Reserve Committee Archives

Reserve Committee Update – Summer 2023

Lisa Raymond on July 12, 2023

A warm welcome to all of the newest among us who have come online and begun their flying careers! We are currently entering some of our busiest flying months of the entire year, and some of the situations encountered at these times while on reserve can challenge even the most experienced of our members.

Next Reserve Seminar on Zoom
On occasion the Component Reserve Committee hosts an online “how-to” / reserve rules seminar, and given how many new Flight Attendants and Service Directors have come online as reserves in the last few months we are overdue to conduct another one. We are pleased to advise that the next seminar explaining the “how-to” of reserve and your contractual rights will be conducted on July 18, 2023 @ 10h00 Pacific Time / 13h00 Eastern Time via Zoom. The presentation itself will go for 60-80 minutes and then will be followed by an open question period for everyone’s mutual benefit. All union members are welcome to attend. The meeting link is as follows:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87697465157?pwd=WG5hTEJTMDdDbW9FTXZyYTkrTGdGdz09

No preregistration or passcode should be necessary in order to join the seminar, but please reach out if you have any difficulties accessing the room. We look forward to seeing you there.

Scheduled Deadhead Extension to Home Base
Let’s talk about the scheduled deadhead extension to home base described in B5.02.02.02 of the Collective Agreement and what it actually means, because it is among the most conceptually misunderstood terms within our Collective Agreement and we are seeing more and more pairings now with this built into them. Once we have covered a concise definition of this term, we will provide a series of binary questions that will allow anyone who answers them to understand when a scheduled deadhead extension to home base applies to their pairing. So then, we will break this term down piece by piece in nonlinear fashion, starting with the easiest piece and ending with the most difficult piece. In order for the scheduled deadhead extension to home base to apply to a duty day, all of the involved pieces must be true concurrently.

First, we have deadhead; this is self-explanatory.

Next, to home base; this indicates that the flight leg / segment needs to be taking a crew member back to home base at the end of their pairing.

We then go on to scheduled. This means whatever is showing within a duty day as of the moment it first begins; any changes to a duty day after it commences are not scheduled.

Finally, we have the most difficult piece: extension. By default in a domestic duty day, such as when going from one crew base to another, the duty day limitation is 13 hours (B5.02.03.01). An extension is created when a duty day is extended by up to two hours in a handful of circumstances. The most common is when pushing back from a crew base en route to a non-crew base, in which case an extension is created to allow a crew member to remain on duty for up to 15 hours until they next arrive at a crew base (B5.02.03.02). There is one other less common extension, and that’s the one we are about to explain with all of the pieces put together: the scheduled deadhead extension to home base.

In order to be considered a valid extension for a domestic duty day, a deadhead leg would need to extend a crew member beyond their standard duty day limitation (13:00) but not beyond their absolute duty day limitation (15:00) while taking them back to home base. Stated differently, if one were projected at 13:00 or less prior to the deadhead and with the deadhead added they were projected past 13:00 but at 15:00 or less then a valid extension has been created.

Now that we have covered all of the pieces, here are the questions to ask to determine whether the scheduled deadhead extension to home base applies to a duty day:

1) Is the leg in question a deadhead?
2) Is the leg in question to home base?
3) Is the leg in question scheduled?
4) Does the leg in question create a valid extension prior to the commencement of the duty day?

If the answer to at least one of these four questions is no, the domestic duty day limitation will remain at 13:00. In a different situation, if the deadhead has been placed in a crew member’s schedule as their final leg back to home base before the duty day has begun, and if it has projected their duty day past 13:00 to 15:00 or less then a valid scheduled deadhead extension to home base has been created and raises the domestic duty day limitation for the operating crew member to 15:00. The same logic is applied to a standard overseas duty day, where a valid scheduled deadhead extension to home base increases the duty day limitation for an operating crew member from 14:00 to 16:00.

As always, if you have any suggestions for topics to address in future reserve committee updates or if you have any reserve-related questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to reserve@accomponent.ca as needed.

Happy travels!

