clubord

east_west

Isn't figuring out how to rate employees corporate management 101?

fezzington

The Yahoo article mistakes what the memo is saying... I'll explain as best I can with as little jargon as possible (though, in the interest of full disclosure, add that I don't think the things McKeen alleges in his letter are true, and AFA blew it on this issue to save face with some vocal FAs) :

"Lines" or schedules are awarded in seniority order around the 17th of each month, for the following month. Save for one relatively meaningless (in terms of # trades awarded) round of seniority based trades on the 23rd, any uncovered trips are placed into an "Open time pool" at each base. Any lineholder (i.e. not a Reserve FA) can trade their trips with or pick up trips onto their schedule with the open time pool in their base at anytime except during the aforementioned seniority trade day, up until the day before the trips.

If people call out sick or trade one of their previously scheduled trips with the open time pool, those trips then go into the open time pool. If the load factors on international widebody trips hit the variable staffing trigger (~80% full in Y, iirc), an extra position is put into open time. If a scheduled trip falls apart due to IRROPs, the uncovered portion of that trip is placed into open time. All of these things happen often, and often leave very desirable trips in the open time pool which can be picked up or traded into. Here's where the first problem is alleged. McKeen is saying that people are picking up these desirable trips with no intentions of flying them ("Parking"), and are instead selling/brokering/putting them in pay-for-access FB groups. "Parking" a trip on a line is not allowed by the terms of the JCBA, and is grounds for termination.

The second thing that McKeen alleges is the issue of "hugs," (or "kisses"/"candy canes," etc) which is the exact opposite of selling a trip. Previously, If a Flight Attendant had a trip that they couldn't seem to trade out of, they would advertise it with "hugs"... meaning, you cover my trip for me, and I give you $50/$100/whatever was agreed on. This was never allowed, but was largely overlooked by supervisors at pmCAL (some of whom engaged in the practice themselves when they were flying). In the last year or so, the company has been clamping down, and this practice has largely stopped.

This all came up because a very vocal minority of FAs have been alleging trading violations since October. I hate pitting premerger groups against one another, but many pmUA flight attendants don't seem to grasp the realities of instant trading. For pmUA, the open time pool trades ran in seniority order. It's a completely new world post JCBA, where the fastest fingers (and/or internet) wins the better trips. Often times, that's going to end up being a "junior" FA, as you might expect. This vocal minority insists that there are improper trades happening, and have a list of other employees they allege participate in parking/brokering. Often times, their trade history (which is public to other FAs) reflects multiple trades for the same set of days, as more desirable trips fall into the open time pool. The vocal FAs allege that these trades constitute parking, and that there's no way these trips are not being sold or brokered, especially when one trip goes through multiple people's schedules before they're actually flown by a junior FA.

Frankly, having seen their "evidence," all I see is the same group of people that caused drama at the last MEC meeting trying a different way to revert to seniority trades in the next contract. In the words of one, "I waited 20 years to have some seniority for trades, and now that I have seniority I can't get any trades"

If someone calls out sick, it's first come first serve for that trip. Likewise, if I'm Senior and holding IAH-SYD, but trade into another day or another (currently uncovered) trip, my IAH-SYD trip goes into a pool for first come first serve. As I said, at pmUA, these trips would then be awarded in seniority order. pmCAL and post common metal, it's first come first serve, and thus, "junior" FAs can hold desirable trips.

As far as physically demanding... CPR/First aid is demanding. Opening the doors in an emergency is very demanding, particularly on the 737 or if the plane is listed to one side.

Sure, but most corporations have a hierarchical structure and you tend to see/interact with your direct supervisor often enough for them to keep tabs on you. Pilots and FAs, not quite.

I have FA friends who don't even know who their direct supervisor is anymore since their previous ones either got promoted, went to a new department, or quit. Another friend's supervisor got fired in the pass travel scandal. There's a way to look it up, but since we have so little interaction with our supervisors, they haven't cared enough to do so.

east_west

I would think that United has enough genius MBAs to figure this out or a budget for help from McKinsey, but direct supervisor ratings aren't the only way to rate employee work product. Combinations of self-feedback, peer-feedback, customer-feedback, QA staff ratings, etc. Yes, all of these are noisy (as is direct supervisor ratings), but if you have enough data you can get some signal that would be stronger than "who joined the company first." Use this to give bonuses/perks to the top employees every 6-12 months, and put the bottom on a PIP, to be re-evaluated in another 6-12 months.

EDIT: Thinking about this more. I believe most Asian airlines (e.g. EVA) have chief pursers (and possibly deputy chief pursers) on each flight who do act as a direct supervisor for the other FAs. Is there a reason that UA doesn't do this?

ExplorerWannabe

Thanks for the clarification @fezzington. That explanation puts a whole new light on things and I'm not surprised some reporter (or editor) munged it up in order to push a sensational-sounding story.

fezzington

The Purser coordinates service, but does not have any supervisory role over other FAs. In fact, even new hires fresh out of training can serve as a purser on a flight if there are not enough qualified pursers that day. I dont believe that self or peer feedback would yield any decent results, except for a popularity contest. I'm not opposed to customer feedback on principle, but the reality is most people only write in when their experience was poor. In any case, regardless of what management thinks up, they'd have to clear it by AFA, for whom it would certainly be a non-starter. Remember, the entire industry revolves around seniority (even on the ground).

As others mentioned upthread, there's no appetite from management or union leaders for direct supervisors on planes. No US airline does it. In fact, during the merge, one of the things that was quickly settled was the retirement of the "International Service Manager" title from pmCO.

DELee

My thanks as well to @fezzington for providing clarity for a context to which many of us had no insight into.

David

east_west

Peer feedback works best when employees work in teams, which appears to be the case for FAs. While being being popular improves peer feedback scores, it does the same for direct management feedback. But generally teammates provide good peer feedback when their teammates are pulling their weight, and not dumping extra work onto them. Multiple signals (e.g. peer + customer + direct manager) are always best.

I think loyal/frequent UA flyers would be more than happy to provide both positive and negative feedback if they thought it would make any difference. And frequent flyers have seen enough of the good and bad to be fair about situations that are out of a FA's control (e.g. weather delays). This is data that UA could collect for essentially free.

It is still not clear to me why the FAs are in favor of seniority. It appears to greatly restrict job mobility (if you quit UA and join DL/AA you are at the back of the line), and job mobility is known to be by far the biggest factor in increased compensation for employees.

Maybe one of the root causes of poor service on US airlines compared to international airlines.