The Primary vacation bidding cycle will open on Tuesday, January 20 th at 1200 CST and close two weeks later on Tuesday, February 3 rd at 1200 CST.

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2 You will lose money if you allow vacation to be forfeited into your PRAP. The Primary Phase of Annual Vacation Bidding opens January 21st and closes February 2nd. The SSC reminds pilots that the Vacation Election Cycle closes on Monday, January 18 at 1200 CST. This is just the election cycle, not actual bidding of vacation. Elect your vacation by going to CCS>Bidding>VACATION BID: Annual. If you do nothing and have not already made an election on the election page, you will default to election of all your days To confuse matters, if you do go to the Elections page the page will show your election as the minimum but that will not be your actual election unless you save it that way. It just displays the minimum because it s the first number in the list and IT thought it was too risky to change the order of the list. Again, if you do nothing (do not save an election), you will automatically default to the maximum days but you may change your election if you so choose. If you do make an election, be sure to save it and take a screenshot of the election page after the save. The SSC recommends that all pilots elect to take all of their available days. All days that you elect will be awarded or assigned during the Annual Vacation Bid. The more vacation days that pilots elect, the more vacations are available for Annual Bidding. Any vacation that you do not elect to take will be available for Monthly Vacation Bidding; however, be aware the company makes very little vacation available for Monthly Bidding (and none at all during the summer and December when most pilots want vacation). At the end of the vacation year the value of any unelected vacation that remains unassigned will be paid into your PRAP/RHA (see 11-H in the UPA). The company does not make a 16% PRAP contribution on top of the value of the vacation so you will lose money by paying it into your PRAP. Following the Election Phase, the company will determine the number of vacation slots available for bidding in each Category. This information will be available during all phases of bidding. The Primary vacation bidding cycle will open on Tuesday, January 20 th at 1200 CST and close two weeks later on Tuesday, February 3 rd at 1200 CST. For more details on Annual Vacation Bidding please see the SSC s Guide to Annual Vacation Bidding. If you have any questions on Election or Bidding, please send a PDR to the SSC Vacations box or ualvacation@alpa.org. Annual Vacation Overage For Some Pilots The company informed the SSC today that for 420 pilots, the Maximum Vacation Days show

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6 4) Passengers and flight attendants should be discouraged from congregating around the FCRF. Technical Operations is ready to begin installing the bulkhead curtains on the 777C models, similar to the bulkhead curtain on the 777A/B models. Technical Operations is awaiting final approval from marketing to ensure fabric availability and that color matches the overall brand. All pilots conducting augmented operations should be provisioned with 2 pillows, 2 blankets, and 2 sheets of first class quality. The memory foam mattress upgrade on the 747 has been sent back to engineering after a CROC simulation test due to stiffness issues. Finally, the importance of filing FSAPs and Pilot Data Reports and FSAPs to the Crew Rest Facilities Aircraft Only box cannot be overstated. Please continue to provide feedback on the aircraft rest facilities. Retirement & Insurance: First Officer Fred Greene Profit Sharing 401k Elections Profit sharing payouts will be included with pilots March 1 paycheck. Pilots can make 401k elections for their profit sharing payment by going to the Profit Sharing 401K Elections page at Flying Together > Employee Services > My Info > Benefits/Programs> Profit Sharing 401k Election. Profit sharing 401k elections only allow a percentage contribution and not a flat dollar amount. Pilots have until midnight (CST) on February 8 to make this special one-time election to contribute a portion of their profit sharing award payment to the PRAP. If you do not make a 401k election on Flying Together, your profit sharing payment will be paid as cash. Your 401k election on the Schwab site will not pertain to your profit sharing payment. To make a 401k election for your profit sharing payment, you must go to Flying Together, not the Schwab site. Profit sharing payments are not eligible for Company B and C-Plan contributions. In prior years, profit sharing payments were made by a separate check rather than being

7 included in the regular paycheck. That meant that pilots who elected 100% of their profit sharing payment to go into the 401k did not actually see all of their profit sharing payment go into the PRAP. This was because amounts contributed to the PRAP under 401k elections, though not subject to income tax, are subject to FICA tax. The Company had to hold back enough of the profit sharing payment to cover the FICA tax on the 401(k) contribution, and the amount held back to cover FICA withholding was itself subject to Federal, State, and local income taxes, so the hold back had to be increased to cover those taxes as well. This year, profit sharing will be included in your regular March 1 paycheck. As a result, if you elect 100% of your profit sharing payment to go into the PRAP, you will actually get 100% of your profit sharing payment into the PRAP. But you will still owe the FICA taxes on that contribution so, instead of being held out of the profit sharing payment as in the past, those taxes will come out of your regular pay. In other words, if you elect 100% of your profit sharing payment to go to the PRAP this year, your regular March 1 take-home pay will be reduced. To avoid decreasing your March 1 take home pay, the Company is recommending that pilots elect no more than 65% of their profit sharing payment go into the PRAP. The exact 401k percentage election that will avoid reduction of your March 1 paycheck is dependent on various items personal to you, such as your state, local and other applicable taxes. Due to IRS regulations regarding special payments, such as profit sharing, federal income tax withholding will be 25% for any profit sharing amount distributed to you in your paycheck, but, as noted above, to the extent your profit sharing is deposited in the PRAP pursuant to the special 401(k) election, it is not subject to federal income tax withholding. Note: Your Schwab 401k election will apply to the portion of your March 1 paycheck that is not attributable to your profit sharing payment. The company has created a page for Q&A regarding 401K contributions and profit sharing. You can find the link on the Profit Sharing Elections page. Hotel: Captain Chris Tringali Transportation Basics We have been observing many pilots calling their transportation company/hotel when their ride is not waiting for them at the curb upon arrival. We want to remind you that Section 4- D-1 of the UPA states:

8 Unless otherwise agreed by the parties during the transportation selection process in the Hotel Guidelines, transportation to hotels provided in accordance with Section 4-C-or transportation as provided for in Section 4-D-3 below shall be scheduled to be provided within fifteen (15) minutes of the crew's scheduled or planned Arrival time, whichever is later. When such transportation does not leave within thirty (30) minutes after actual block-in, pilots may use other means of ground transportation to their hotel and may claim reimbursement for such transportation. This also includes not waiting more than 30 minutes after bock-in for other crew members, deadheading or not, to clear customs. To clarify: It is the Company s obligation to schedule and provide your transportation. It is not your obligation to track it down to see if/when they are arriving. Help us help you. If has been more than 30 minutes after block-in, procure a taxi, send us a PDR, and expense via usource. MEM Room restrictions at the Doubletree are pilots to be placed only on floors 6-10 Please remind the front desk of this if not placed on these floors. Complaint Reporting Filing a PDR using PDR.ALPA.org is the only way to ensure we have the information necessary to raise your concerns to the Company. It must be filled out completely, since we do not have access to your pairing in order to look up which hotel/transportation you used. Please be accurate and professional as we do not have the opportunity to edit your reports before sending. Please click here to see our HC Webpage for Disapproval Lists, Archived Articles, Hotel Walk DYK and tips on Reimbursements via usource.

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10 Council 178 (IAHTC) Meeting 3 p.m. Thursday, January 14, 2016 IAH Training Facility Room 2254

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