Greetings,

The Furlough and Displacement – How will I get back to my Domicile?    

Questions have arisen concerning how American Eagle identifies openings that Flight Attendants who have been displaced or voluntarily furloughed may fill?

Paragraph Three of the Displacement/Voluntary Furlough Sideletter provides:

If vacancies emerge in the domicile of the original displacement, those vacancies will be first offered to those voluntarily furloughed or displaced in seniority order.

Who determines whether a vacancy exists and how is it done?

One of the functions of the American Eagle Crew Planning department is to determine what staffing level is needed to run the operation. This determination of necessary staffing level will control whether a vacancy will exist.  Consider the following example:

In April, Domicile X, from which 7 Flight Attendants were displaced and 3 opted for a voluntary furlough, has 128 flight attendants (128 active flight attendants + 7 Displaced Flight Attendants + 3 Furloughed Flight Attendants = 138 Flight Attendants). 

For May, Crew Planning determines that 125 flight attendants will be required to fly the anticipated schedule in Domicile X.  This means that for May, there will be no openings.

In June, however, Crew Planning determines that 126 flight attendants will be required to fly the anticipated schedule.  4 Flight Attendants transfer out of Domicile X on June 1^st.  This leaves 124 Flight Attendants.  Although it would appear that the Domicile needs 2 additional Flight Attendants, Crew Planning decides to run the June operation two Flight Attendants short.  Thus, there are still no vacancies.

For July, Crew Scheduling determines that 120 Flight Attendants are needed to run the anticipated schedule.  This means that even though the domicile was short two flight attendant in June, because July’s flying requires less flight attendants, there are no vacancies. 

For August, 5 more flight attendants transfer out, leaving 119 Flight Attendants in Domicile X.  Because Crew Scheduling anticipates that 120 Flight Attendants are needed to fly the August schedule, there will be one (1) vacancy for August. 

For those Flight Attendants who prefer a visual explanation, the following graph may assist:

Month	Number of Flight Attendants at Domicile	Number of Flight Attendants Needed to Fly Schedule (per Crew Planning)	Number of Vacancies to Fill
April	128	128	0
May	128	125	0
June	124	126	0
July	124	120	0
August	119	120	1

Who fills the vacancy?

In seniority order, the flight attendants displaced or voluntarily furloughed from Domicile X are offered the available vacancy, provided they have a standing bid to return to the domicile on file.  Remember, however, that those flight attendants who are on voluntary furlough have indicated the domiciles to which they will accept recall.  Thus, depending on what domiciles are indicated on their standing bid, a voluntarily furloughed flight attendant may or may not be offered a vacancy in a domicile which is not the one from which they were voluntarily furloughed.