CQ Rebalancing Continues with Flight Attendant Hiring

MAR 9 - With the recent announcement by management of rebalancing, AFA advocated for the company to set up this rebalance initiative in a way that provided expanded opportunities for all Flight Attendants, not just those identified as affected.

When the company announced the change to CQ scheduling from a twelve- to eighteen-month cycle, for many of us there was a level of excitement at not having to physically attend training every twelve months. Accompanying this change to the training cycle was the addition of CBT training that became a requirement of the revised training program. This announcement was received with mixed reviews especially when it became clear that the training volumes resulting from United’s exponential hiring could not be accomplished given the revisions to the training cycle.

They were given the opportunity to bid for a limited option of months and many ended up attending training in less than the highly anticipated eighteen-month cycle. With this initial rebalance, only those Flight Attendants identified were able to bid to move their training month.

Fast forward to this most recent initiative. Once again, the exponential training driven by hiring in combination with the fact that new hires, under United’s training program, must attend CQ within nine-months of their original training date to ensure proficiency, resulted in the need for additional rebalancing. 

This time, however, AFA advocated for the company to set up this rebalance initiative in a way that provided expanded opportunities for all Flight Attendants, not just those identified as affected, to elect to move their due month if they wished to do so. AFA worked with management at the Training Center to create opportunities that would allow any Flight Attendant scheduled in one of the affected months to move their due date and to communicate these opportunities to all Flight Attendants during the Due Month Preference Bid process. The shared goal was to ensure all Flight Attendants had the information needed to successfully navigate the Due Month Preference Bid process.

It is important to understand; this process consists of two groups of Flight Attendants:

• Those who must bid for a new due month, and
• Those who may elect to move from their current due month to another month of their choice.

Those who must bid include those with an Inflight (bid) seniority date or junior to the Rebalance Bid Month Seniority date during the month identified. If this describes you, you are a participant in the Due Month Preference bid and are strongly encouraged to bid to cover yourself. All bids submitted will be awarded in seniority order. Insufficient or no bids will be assigned a new due month in inverse order of seniority after all bidders have been accommodated.

At the same time, we wanted to create an opportunity for those having an Inflight (Bid) seniority date senior to the Rebalance Bid Month Seniority date to elect to move from their current due month to another month of their choice, at their sole discretion. This option was created so that if senior Flight Attendants wished to volunteer to move to other months, other more junior Flight Attendants would have the opportunity to remain in their current month without impact.

Of significance, Flight Attendants identified as required to participate will have the option to Keep My Due Month. To the extent this preference is honored, that is bid and awarded, there would be no change to your individual training due month.

We want to be clear. All Flight Attendants in the affected months will have the ability to submit a bid to move the due month to another month as identified in company communication. However, only those identified by the Rebalance Bid Month Seniority date will be required to participate. Said another way, if you have a CQ due month in one of the identified months and are senior to the Rebalance Bid Seniority month, no action is required and you will continue to maintain your due month unless you elect otherwise.

Please reach out to us at InflightServiceTrainining@United.com for training program questions. 

Important dates: 

Bids Open	March 14, 2023
Bids Close	March 23, 2023 at Noon CST
Awards Posted	April 6, 2023