This is Leslie Mayo, National Communications Coordinator, with the APFA hotline for Friday, August 19, 2005.

As of July 31, 2005, we have 4,138 fellow APFA members on the furlough recall list and 12 co-workers serving full time in the military. Please keep them in your thoughts.

This week, an internal memo from the TSA was leaked to the press that included suggestions for lifting the ban that prohibits knives, razorblades, ice picks, throwing stars, and bows and arrows at airport security checkpoints; and ceases the practice of passengers routinely removing their shoes for separate inspection. Apparently, the rationale behind this is to facilitate a more passenger-friendly experience at the security checkpoints. APFA is vehemently opposed to relaxing any rules that allow weapons back on board our aircraft, and we encourage the TSA to remove these suggestions from the table as quickly as they were put on. APFA sent a letter to Kip Hawley, the new head of the TSA and issued a press release addressing our opposition to this proposal. Both of these documents can be found at www.apfa.org. Excerpts from APFA's press release are as follows:

"The TSA's proposal to lift the ban prohibiting knives, razorblades ice picks and other potential weapons on board the aircraft is beyond comprehension," APFA President Tommie Hutto-Blake said today. "The TSA has failed to mandate comprehensive security training for flight attendants since the events of September 11, 2001. Their proposal is counterintuitive to TSA's mission; it would do nothing but make the aircraft cabin less secure by reintroducing potential weapons into the environment."

Just this month, two men were arrested in separate incidents for concealing razor blades while attempting to clear passenger screening at Kansas City and Ft. Lauderdale - one on the tongue of his boot, the other on the bottom of his shoes.

President Hutto-Blake continues: "The TSA must have a very short memory to have forgotten that shoe bomber Richard Reid would have successfully ignited the explosives in his shoes in December 2001 but for the quick reactions of a flight attendant. "Most airports are without machines that would detect all types of explosives while on the passengers' body. Screening shoes with carry-on bags provides for some level of assurance that they are safe."

We encourage all members to send Mr. Hawley an email at his office with your remarks about this proposal to: Annie.Reese@dhs.gov. If you would like to write him a letter, his address can be found on the APFA website .

Next week APFA will begin conducting the third of four Membership Opinion Surveys via the APFA website. Like the previous two membership opinion surveys, this survey has been prepared in conjunction with the Survey Research Center (SRC) at the University of North Texas (UNT). Again, as with the previous surveys, UNT will divulge only percentages of Flight Attendant responses - individual answers will not be available to APFA. Please take a few minutes to visit apfa.org and participate in this very important survey. We have added an extra incentive aside from having your voice heard.

Each of the APFA National Officers want to show their appreciation for your assistance in filling out this survey by displacing one F/A from a trip with pay who responded to the survey. By choosing one of the Officers' names, you will be entered into that officer's pool. SRC will draw one name at random from each officer's pool and the four winners will be notified. The trip flown will be agreed upon between the two parties (F/A and National Officer) and will be accomplished within 120 days.

Trips displaced will require like-quals. For example, a non-foreign-language speaking National Officer cannot displace a flight attendant who only holds and flies foreign-language qualified trips. Same for International vs. Domestic, purser vs. non-purser, equipment and service quals. If you are one of the four flight attendants chosen to be displaced, you and the National Officer displacing you will work out the terms of the trip to ensure like-quals.

APFA is pleased to announce that the next satellite test city will be Atlanta. The test is set to begin with the contractual month of October. MIA domestic will be the host base for the ATL satellite and, as such, the trips originating and terminating from Atlanta will appear on the MIA domestic bidsheet. We know the Flight Attendants who live in ATL have put a tremendous amount of work into preparations to become a satellite test-base. We applaud their efforts and wish them much success. In the coming weeks final details will be ironed out and communicated to the MIA Flight Attendants who live in ATL. APFA will closely monitor the progress of this Satellite Base and we welcome your feedback.

