On Tuesday, August 10, the AFA Debrief Newsletter published information about pay related issues as they relate to White Flag pay. The information in that article was incorrect. Our original article stated:
“The company’s payroll system is not programmed to pay white/purple flag pay once a pairing has been traded with another pairing from open time. This is less obvious when a Flight Attendant is picking the trip up from another Flight Attendant through mutual ads. If, at any time during the chain of custody of the white flag trip, the white flag trip was involved in a trade with open time, the pairing is not eligible for white flag pay unless the pairing returns to the open trip file and is subsequently straight picked up.
In some cases, before the pairing was picked up from ads, the Flight Attendant who traded the pairing away had entered into a trade with open time, thus removing the white flag indicator. Based on the programming of the Payroll System, the Flight Attendant subsequently picking up the trip from another Flight Attendant then becomes ineligible to be paid white flag.”
The accurate procedure is that if a Flight Attendant picks up a pairing from another Flight Attendant that has a white flag attached to it, they are fully eligible to be paid the white flag pay. White flag pay indicators follow the pairing that they are attached to, with the exception being if a white flag pay trip is traded with another trip in open time, the resulting traded “into” pairing is not eligible for the pay incentive. A white flag pairing straight picked up from open time and subsequently traded to another Flight Attendant retains the eligibility for white flag pay for the Flight Attendant now working that pairing.
While there indeed is an automation defect, that issue resides with the company and should not affect being paid properly when picking up or trading a pairing that is eligible for what flag pay.
If you experience a pay-related problem on this issue or any other, first contact Crew Pay and attempt to resolve it, and report the issue to your Local Council leadership. They are here to support you if you are unable to resolve the problem directly.