In solidarity,

Jesse Matthews
Chair, Component Reserve Committee

A Message From Your Reserve & Grievance Committees

admin on February 24, 2023

Peak holiday season was undoubtedly challenging for all of us as inclement weather created IRROPS situations across the country. In times like these, familiarity with essential concepts from the Collective Agreement is invaluable.

For reserves, the Reserve Handbook is one of the best resources available to you to become familiar with these essential concepts. Accordingly, we have made a number of updates to the Reserve Handbook to address and further clarify some of your most frequently asked questions. You can download your copy of the latest edition of the Reserve Handbook from accomponent.ca/member-resources in your official language of choice.

For our block holders and reserves, we thought we would highlight applicable language to all members surrounding DOT and CDD.

Duty Overtime (DOT) versus Continuous Duty Day (CDD)
One very common misunderstanding from reserves and blockholders alike is the conflation of DOT and CDD re: pay premiums. While both are often connected, they are distinct concepts that we would like to expand on so that the difference between the two is clear.

Part 1: Duty Period Extension Premium (B5.02.03.03.04), also referred to as Duty Overtime (DOT),
For most of your pairings, you will have 13 hours as your domestic duty day limit and 14 hours as your overseas duty day limit, so long as your duty day starts at a crew base; there are a handful of situations that involve not being at a crew base and higher classifications of overseas pairings like B14, LOU18, LOU22A & LOU22B pairings that are the exceptions and will instead a involve a longer duty day limit.

As soon as you are projected to go over your duty day limit, B5.02.03.03 provides the guidelines for next steps, the first of which is to advise your Service Director of your decision to book crew rest or to exceed your duty day limit. Please note that regular blockholders have a third option, which is to opt for reassignment, but this is not applicable to reserves. If you choose to exceed your duty day limit, you will be entitled to a 50% pay premium paid on all flight legs and DPG (Duty Period Guarantee) involved in the duty day; this pay premium does not count toward your projected hours for the month, it is for pay purposes only and will be listed in a separate part of your monthly flight summary as a premium. You may only change your decision to “take DOT” (B5.02.03.03.03) if there is a subsequent further extension of the duty period (most typically due to a longer posted delay). The Service Director will advise the Captain and Crew Scheduling of your decision in each case.

In the event that you involuntarily exceed your duty day limitation in-flight (the most common way this happens is when your final flight leg goes over its scheduled length and pushes you past your duty day limitation in the process) you should automatically have DOT added to your duty day. It is a good practice to check this. Please see previously issued bulletin that provides more information about automatic DOT by clicking HERE.

To ensure that you have had DOT encoded into your duty day, open up globe, go to the crew list for each flight involved, and look beside Role to see if DOT is written there. As long as that’s there, you’re all set! If not, give Crew Scheduling a call to have it remedied, and if the scheduler is not receptive then follow up with your local to investigate at the termination of your pairing.

Part 2: Continuous Duty Day (CDD)
To understand what a continuous duty day is, it’s first crucial to understand what a standard duty day is and what legal crew rest entails.

B5.02 in the Collective Agreement establishes the definition of a duty period (aka a duty day). A duty period begins at check-in; this is usually one hour prior to scheduled departure with the exception of widebody pairings, which have varying additional times in advance of one hour depending on the aircraft type, whether you are at home base, and sometimes the destination (e.g. DEL). The exception to this is for deadheaders, whose duty days start at 30 minutes prior to scheduled departure time when at home base and at the scheduled departure time when away from home base. A duty period ends at check-out; this is 15 minutes after actual arrival time at a layover station or home base, with the exception of deadheaders, whose duty days end at the actual arrival time at a layover station or home base.

When you are away from home base and your duty day is projected to exceed the limitation, whether your original pairing was a turn or involved a layover, if your duty day is not broken by a legal rest period it becomes continuous. Before we get into the implications of this, let’s explain what a legal rest period away from home base entails. B5.05 states that 10 hours is the standard minimum legal rest period at a layover station (there are few other specific exceptions to this that we won’t get into in this post). In general, CDD can occur if (i) you are on a turn, or any single duty day within a multi day pairing and your duty day ends up exceeding the duty day limitation, or, (ii) have a scheduled layover and end up having less than 10 hours of crew rest at a layover station. We would like to focus on the second (ii) scenario involving a scheduled layover and describe the implications of this for your schedule.

