Dear Flight Attendants,

Over the past year there has been an increased effort by SIA and the Company to improve PBS resources for the Flight Attendants. There have been additional PBS viewership roles, the return of the quarterly PBS meeting, as well as cooperation between the Company and SIA to produce training videos that Flight Attendants can use at their convenience on the PBS homepage on SkyWest Online. These additions are intended to improve and complement the already available resources from the PBS Helpline and SIA’s Scheduling committee. All resources provide much needed training and support for the new hire and career Flight Attendant alike, to make the best of their PBS bid and help improve their “Quality of Life."

Through feedback from our Flight Attendants and the quarterly PBS meeting, it has been proposed that improvements are desired in the visibility and transparency of the Preferential Bidding System (PBS). This would be accomplished by making the monthly PBS bid awards public and viewable to the Flight Attendants (PBS Bid Award Transparency). It has been suggested that by increasing transparency it would improve Flight Attendants’ confidence in the PBS software, and provide better information to ask the right questions if a bid award concern is present.

Although publishing monthly bid awards is standard practice among some carriers, the SIA Board is cognizant that this may not be supported by the majority of our Flight Attendants.

Because of the significance and potential impact of such a change, the Board has opted to poll the Flight Attendants in order to make a decision that represents a majority opinion. A poll has been placed on the homepage of SkyWest Online. The decision on whether your SIA Board will pursue PBS bid award transparency will be based on two things:

1) The number of responses we receive (at least 51% of the total number of Flight Attendants on the seniority list), and
2) The majority opinion of those responses.

It is crucial that you and all Flight Attendants respond to this poll and communicate your preference to your SIA Representatives.

The Poll is available now and will close at the end of the day on October 31st. You may access the Poll from the homepage of SkyWest Online then click on the “Attention Item” titled PBS Bid Award Transparency in the upper right hand corner under “My Stuff and New Today.” Your input will directly impact SIA’s decision on this matter so let your voice be heard and take the poll now!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to visit our website and ‘Talk to SIA’ or call our toll free number 855.2.OURSIA.

Thank you,

Your SIA Team

The following are commonly asked questions about PBS Bid Award Transparency:

Q: Will my name/employee number/seniority number be displayed on the bid award transparency page?
A: This has not been decided but more than likely names will not be included however; all of the other above identifying information could potentially be included.

Q: Can other Flight Attendants see how I bid?
A: No, only the awarded line will be published.

Q: Can I opt out of having my bid award published?
A: No. If we move toward complete PBS Bid Award Transparency, it is an all or nothing system.

Q: Will this help me see what kind of lines I could be awarded in my existing base as well as other bases?
A: Potentially, if the PBS Bid Award Transparency is viewable in all bases. As with all things PBS, the results are a by-product of multiple and varied inputs. The transparency should provide an important context that can be used in future months to determine how to bid.

Q: What if I see an issue with the PBS award?
A: Questions that cannot be answered at a SIA level with the representatives who have viewership access or the PBS helpline are forwarded to the Company for review. Questions that cannot be answered by the Company are forwarded to AOS, the software vendor for further review. When errors are found, SIA does have an agreement in place with the Company that offers options to ensure the error is being corrected equitably.

Q: If the majority of Flight Attendants are in favor of transparency, when would it go into effect?
A: This has not been determined but we do not anticipate any time prior to the first part of 2017.

Q: If the majority of the Flight Attendants are not in favor of transparency but the Pilots opt to have it do we also have to have it?
A: No. SIA will make the decision based on what the majority of those who take the poll want.