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Modified Bidding Process

See Also:  Modified Bid Process Q & A

As provided for in the Letter of Agreement on page 300, Section E. of our Contract, our bidding process is modified beginning in the month of December for the January schedules. 

• Although included in the Preferential Bidding System (PBS) Letter of Agreement, this change is not a component of PBS for Flight Attendants.
• It does not move us any closer to implementation of PBS for Flight Attendants. 
• It is part of a restructuring and cost-saving change that allows United to finalize its aircraft schedules closer to the actual operation.

The following changes will affect Flight Attendants:

Bidding Timetable

Access of Cover Pages and Lines of Flying

The cover letter and lines of flying may be obtained as soon as they are finalized and throughout the entire bid period electronically through SkyNet or AOL. Our website, www.unitedafa.org contains tutorials to access and format the bids for viewing or printing. Printed copies of the cover letter and lines of flying will be in the domiciles no later than three days prior to the close of the bid. As required by the Contract, United will continue to provide printed copies of the key pages, cover letter and lines of flying at major international layovers.

*Printed copies of the key pages will continue to be available in the domicile when bids open and they may also be obtained electronically. The key pages are available throughout the bid period because the IDs are built at the beginning of the line construction process.

Why the Change?

This change is part of the Letter of Agreement beginning on page 299 of the 2003 – 2009 Flight Attendant Agreement. The change coincides with the full implementation of the pilot’s PBS, which together with our condensed schedule construction and bid process timeline, provides a 12-days later handoff of the aircraft schedule from United Aircraft Scheduling Department to Advance Schedule Planning. This change allows United to plan its aircraft scheduling closer to the actual operation and react to changes in the industry. Every department involved in the schedule construction and bidding timeline reduction equally contributed to condensing the process. Flight Attendants received a significant credit for this change towards our total concessions required by the bankruptcy process.

What's Different?

• A shorter bid period

Beginning with the bid process for the January 2006 schedule, bids will open for a total of six days. They will open starting at 0800 Local Domicile Time (LDT) on the 12th of each month and close at 0800 LDT on the 18th of each month.

• Cover Letter and Lines of Flying

Cover Letter and Lines of Flying will be available once finalized but no later than the opening of bids via SkyNet or AOL. Also, printed copies of the Bid Package Cover Letter and Lines of Flying will be available as soon as they are finalized and printed no later than three days before the close of the bid period. United will not make printers and copiers in the domiciles available for printing individual bid materials.

Bid Material Availability

*Materials will be available no later than the times listed above and may be available sooner.

*Additional tools to support monthly schedule bidding:

Permabid

Permabid allows you to keep information on file that will generate a monthly bid when you are unable to submit one.  This information, called a permanent bid, is a safety net for when you are unable to bid and is not intended as a primary bidding procedure.  For specific information, refer to the “Guide to Permabid” for instructions on how to create, modify or delete a Permabid.  This guide is available at your domicile or on SkyNet.

Bid Services

Information on Bid Services is available on Unimatic DIS*4977. 

Establishing a Keyword

Establishing Keyword is a means by which you can allow another Flight Attendant to bid for you while observing United Computer Security Policies.  A Keyword allows someone to enter a bid for you while signed-on to the Unimatic computer under her/his own file number.  A Keyword in Unimatic must be created in advance.  To do so, type DSPKEY.  The computer response is:

          FILE #   KEY

»ADDKEY/ 123456/ ....../

To create a Keyword, enter the six characters under the word “KEY” and hit ENTER.

Bidding Using a Keyword

When bidding for someone else, enter LOFKEY/ followed by his or her file number. The computer response will be:

          FILE #   KEY

»LOFKEY / 123456/ ....../

Enter your flying partner’s Keyword under the word KEY.  When the current keyword is used, the computer response will be your flying partner’s LOFBID screen.

When bidding Relief for a flying partner, enter RLFKEY/ followed by her or his file number. The computer response will be:

             FILE #  PG

»RLFKEY / 123456/ ....../

Enter your flying partner’s Keyword under the PG symbol.  When the current keyword is used, the computer response will be your flying partner’s RLFBID screen.

Access SkyNet

To access SkyNet from home, open a web browser and go to www.unitedafa.org:

1. Look for “Useful Sites” on the left-hand toolbar.

2. SkyNet is listed toward the bottom of the Useful Sites page.

When accessing SkyNet for the first time, enter your user ID and password.  The correct format for the user ID is your six digit file number preceded by the letter U. U123456 is an example of the correct format.  Your default password has been preset for you as your birth date in the following format:  YYYYMMDD.  Once these two fields are entered, click on Sign-On.

Tutorials for Accessing Bids through SkyNet or AOL:

• SkyNet Bid Package Help
• AOL Crew Channel Bid Package Help

Direct Links to Online Bid Packages:

• SkyNet
• AOL Crew Channel

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