When two previously separated standard duty days are combined into one continuous duty day instead, it is as if you never checked out of the first of those two duty days at the layover station. This means that you are on duty from the check-in time on the first of the two duty days until check-out time on the second of the two duty days. Why is this important?

There are two reasons. First, one of the greatest gains we achieved in previous contract negotiations was a rule known as Duty Day Minus Four (DD-4). Found in Article 6.03.02 in the Collective Agreement, this rule states that you must receive a credit for pay and flight time limitations of no less than the greater of a minimum of four (4) hours, or, the greater of the scheduled or actual duty period minus four hours (DD-4). When two standard duty days have become one continuous duty day, you now have one significantly longer duty day, for which you would take your new total time on duty, subtract four hours from it, and that’s what you must receive in flight/pay credit.

The second reason involves the previously explained principle of DOT. For example, if your one continuous duty day happens to exceed 13 hours (if domestic) or 14 hours (if overseas), you are also entitled to receive the 50% DOT pay premium if you have chosen to remain on duty (or if you involuntarily exceeded it) as explained in Part 1 above.

Note: when you are projected to have a continuous duty day you are entitled to have your Service Director request an extension of your rest period to reach the minimum legal limit so that you have two standard duty days. If Crew Scheduling does not extend your rest period in the context of CDD, you are not required to remain on duty if your continuous duty day is projected to exceed your absolute duty day limit (see B5.05.04). In other words, you can book crew rest.

Conclusion
It is important to note that CDD is not a pay premium in and of itself; rather, it creates further projected hours in your block month. You can see when doing the math of combining two previously separate standard duty days that DOT can be a natural by-product of CDD, but that does not make them one and the same; DOT is a pay premium that is often coupled with CDD.

We hope this helps to explain these two interlinked but different concepts more clearly.

As always, your Component Committees are here to assist when running into challenges around the Collective Agreement and understanding the parameters within, please never hesitate to reach out.

Happy travels!

In solidarity,

Jesse Matthews
Chair, Component Reserve Committee

Carmela Iermieri
Chair, Component Grievance Committee

Reserve Committee Update – Autumn 2022

Lisa Raymond on November 2, 2022

We have made it together through one of our peak travel seasons of the year with a brief pause before we enter another. In this time, we have onboarded several classes of brand-new Service Directors and an unparalleled eighth phase of new hire Flight Attendants in 2022 have come online this month – welcome one and all!

Next Reserve Seminar on Zoom
We are happy to announce that the next reserve seminar explaining the “how-to” of reserve and your contractual rights will be conducted on November 17, 2022 @ 10:00h Pacific Time / 13:00h Eastern Time via Zoom. The initial presentation will last approximately 60-80 minutes and then there will be an open question period at the end of the presentation for everyone’s mutual benefit. All members are welcome to attend. The meeting link is as follows:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89473731251?pwd=QWRvOGw4YWZWUjZJc2M4bUtZRzZHUT09

No preregistration or passcode should be necessary in order to join the seminar, but please reach out if you have any difficulties accessing the room. We look forward to seeing you there.

Reserve Switches
As the number of newer reserves systemwide has increased there has been a parallel increase in questions concerning reserve switches, so we have outlined the essentials for you below.

Important Notes

All reserve switches are done through globe in your browser; when you’re at the main screen in globe after logging in hover your mouse cursor over Home and then click on Reserve Exchange in the submenu that appears
Next to Other cabin crew type the employee number of the person you wish to trade with; auto-populated suggestions indicating employee names, their employee numbers, and their base will appear as you type
Next to Give away these days indicate the days off that you wish to exchange with another reserve
Operate pairing(s) from First Name Last Name YYY AC123456 roster should be reconceptualized as Take Days from… instead; indicate the days off that you wish to receive from the other reserve member in exchange for the ones you are offering
Switches are of your days off, not your days on; all language in the Collective Agreement is centred around this principle

Switching Rules
These are reserve switch rules directly located in the Collective Agreement in B8.08 (Days Off – Exchange). We will break down each rule for your benefit:

“Requests for an exchange will provide for a minimum of five (5) days notice prior to the first day involved in the exchange. Approval for such request will be given with a minimum of delay.”

