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Greetings,
Automated TTOT for Flight Attendants to begin in
Jan ‘09
Eric
Brahm
MEC Scheduling Chair
Nov.
2008
After years of waiting, it appears
there is light at the end of the tunnel. A meeting held on Nov
19th at HDQ provided an update on the automated trip
trade with open time project (TTOT) which is on schedule to be
completed by the Dec. 12th target date.
The date for actual implementation
of the system has tentatively been set for Wed. Jan 7,
2009. There are several reasons for the delay.
Most importantly the EDS people will close down from Dec. 15
through the 5th of Jan. 2009. If
automated TTOT started in Dec and something went wrong, EDS
would not be available to fix the problem. For this reason, it
was decided to wait until after the holidays to go live. The
earliest available date after EDS comes back is January 7,
2009. This date, a
Wednesday, is followed immediately thereafter by 2 business days
in which to iron out any kinks that might arise.
Preparation is still
necessary before turning on the system. User testing for the
Plotter (the portion used by CS) is scheduled to begin on Nov.
24, 2008. User testing on the F/As side will begin on
Dec. 1, 2008. There will be four F/As included in the group
working as testers. The company agreed to consider union
recommendations for these positions and has accepted the choice
of Amanda Miller, Julio Roman, Robert Barrow and myself.
Amanda and Julio are both members of the Scheduling Committee
and are both based in Texas, Julio at DFW/EX and Amanda at
DFW. We will be doing hands on testing of the system in a
training mode and reviewing the F/A User Guide for clarity,
accuracy and ease of use.
The automated TTOT
system was accepted by the membership years ago when the current
collective bargaining agreement was voted on and ratified. However, certain
provisions of the contract need to be modified as they may
become obsolete under an automated system. The CIC is presently
working to develop a letter of agreement that will help
define the time frames to be used for when TTOT will begin
each month and when it turns off on a daily basis for the next
day assignments. The side letter will also augment
the contract for any minor changes needed to encompass the new
automated system.
One of the ideas
presented and being considered is the possibility of reducing
the duration length of the 72 hour window. This is being
discussed in an effort to start the TTOT system earlier in the
hope that we will be able to use the system for the first day of
the contractual month. If the 72 hour window remains as it
is today, we will probably lose the capability to engage in any
transactions until after the first day of the new
month.
Another topic of discussion is the cut off times
for submissions of both automated and non automated next day
transactions. Presently we use 12 noon central time as the cut
off for all pickups for the next day. Currently trades need to
be placed 3 days in advance. The pilots use 23.59 (midnight) as
a cut off time for non automated next day transactions and 0800
for trades using the TTOT system. The company would like our cut off times to more
closely mirror the pilots. Your LEC officers will engage
in discussion and ultimately be charged with making the decision
of choosing which time frames will best serve their
members. After the cutoff window for
automatic trades, F/As will be allowed to make mutual trades,
one way pickups through HIBOARD or HIPOST all the way up until
the sign in time of their trip.
There are several pros
and cons associated with the automated TTOT system that F/As
should be aware of. Full trip trades with open time
will be affected immediately, creating a vast improvement over
present conditions in which requests must be submitted three
days in advance and then you must wait for a response from
Swaps/Drops. The new F/A TTOT system will be very similar
to that of the pilots, but with the additional capability
of processing drops. The system will display
results of a transaction instantaneously. The F/A will
know immediately if their transaction has been
approved and if not, for which reason it was denied.
If they are unable to complete a desired
trade, the system can help determine which other
trips might be able to trade with. This will be of
great use when attempting to get out of a trip on a restricted
day(s). There will also be another function called
HIPOST which is similar to our present HIBOARD. If you are
unable to drop a trip due to restrictions, you can place it
in HIPOST and the system will alert others that it is available
for pick up directly. This eliminates the need to call or
involve the Swaps/Drops department.
On the down side, some of the major
limitations of the system will be that it is
exclusively for line holders and only functions with full
trips. The automated system will not allow
for partial transactions of any kind, reserve transactions
of any kind, or unplanned absences of any kind such as POs or
PVDs. It also will not allow for any blending/merging of
trips, which is to say that each trip to be picked up through
the system needs to be free standing with a legal break before
and after. You will not be able to use TTOT
to add a turn on to the end of a trip. These
transactions will remain non-automated and will still be
accomplished through Swaps and Drops. Because full trips
are processed automatically, and transactions are affected
immediately, whenever TTOT is turned on, it is important to
note that seniority will come much less into play for full
sequence daily open time because it will function on a first
come, first served basis.
As we get closer
to the actual start date there will be F/A trainers working in
the crew lounges to answer questions and to help explain how to
utilize the automated system. A user guide has been
developed that will be printed out for each F/A as well as
posted on Jetnet. Eventually the computer entries for TTOT
will be placed into the IPM. If time permits, we're hoping
to create a small easily carried user card that can be used for
the interim period.
We will attempt to keep you informed
of any new development, such as the arrival of the User Guide,
or any training dates.
Please keep an eye out for announcements from your local
council so that you might offer your input on decisions that
will need to be made by them in the very near
future.
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