a good time to review some of the basics about reserve assignment procedures, and how to react if you suspect you may be receiving an incorrect assignment. It can be a very complicated process.

Day Of Availability Category-- The Missing Link

Before open IDs (and ONSBs) are assigned to reserves, a reserve availability list must be compiled to establish the order in which reserves will be used. Most Flight Attendants are aware that reserve assignments are made in time accrued order, the ID or ONSB with the earliest check-in time going to the reserve with the least credited time accrued. However, there is another step to the assignment process that many people are not aware of. Reserve assignments are made in day of availability category first, and then in time accrued order within each category (Sections 10.C.4., 10.C.5., 12.V.4.). This means that first, reserves are grouped into a day of availability category based on how many days are remaining until their next scheduled day off; and then within that category, reserves are listed in time accrued order.

Reserves good for less than four days are grouped into one-, two- and three-day categories. What the day of availability concept results in is that the first (for example) two-day trip should not necessarily go to the reserve with the least time accrued, but to the two-day reserve with the least time accrued and who is legal, available, and qualified for the trip. That is, if reserve #1 is good for four days and has only 30 hours accrued, and reserve #2 is good for two days and has 40 hours accrued, the two-day ID would first go to reserve #2. This is because even though Reserve #2 has more time accrued, she is good for two days and it is a two-day ID.

For reserves good for four and more days, the day of availability categories are different at domestic and international locations. Day of availability categories at HNL and domiciles outside the U.S. (that is, those locations that do only international flying) are simple: they continue on in four-day, five-day, six-day, etc. categories up to the reserve with the maximum number of consecutive days of availability (Section 12.V.4.). At domiciles in the U.S. (except HNL-- that is, locations that do any domestic flying), however, everyone good for four or more days is grouped in the same day of availability category and listed in time accrued order within that category (Sections 10.C.4., 5., 8.). This means that a six-day reserve with 40:00 time accrued will be listed ahead of a four-day trip before a four-day reserve with 50:00 time accrued. Even though the six-day reserve is good for more days, she has less hours and so is listed ahead of the four-day reserve. This principle only exists at domestic locations, and only for reserves good for four or more days.

RSVFLY

The basic reserve availability list in unimatic is called RSVFLY and should be pulled up like this:

RSVFLY / DOM / / DDMMM / ANY / / DAY

The key to using RSVFLY is to type the word DAY in the ORDER column (note the double slash after ANY-- leave the DY column blank if you are using the drop-down display). This breaks the list up into the appropriate day of availability categories as discussed above. Without the word DAY, reserves will be listed in time accrued order only, with no regard to how many days they are good for.

At domestic locations, the RSVFLY display will default to showing the "four-or-more" day of availability category. All reserves good for four or more days will be listed strictly in time accrued order, regardless of how many days they are good for. The four-or-more categorization can also be displayed by typing "1-4" in the DY column. At international locations and HNL, the RSVFLY display will default to showing four-day reserves in time accrued order; then five-day reserves; then six-day reserves; and so on. The international day of availability categorization can also be displayed by typing "1-9" in the DY column.

Some further notes about RSVFLY, which we now have a contractual right to have access to, in accordance with Section 10.J.: Note the blank space between the domicile and the date. If you want to see only those reserves who are international qualified or only those are domestic qualified, you can enter a "D" or an "I" here. However, there is rarely any need to do that, so it is recommended that you keep this space blank. If you just want to see the call-ins, type CLLR instead of ANY. Typing RSV will show only the ready reserves, including converted call-ins. ONSB will show stand-bys. After DAY, another slash and a three-letter language code can be entered in the LANG column (for example, /SPN for Spanish) to display only the reserves who are qualified in that language.