This is self-explanatory, but we will add that due to how late in the preceding month blocks are finalized and published to Netline this rule can be overlooked if you’re looking to make a switch involving the first day(s) of the reserve block month. You should submit the reserve switch request shortly after blocks are published to Netline to maximize your chance at getting it approved, assuming it is legal in all respects.

“The exchange will not result in less than three (3) consecutive duty days between any period of days off for either Reserve Blockholder. This restriction will not apply if the total days off involved in the exchange run consecutively.”

Stated more simply, after you make a switch your reserve duty day patterns need to be at least three days long or else the switch will be denied.

“The exchange will not result in either Reserve Blockholder being scheduled in excess of eight [8] consecutive duty days.”

Self-explanatory.

“Days off may not be exchanged with duty days in order to move reserve duty days into a vacation period.”

This is stating that you can’t make an exchange involving vacation days.

“If the exchange involves one (1) day off only for each Reserve Blockholder, the day being exchanged must be moved so that it will be in conjunction with another period of days off in that block month.”

If you are attempting to switch one day off each then the day off that you both receive will need to be connected to an existing period of days off that you have elsewhere in your respective reserve block months.

“If any exchanged non-inviolate days off are moved to a position immediately prior to inviolate days off, the exchanged days off can be flown into. If any exchanged non-inviolate days off are moved to a position immediately following inviolate days off, the employee may be drafted on the exchanged days off.”

As an FYI, non-inviolate days off are RDOs and inviolate days off are GDOs. What this is saying in simpler terms is that RDOs you receive from another reserve via a switch will still function as RDOs even when they are placed just before a set of GDOs or just after a set of GDOs.

“Inviolate days off when moved or exchanged maintain the status of inviolate days off.”

In simpler terms, if you make a switch involving a GDO it will remain a GDO when it lands in the other reserve blockholder’s schedule, and vice versa if a GDO is exchanged to you. The same logic is extended to RDOs.

Reserve Releases Versus Personal Leaves of Absence (PLOAs)
Given that November 2022 is a junior vacation month we are seeing a tangible increase in inquiries involving requests for reserve duty days off, so it is prudent to understand the nuanced differences between what constitutes a paid release on reserve versus a Personal Leave of Absence (PLOA) in order to avoid any unforeseen pay reduction.

Call-In Reserve Release (B8.27.02)
This type of release is only granted when calling in to Crew Scheduling between 2000-2300 on the night prior to a Call-In Day. Please note that when you are given a reserve release on a Call-In Day this day comes at no cost, and you are paid for that day as if you were on call for the entire 24-hour period. If you have a subsequent Call-In Day you will need to call in between 2000-2300 concerning your assignment for that upcoming day.

Ready Reserve Release (B8.30.02)
This type of release is only granted when calling in to Crew Scheduling during a Ready Reserve Day. You are permitted to ask Crew Scheduling for a release for up to six (6) hours for personal reasons, and this type of release is granted based on operational requirements at the time of your call. This type of release comes at no cost, and you are still paid as if you were on call for the entire 24-hour period.

Personal Leaves of Absence (B8.12)
Nearly any other type of request for a release from one or more reserve duty days is considered a Personal Leave of Absence (PLOA). On a PLOA your Minimum Monthly Guarantee (MMG) is reduced by 2:25 for each requested day involved; note that when requesting a PLOA immediately prior to days off, it will extend through your days off until your next scheduled reserve duty day or until your first day of vacation.

