Move-Up Lines

BACKGROUND

Ahh, move-up (MU) lines. The choice of last resort for people who are desperate to do anything to get off reserve. That great purgatory between lineholder and reserve status. As one who often bids reserve by choice, personally I NEVER check the little MU box on the bid screen. The risks are too great for me, and not understood enough by many flight attendants.

Move-Up (MU) lines are addressed in Section 10.B. (pp. 76-77) of the flight attendant agreement. MU lines are to be constructed from open flying and awarded to flight attendants requesting such lines. As long as there are both sufficient open trips in the computer, and sufficient reserves still available for the remainder of the month to cover operational needs after MU lines are awarded, the Company MUST build MU lines. This is not an option; they cannot decide to not build MU lines because, for example, there is not enough staff available at the crew desk or they are otherwise "too busy."

MU lines should start being built prior to the beginning of the new month, after the relief line award process has been completed. They should continue to be built throughout the month as appropriate. It has long been AFA's position that as many Flight Attendants as possible should be off reserve, so we encourage management to build as many MU lines as possible. Occasionally this leads to complaints from lineholders that they have not had the chance to pick up open flying because the trips they wanted ended up in a MU line. While this may happen in some cases, we believe it is more important to get people off reserve. If a lineholder is concerned with increasing her or his income, there are always plenty of trips available in open flying to do that. They may not always be the trips the lineholder wants, but there is almost always some sort of open flying available to increase time.

MOVE-UP LINE BIDDING AND AWARDS

There are two ways to get on the MU list. The first way is to check the MU line box on the bid screen or card. A flight attendant MU request list is then compiled in seniority order among those people who were awarded a reserve line, and who checked the MU box in the primary bid award process.

The second way to get on the MU list is for a reserve, after the primary bids have been awarded, to contact the service center (or use MOVEUP in unimatic and follow the prompts) at any time and add her or his name to the list. However, people who add their names to the list this way are added at the bottom of the list in first-come, first-served order, after people who had checked the appropriate box on the bid screen or card during the primary bid process, regardless of their seniority.

Once you are on the list to receive a MU line, there is only one chance to get your name off the list. You must contact the service center (or use MOVEUP in unimatic) prior to a certain date and time as specified in the bid package under the "Reserve Information" section of the cover letter. Though this may vary a little by domicile, it is generally about five days prior to the end of the old month. After that point in time, if you requested a MU line and then receive one, you MUST accept it. This is RISK #1: It never fails that a reserve has something planned on the 20th-21st-22nd of a month, which are days off in her or his reserve line; but then late on the 19th, the reserve receives a call that s/he has been awarded a MU line that has a three-day trip with an 0500 check-in the next day.

If you are on the list to receive a MU line, you can be assigned a MU line at any point in the month. RISK #2 can come into play if you haven't flown much for the month, and then suddenly in the middle or second half of the month receive a high-time MU line. In some cases, your MU line may be built up to your MAX for the month. You may be faced with flying an incredible number of hours in the last week or two of the month.

Even if you request a MU line, you will not receive one if you are on vacation (including the days off immediately before or after your vacation, as these are considered to be part of your vacation in accordance with Section 18.M., if you want them to be), or have any other type of ANP status for seven or more days in the remaining part of the month. You will be bypassed.

At locations with both domestic and international flying, you can also preference which type of flying you would prefer, or you can choose to accept either type of MU line, at the time you request to be on the MU list. Be advised though that selecting the "international (or domestic) only" option could reduce your chances of being awarded a MU line at all. This is RISK #3: indicating that you will accept only an international or domestic MU line, instead of either, can lead to you not getting a MU line at all, or at least getting one later than you otherwise would have. This is because MU lines are still awarded in order from among those on the MU list. If your name is the next one on the list and you have selected international only and there are no international MU lines currently available to be awarded, you will be bypassed until your preference can be honored and more MU lines can be built with the type of flying you want. So if your main concern is to simply get off of reserve as quickly as possible, you may be better off selecting the "either domestic or international" MU line option.