As to the actual RSVFLY display itself, a # under the ODQ column indicates the reserve is Only Domestic Qualified and is not service qualified to work international IDs. Also under the ODQ column you will see language qualifications the reserves have, with + indicating they are qualified in more than one language. TMAC is possibly the most important column-- it is time accrued, or how much credited time the reserve has accrued so far in the month. It is on this number, in conjunction with the day of availability category, that reserve assignments are based. TMLF shows how much time the reserve has left to fly for the month before reaching her MAX. This is useful towards the end of the month as, for example, a reserve good for only five hours cannot be assigned an ID worth ten hours and so would be skipped for a ten-hour ID. The O, K, and P columns on the far right indicate several qualifications. If the reserve has been flying for at least a year and so can be assigned a domestic narrowbody Purser position there will be a K, for Key position qualified. The P column indicates Purser qualification-- a D under the P indicates the Flight Attendant is qualified to fly the domestic widebody qualified Purser position; an I indicates she is also qualified to fly the international qualified Purser position. So what is the O for? A bit of trivia: It indicates Overwater qualification, now obsolete as all we are all overwater qualified. Seeing OK in this column does not stand for okay-- it means the reserve is overwater qualified and is qualified to fly the domestic narrowbody Purser position.

It is important to realize that RSVFLY does not show all information necessary to make reserve assignments. There may be additional information necessary to determine if a reserve is legal for a flight that can only be obtained by looking up the relevant LOF and previous IDs, for example to determine legal rest, 8-in-24, 30-in-7, etc. Potential legalities are often indicated by a symbol (*, Y, K, or ?) on the left side of the display right next to the type of reserve.

ASSIGNING TRIPS

Once the reserve availability list has been established, IDs (and ONSBs) are assigned based on their length in days and their check-in times. Most of this information is found in OPNTRP in unimatic. (Though it is not shown, ONSB and open-ended ("uni") IDs are generally-- though not always-- considered to be four-day assignments.) At locations with both domestic and international flying, it is important to no longer use the "I" or "D" designator in OPNTRP. Instead of OPNTRP/29/LAX/I or OPNTRP/29/LAX/D, simply enter OPNTRP/29/LAX, as there is now a single reserve pool to be assigned to all IDs-- both domestic and international-- at all locations. The general principle is that the first legal, available, and qualified (IST, Purser, or LQ, as the ID requires) reserve on the availability list is assigned to the open ID. The process starts with one-day trips. The one-day trip with the earliest check-in time is assigned to the first legal, available, and qualified one-day reserve. The next one-day trip is assigned to the next one-day reserve, and so on until either all one day IDs or one-day reserves are exhausted. If there are sufficient one-day reserves to cover all the one-day trips, the process then moves to the two-day and then three-day assignments.

To be consistent with the different domestic and international day of availability categories for reserves good for four or more days (as described above), the process for assigning trips of four or more days differs for domestic and international assignments. To assign a four-day trip at domestic locations, a reserve good for four or more days who has the least time accrued will be used first (assuming all legalities and qualifications are met)-- this may be either a four, five, six, or even a seven day reserve in some cases. A six-day reserve may be listed first, followed by a four-day, followed by a five-day, followed by another four-day, depending on their time accrued rather than depending on how many days they are good for.

To assign a four-day trip at an international location, on the other hand, the first legal, available, and qualified four-day reserve with the least time accrued will be used. Unlike a four-day assignment at a domestic location, a five or six day reserve should not be used to fill a four-day international assignment unless there are insufficient four-day reserves.

If a reserve does not possess the qualifications necessary for a certain ID, she will be skipped over for that ID. Reserves who are not international qualified (meaning who have not completed International Service Training, or IST) will be skipped over for international IDs. Reserves who are not language qualified will be skipped over for LQ IDs. Reserves who are not Purser qualified will be skipped over for qualified (international or domestic widebody) Purser IDs. Reserves who have not been flying for at least one year will be skipped over for domestic narrowbody Purser positions.

What if there are more open IDs of a certain length than there are reserves in that day of availability category-- for example, ten one-day trips but only five one-day reserves? That is when things get interesting. Read on…

SINCE I AM #1 ON THE SIX-DAY LIST, HOW DID I GET A ONE DAY ID?

