(This article was corrected/updated from our originally published article, which contained inaccurate information)
Schedule flexibility is a high priority for Flight Attendants and essential in helping us to manage our flying schedule among our other family obligations. Among the flexibilities included in our Contract is the ability of a Reserve Flight Attendant to trade away a pairing received as part of the Reserve assignment process.
Once a Reserve Flight Attendant has been assigned a pairing, they have the Contractual ability to trade the pairing for days off with a Lineholder* as provided in Section 8.J.3. of our Contract. (Reserves may not trade or drop partial pairings to other Flight Attendants.) Our Reserve guarantee, as set forth in Section 4.O. will be changed as a consequence of the trade depending on the actions we take after processing any trade.
When an assigned pairing is traded away for days off, the Reserve days involved in the trade are coded to reflect that a Reserve assignment was traded away. The Reserve minimum guarantee is reduced based on the number of Reserve days covered by the pairing dropped.
There are a couple of important clarifications when trading a Reserve assignment for days off. First, it should be understood, that the days traded are not “days off” as we know them as regularly scheduled days off in the Reserve schedule. In the Master Schedule, these days will be coded TPDR which will preclude the Reserve from picking up trips on those days. Reserves may not pick up other pairings over the days involved and it is for this reason they are not regularly scheduled days off. However, after having traded away the pairing, these days are free from company obligation unless the Reserve contacts Crew Scheduling to restore the Reserve days of availability and associated guarantee for all days except the first day of the pairing.
Secondly, while the language in Section 8.J.3. of the Contract specifies these trades are to be done with a “Lineholder”, in the application of this language it is mutually understood by the company and the Union that this includes Flight Attendants who are Lineholders, as defined in the Agreement and Reserves on a scheduled day off.
Whenever dropping or trading an awarded pairing, Flight Attendants should review their pay to verify the correct trip value has been deducted and, when restoring Reserve days, to ensure the Reserve guarantee value has been properly restored based on the number of Reserve availability days returned to their schedule.
Any discrepancies in the Pay Register should be submitted to Help Hub for review and correction. If you have questions on how this or any other provision of our Contract applies, contact your Local Council office.