RDO Premium Application
We’d like to briefly review the identified criteria for the RDO Premium from B8.06.01 in the Collective Agreement:

“In the event that a Reserve Blockholder is assigned a pairing that operates into a non-inviolate (RDO) day off s/he shall receive a premium of fifty (50%) percent on all flight time credits for flight/s operated on the affected days off with a minimum of four (4) hours pay per scheduled day off affected. This premium will be for pay purposes only. The RDO will be slid in accordance with B8.06 Note 2.”

In order to verify that the RDO premium has been applied, you can open up the crew list in globe for each affected flight, and next to Role you should see RDOM or RDOP written. If it is not, please call Crew Scheduling to address the discrepancy and have it added. It is a good practice to verify the application of the RDO Premium following the termination of the involved duty period(s). If you encounter any difficulties with this, please reach out to your local union officers for their assistance.

Happy travels!

In solidarity,

Jesse Matthews
Chair, Component Reserve Committee

Summer 2022 Reserve Committee Update

Lisa Raymond on August 2, 2022

There have been an incredible seven phases of initial training for new hire flight attendants completed this year and more to follow. This growth in our numbers means many members are concurrently experiencing reserve for the first time. This comes with many questions regarding life on reserve, including knowing the “how-to” of reserve and one’s contractual rights while on reserve. Your Component Reserve Committee is pleased to announce that our next Zoom Reserve seminar will be conducted on August 18, 2022 @ 10:00h Pacific Time / 13:00h Eastern Time. The initial presentation will last approximately 60-80 minutes and then there will be an open question period at the end of the presentation for everyone’s mutual benefit. All members are welcome to attend. The meeting link is as follows:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87990459889?pwd=MUhpd01ZMG1PN3p4NjdlVkpORkZhUT09

We look forward to seeing you there!

With the increase in flight assignments to reserve members this summer it is prudent to review the key rules associated with the upper limit to one’s flying, also known as the Maximum Monthly Limitation. B5.01.01 in the Collective Agreement, summarized on Page 5 of the Reserve Handbook, states the following:

Maximum Monthly Limitation: The maximum flight time limitation shall be eighty (80) hours per month on jet aircraft.
At the discretion of the Company, the maximum flight time limitation shall be increased to eighty-five (85) hours per month on jet aircraft, for a maximum of four (4) months per year.

Please note, that if you take a Leave of Absence or are unavailable for duty at any time during the block month, you will have 2:10 deducted from your MML for each day of your LOA or unavailability until your next reserve duty day (B4.05.01 in the Collective Agreement, summarized on Page 5 of the Reserve Handbook).

Release At 77 Hours (B8.11)
When you have completed 77 or more flying hours and have at least two remaining reserve duty days, you may call Crew Scheduling to request to be released for the remainder of the block month. At the time of your call, Crew Scheduling must either assign you a final pairing or release you from reserve duty for the rest of the month; they cannot ask you to call back later. If you are released, your remaining reserve duty days become RDOs instead. If you are given a final assignment, it is subject to the governance of the Return to Base Extension clause found in B5.01.05.

Return to Base Extension (B5.01.05)
It is possible in a handful of situations to legally fly beyond your MML; one of them is the Return to Base Extension. Let’s look at the contractual language for this found in B5.01.05 and summarized on Page 6 of the Reserve Handbook:

Cabin Personnel shall be legal to operate a flight sequence in excess of the maximum monthly limitation only to complete their return to Home Base in the same month provided that half (1⁄2) the projected flight time and credits for the entire flight sequence does not project them beyond the maximum monthly limitation.

Let’s look at a practical example. Say you have 10 hours available in an 85-hour block month and you are assigned an LHR pairing worth 18:30. Half of the projected flight time credit for this pairing is 18:30 / 2 = 9:15. Because 9:15 is less than or equal to 10:00, this is a legal assignment via use of the Return to Base Extension.

Please also note that the Return to Base Extension cannot be applied for an overlap pairing (B5.01.05.01).

We hope this helps to elucidate these important rules governing your final flight assignments each month. As always, we welcome your questions at reserve@accomponent.ca should you require further clarification.

Happy travels!