As announced on last week's hotline, APFA is pleased to have reached an agreement with the Company that will facilitate, in seniority order, the gradual reinstatement of some of the remaining Flight Attendants who were displaced from MIA-D. This reinstatement is in accordance with Article 16.D.3 and is taking place despite the fact that the Company maintains its position that MIA has an overage of Flight Attendants. If you are eligible for and want reinstatement, please go to the flight service website and complete the reinstatement ballot regardless of your seniority.

From the Scheduling Department: Due to the previously announced loss of Airbus and 737 flying in BOS and BOS-I within the next six months, Flight Attendants in those bases may wish to take advantage of the Trigger Training option for September bidding, particularly for the 757 qualification. Go to the Flight Service website under Training for a detailed explanation of triggering. If you are not successful in triggering, you can take advantage of the system-wide voluntary training test. The web-based ballot for the Voluntary Training is available on the Training page.

Placing the PVM lines on the bidsheet for the summer moved about 300-400 people system-wide off reserve. Looking toward September when PVM lines will be reduced based on load factors - we will likely see an increase in the reserve numbers. As a result, we may see more Flight Attendants exercising senior bump to serve reserve in September or October and thereby avoid reserve in November and December.

As a reminder, Crew Schedule will now be relieving month-to-month schedule conflicts at 72 rather than 48 hours prior to the end of the month. If you want to trade a schedule conflict trip, make sure to do it prior to the automatic removal. Also, remember that you must fly Optional Exchange, Make-up or Option II trips to be paid for them.

APFA, APA and AA have released a joint letter promoting crew coordination on board the aircraft primarily focused on safety and security. Please review this letter at apfa.org .

From the Hotel Department: The rumor that we are changing hotels in Sao Paulo effective September 1, 2005, is not true. APFA, APA and AA are all pleased with our current hotel and have no plans to move to an alternative property.

In industry news this week , President Bush has announced that he will not help Northwest Airlines avert a possible strike by mechanics represented by the Airline Mechanics Fraternal Association that could come as early as midnight tonight. The president has the authority to appoint a Presidential Emergency Board that would put a strike by employees or a lockout by the company on hold. AMFA represents well over 4,000 employees at Northwest including the only cleaners and custodians still employed by any major U.S. carrier. Northwest wants to eliminate half those jobs and cut pay for the rest by a quarter. Northwest has repeatedly said it expects to keep flying all of its routes even if the mechanics walk off the job when the cooling-off period ends. However, reports are that the airline has made arrangements for bus transportation on some of its shorter Midwest routes and has quietly been offering to rebook unaccompanied minors due to travel in the near future.

If Northwest can't reach a deal with its mechanics by tonight, thousands of SCABS - or as Northwest calls them "replacement workers" may be called to take their place. One of those workers, who was fired earlier this week, is now raising serious concerns about his training saying it was not adequate. Northwest says that each "replacement technician" received three to four weeks of training. But this individual says he was trained for just seven days, five of them in a classroom.

Northwest traditionally carries more cargo than any other passenger airline in the country and is believed to have had contingency plans to shift its cargo over to UPS. However, the Independent Pilots Association, representing UPS pilots, said this week that its members will not fly any cargo for Northwest in the event of a strike. IPA President Capt. Tom Nicholson said, "The Independent Pilots Association is strongly committed to the principle of solidarity with our fellow transportation industry workers. As such, we will refuse to fly any struck goods should a strike or lock-out occur at Northwest Airlines involving their airline mechanics." UPS pilots have a contractual right to refuse this sort of flying. In addition, IPA says its crewmembers have also refused to be transported on Northwest since August 5, affecting 40 percent of the pilots' deadhead flights.

Helios Airways has confirmed that the aircraft that crashed last weekend had suffered a loss of cabin pressurization once before. Investigators are still seeking the cause of the fatal accident. A relative of the aircraft's co-pilot reportedly told Reuters news that he had complained of unspecified problems with the aircraft before departing on the fatal flight. In the meantime, pilots and Flight Attendants for Helios have refused to fly on their airplanes causing the company to charter aircraft to accommodate their passengers.

That's it for this week. Thanks for calling the APFA Hotline.