PROTECTED DAYS

You can also declare one or two days as "protected days" when requesting a MU line. These are days that you absolutely want to have off should you receive a MU line. However, similar to selecting domestic or international only, this too can lead to RISK #3 (described above) of delaying when you will receive a MU line or even decrease your chances of receiving one at all. If you designate a protected day and that request cannot be accommodated, you will be bypassed for the time being, until your request can be accomodated. Indicating two protected days will increase that risk even more. Note that your protected day(s) will be honored regardless of whether or not it was a day off in the original reserve line; this point has caused confusion in the past. You can remove either or both of your protected days by contacting the crew desk or using MOVEUP in unimatic. This could enhance your chances of getting a MU line. In general, the more restrictions you put on your MU line, the more it could jeopardize receiving one in a timely manner.

MU LINE MINIMUM DAYS OFF AND PAY GUARANTEES

There are two basic types of MU lines, full month and part month. If you receive a MU line at either the end of the old month, or in the new month before you have served any days on reserve as designated in your LOF, this is a full month MU line. The normal monthly lineholder minimum of 65:00 and ten days off will apply, as well as individual trip pay protection guarantees. You can pick up and trade trips in your line and are pay protected for those trips. You are a lineholder for the month.

However, if you have served even one day on reserve in the new month (even if you were released, on sick leave, or any other status for the reserve day), this is a part month MU line. The "GAR" in your LOF should be adjusted to 75:00 to ensure you receive the reserve minimum of Section 5.D., and the reserve minimum eleven days off will apply. That is the good news. The bad news is that as a result of the settlement of grievance MEC 10-96, only the trips that were in your original MU line when awarded are pay protected for part month MU lines. Any trips you trade or pick up beyond that are NOT pay protected, meaning if your trip falls apart or is cancelled, you are not pay protected for those IDs unless they were in your original MU line at the time it was assigned to you.

If you receive a full month MU line, you are not entitled to any reserve override pay (now $1.82/hr., or 9% less than the old $2/hr. as described in Section 5.D., p. 27). Part month MU lineholders receive the override for all credited time earned as a reserve before they received the MU line.

PARTIAL MONTH MOVE-UP LINES

Finally, Section 10.B.2. (p. 77) describes "partial month" MU lines. Note that these are different from the "part month" MU lines described above. Partial month MU lines are made when there is an imbalance of open flying during the month-- for instance, there are a lot of open trips from the 10th through the 20th, but not many after that. You may be assigned a MU line form the 10th through the 20th, but then revert back to reserve status after that. Partial-month MU lines must be for at least 10 days, and you CANNOT pick up open flying during the period you are on MU lineholder status. Partial month MU lines have been very rare in recent years.

MONITORING MOVE-UP LINE BUILDING AND AWARDS

You can monitor the status of MU line construction and awards via MUADIT in unimatic. This will show the real time list of who requested a MU line, what their protected days are, and any action taken after that-- the date and time they received a MU line, or took their name off the list; if they were bypassed, and why; and who is next on the list to receive a MU line. If it has been a while since MU lines were built, and there seem to be plenty of open trips in the computer and reserves available, it may be worth a call to the service center or crew desk to ask when they will be building more. The service center is responsible for actually building the MU lines out of the trips in OPNTRP, assigning them in order, and notifying reserves of their MU line award. A breakdown in the process could have occurred at either the quota team or the service center, but it is impossible to determine what the problem is without calling and asking. Of course, as always, document whom you spoke with, the date and time, and what the response was. If you do not like the explanation you were given, contact your local Reserve Committee or LEC office.

There are many risks involved in the MU line process, and for many people, it just isn't worth it. But if you absolutely, positively cannot stand being on reserve, it may be worth it for you. Make sure you are aware of the risks and are willing to accept the worst-case scenarios I have described here before you check that box!

 

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