If there are insufficient one-day reserves to cover all the one-day trips, reserves good for more than one day will be needed to cover the remaining one-day trips. However, the remaining one-day trips will not simply go to the first two-day reserves on the list in time accrued order before any two-day trips are assigned, which is a popular misconception. Instead, the remaining one-day trips are "merged" with the two-day trips together in check-in time order and assigned to the two-day reserves in time accrued order. If ID#1 is a two-day trip with an 0700 check-in time and ID#2 is a one-day trip with an 0800 check-in time, then the first two-day reserve will receive two-day ID#1 while the second two-day reserve will receive one-day ID#2 (assuming no other legalities or any qualifications are at play).

If there are insufficient two-day reserves to cover the remaining merged one- and two-day trips, the remaining one- and two-day trips are then merged in check-in time order with the three-day trips and assigned to three-day reserves in check-in and time accrued order. If the earliest check-in of the remaining one-, two-, and the three-day IDs happens to be a one-day trip, the first three-day reserve gets the one-day trip. If on the other hand a three-day ID checks in earlier than the remaining one- and two-day IDs, the first three-day reserve will get a three-day trip (as always, assuming she is legal and qualified for it), and three-day reserves further down the list will get the one- and two-day trips in check-in time order. The process continues until all trips have been assigned. If there are not enough one-day reserves to cover all the one-day IDs, this is how a multi-day reserve on or near the beginning a stretch of reserve days can end up with a one-day ID.

EOM CHANGING RESERVE / LINEHOLDER STATUS: BE ADVISED!

The added flexibility of the merged operation, coupled with more and more locations experiencing A/B reserve rotation, has led to more people changing their lineholder / reserve status each month. Be aware of the following:

Going "off reserve" (from reserve to lineholder) status from one month to the next, if you are on reserve the last day of the old schedule month, you can receive a multi-day assignment departing on that last day. This is true even if it works you into days off in your lineholder month, or causes you to miss (or be illegal for) your first trip as a lineholder in the new month. (Section 10.C.11., second sentence.)

Going "on reserve" (from lineholder to reserve), if you are on ready reserve the first day of the new month (including CONV CLLR), you must be telephone available at 2000 the evening of the last day of the old schedule month for assignment to IDs departing after midnight the first day of the new schedule month (Section 10.C.11., first sentence). (Note that if you are going from reserve to reserve status from one month to the next, the standard times after days off of ready reserves (including CONV CLLRs) being telephone available at midnight with the earliest possible check-in of 0500 still apply, Section 10.C.10.).

Also when going on reserve, be careful when picking up or trading for a trip that begins at the end of the old (lineholder) month and returns at the beginning of the new (reserve) month. If you picked up the trip prior to line awards for the new month, any reserve days off in the new month the trip may interfere with do not have to be restored. However if you picked up the trip after lines have been awarded for the new month, any days off interfered with would have to be restored. (System Board of Adjustment decision to HNL 29-78.)

SOMETHING DOESN'T SEEM RIGHT ABOUT MY ASSIGNMENT. WHAT DO I DO?

If you think you have received an assignment incorrectly, first try to make sure you are right. Take a moment to verify that the other reserves on the list were indeed legal for any assignments they seem to have been skipped over for-- were they almost out of time for the month? Were they qualified for the trip? Any hidden legalities in their LOF that RSVFLY doesn't display? If you can't find any obvious explanation, make copies of the relevant documentation (RSVFLY, LOFs, FLTLOFs, IDs, etc.). Determine whom you think should have received the assignment you received, and think through the reasons why. Call the crew desk and ask them to explain how you got the assignment. Calmly, politely, and professionally, explain whom you think should have received the ID, and your reasoning. Ask why you got the assignment instead of the other person, and ask for the contractual sections they are using to justify the assignment. If you cannot get an explanation to your satisfaction, get the name of the person you spoke with, take notes on exactly what you were told, and forward the paperwork along with a write-up of what was going on to your Local Reserve Committee or local AFA office for follow-up.

Finally, realize that this is just a brief overview of some of the general principles concerning reserve assignment procedures. The reserve assignment process is a very dynamic one with many variables. If you have further questions about a specific issue, call your Local Reserve Committee or LEC office. If you want to read more about the reserve assignment process generally, drop by your LEC office and ask to look at the Reserve Committee Handbook. There is a lengthy section in the handbook that contains much more information about reserve assignments that you may find useful.

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