Greetings,

Window Gone--Treatment of Trades and Open Time Requests for the new month

Feb. 2009 was the last month that we had a 72 Hour Window. The new 24 Hour TTOT Window has not been fully developed and won't begin yet. For flying in the month of April, the TTOT system will begin at 12 noon on March 26.

There is a fair amount of confusion about how the Open Time for the new month will be treated now that we have an automated system. All Flight Attendants should have received a printed copy of the TTOT User Guide in their mailboxes. This same guide is also posted on Jetnet. Unfortunately the guide is written for what will eventually be the system we utilize, but that system has not been fully developed yet. The Union and the Company agreed at the last minute to create a shortened window (24 hours) that mirrors what the pilots have recently started. The programming for this window has not been finished yet. When finished, this 24 hour period will be strictly for full trip trades through the automated system. The trades will be with OT trips that are left after line construction and with what has been dropped due to illegalities, transition conflicts, vacation and recurrent. There will not be drops, pick ups, partials or multiple trades for the new month during this 24 hour period. The relief lines will then be constructed with whatever remains in OT when the window is closed.

Until that time that the programming is finished, there will be no window at all. For the time being, once the bids are final at 12:00 Noon CT, the Automated TTOT will be turned on and the Swaps and Drops Department will begin the processing of manual requests on a first come basis.


Schedule for TTOT until advised differently

 - Bids open at 12 noon (around 15th of the month)

 - Five days later bids close. (around the 20th)

 - Five days later at 12:00 Noon TTOT turned on, Swaps and Drops begins processing of manual requests on first come first served, basis. (around the 25th)

 - The actual dates will be listed monthly in the bid packages.

We've received feedback that Flight Attendants are finding the system easy to use but that they have been unsatisfied with the amount of time it takes for Swaps and Drops to process manual submissions. On March 3, when Automation was first turned on, Swaps and Drops still had to process all of the partial drops that they had on file before they could begin to process the new ones coming in. They shouldn't have this transition again and they don't anticipate that they will run into the same situation this month.

Reminder

If there is a possibility that you will want to fly over 100 hours, the only opportunity you have to notify the company is during the bidding process. Only you can put yourself over 100 hours. The company is unable to do so. If you don't choose the option during the bidding process you will have to request assistance from an Inflight Supervisor.