In Solidarity,

Jesse Matthews & Chanelle Gauthier
Co-Chairs, Reserve Committee

Reserve Committee – Spring 2022 Update

Lisa Raymond on April 7, 2022

It is an exciting time for all of us as we see growth in our flying schedule and accordingly in the number of newly hired Flight Attendants and new Service Directors. We would like to formally welcome you all to your respective new positions.

In collaboration with your Component Executive this past month we have updated the Reserve Handbook for your benefit. Click HERE to view the updated handbook.

This past month we also held multiple Zoom reserve seminars for the purpose of educating our members systemwide and they were well received by the members in attendance. We intend to run more of these seminars in future months and will provide advance notice of them for your benefit.

We would also like to take the time to introduce the first of a series of educational bulletins aimed at the reserve experience. This addresses the sequence in which flying is awarded, one of the more frequently asked questions we have gotten from the reserve membership in recent days:

Open Flying Award Sequence
The following explanation is based on the Collective Agreement rules provided in B8.22. Please note that the Union is aware that a Crew Scheduler recently posted information on Yammer in response to some reserve questions. However, the Union in no way is accepting the Company’s position as written on Yammer, and always reserves the right to file grievances if it is found that a violation of the Collective Agreement has taken place. Please always check with your Local Union office or Reserve Committee if unsure of your rights or if information provided to you by a Company representative is accurate or not.

——————————————————

Reserve is the 4^th step of the award sequence:

Open Flying Award sequence (B7.04)
1. Blockholder Make-Up/Reserve Preselect
2. Reassignment
3. VE/100 Hours
4. Reserve
5. Draft — Deadhead Crew
6. Draft Sequence

Once Crew Scheduling reaches reserve in the order of assignment the following criteria are considered for reserve assignment:

Reserve Assignment Criteria (B8.22)
1. Time Balance (B8.22.01.03)
2. Restrictions (i.e. crew rest, whether an assignment will over project a reserve resulting in a drop of a preselect pairing)
3. Language requirement
4. Days available before days off

Call-In Reserves
When required to contact Crew Scheduling to confirm your assignment at call-in time (2000-2300 in your home base’s time zone), reserves must always CALL Crew Scheduling. Do not accept assignments via globe notification at any time. Always call in to speak with a Crew Scheduler as calls are recorded and there will be a record of what was discussed in case there are any issues with an assignment. The Collective Agreement is clearly worded to include the word “Call” in “Call-In Reserve”. Please always preserve your rights and use your cellphone to make the “call” to Crew Scheduling at call-in time.

If Crew Scheduling does not have sufficient time to follow the award sequence, they immediately begin “Airport Move-Up”, which is outlined in the Collective Agreement in B8.32 as follows:

Airport Move-Up
If insufficient notice makes the draft process in Article B9.03 impractical, flight coverage will be provided through the move-up of total or partial crews in reverse order of seniority. The move-up will be done in a manner which minimizes the disruption to subsequent crews, and will occur in the following sequence:

I. Crews from ANOTHER base to HOME BASE ONLY on scheduled duty days ONLY.
II. Crews at their Home Base on scheduled duty days.
III. Crews at their Home Base INTO scheduled days off.

——————————————————

You may have noticed that of the many criteria that go into a reserve assignment, the single most notable criterion missing is seniority, and that’s because seniority does not govern any award on reserve with the exception of the first day of the block month where no other tie-breaking criteria exist between reserves and also with the exception of the daily reserve pre-select awards (which is completed in Step 1 in the Open Flying Award sequence mentioned above).

If you believe that a pairing has been awarded out of sequence, you will need to reach out to your Local Union Officers to assist. We hope this helps elucidate the reserve award process for everyone. We will gladly accept suggestions for future topics at reserve@accomponent.ca and welcome any of your reserve-related questions as always. We look forward to hearing from you!

In solidarity,

Jesse Matthews & Chanelle Gauthier-Berthelet
Co-Chairs, Component Reserve Committee

Reserve Committee Update – Summer 2023

A Message From Your Reserve & Grievance Committees

Reserve Committee Update – Autumn 2022

Summer 2022 Reserve Committee Update

Reserve Committee – Spring 2022 Update

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