Ready Reserve Availability Following the 1930 HDT Assignment Process

Ready Reserve Availability Following the 1930 HDT Assignment Process
MEC Reserve Committee

We have received questions from Flight Attendants regarding the obligation of a Reserve to be telephone available once assignments are made during the 1930 HDT process. In addressing these questions, it is important to make the distinction between Flight Attendants who are on a day off and Flight Attendants who are on Ready Reserve status when the 1930 assignment process occurs.

Flight Attendants who are on a day off when they receive their next-day Reserve assignment at 1930 HDT, whether to a pairing or Standby position, are not required to remain telephone available once assigned. If the assignment is to Ready Reserve status, the Flight Attendant is required to be phone available beginning at midnight. (Certain exceptions apply on the last day of the bid month when transitioning from a Lineholder to a Reserve month. See JCBA Section 8.H.6.)

When a Flight Attendant is on Ready Reserve for a given day, the Reserve obligation to be phone available is for the calendar day (midnight – 2359 HDT) unless the Flight Attendant is going into Set days off, in which case they are automatically released at 1600 HDT.

Therefore, Flight Attendants who are on Ready Reserve status when they receive their next-day Reserve assignment at 1930 HDT, whether to a pairing or Standby position, are required to remain telephone available until 2359 HDT. At midnight, the Ready Reserve obligation has been completed and the Flight Attendant is no longer required to remain phone available unless the next-day assignment is to Ready Reserve status, in which case the requirement to remain telephone available is continuous. 

It should be noted that if an assignment is made for the next day during the 1930 process to a Flight Attendant who is on Ready Reserve for the current day, the Flight Attendant's position on the availability list will change for the current day as they will then only be available for the remainder of the day as a 1-day Reserve. Current-day Ready Reserve assignments to open 2-, 3- or 4+-day positions would be assigned to Ready Reserves who remain on the list and are available for 2-, 3- or 4+-days.

NOTE: Assignments to open positions that check-in the next day between 0001 and 0459 will be assigned to Ready Reserves who are available on the current day and are also on Reserve availability days for the next day as well as the requisite number of days necessary to cover the assignment.

The possibility of being called for a 1-day assignment after 1930 HDT (with a 3-hour call-out to an assignment that returns before midnight) is unlikely under normal circumstances. However, in an irregular operation it would not be impossible for it to become necessary to assign a Reserve who had been assigned during the 1930 process for the next day, and remove the assignment for the next day in order to do so.

If a Ready Reserve would like to avoid any uncertainty, especially if assigned to an early morning check-in the following day, she/he should contact Crew Scheduling to request to be released from phone availability for the remainder of their current-day Ready Reserve obligation once assigned to either a pairingor Standby for the next day during the Reserve assignment process.

If you have additional questions, please contact your Local Council.