Summary of Changes for Mesa Flight Attendants

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Going into negotiations for the JCBA, we agreed to use the Republic contract as the basis for the joint contract. There are many differences between our contract and the Republic contract, but there are also many similarities. In this summary, we will point out the major differences between the two contracts. In addition to the items agreed to in the JCBA, we will gain anything that is currently included in the Republic contract. Mesa provisions that are not in the JCBA changes or in the Republic contract will no longer apply once Mesa Flight Attendants transition to the Republic operation. A full implementation schedule will be posted before voting to specifically lay out the timing of any contractual changes.

Please note that we have also prepared a summary of the items that are new to the JCBA. They are touched on here, but we describe them much more thoroughly in the joint JCBA summary >

Compensation 

JCBA

  • Pay Scale: Same at both carriers with no change in the JCBA, including 10-12-26  pay raise.
  • Boarding Pay—both will have the same provision under the JCBA
  • Incentivepay—Republic pays 125% on all flying over 87 (except for flights that already receive premium pay)Minimum pay for lineholders—Every duty period will pay at the greatest of
    • Scheduled or actual block, on leg-for-leg basis OR
    • Rescheduled/reassigned block OR
    • 4:12 hours block (4.2 hours of pay)

In addition, every trip will pay the greater of the above or 1 hour for every 4.75 hours TAFB

  • Drug testing pay ($10 per duty hour after block in)
  • No junior assignment is allowed
  • Premium Pay—150%, or more at Management discretion
  • Deadhead pay: Republic pays 75%; increase for Mesa from 62.5%
  • Customs Pay—18 minutes, as we adopted Republic’s pay in our recent TA
  • Ferry and repo paid at 100%Diversions or other unscheduled flying paid at 100%
  • Holiday pay (both carriers have same holidays), but Republic pays a flat rate or 4 hours for flight or reserve duty

Sick and Vacation and PDOs

Republic uses a system called Paid Days Off (PDO), which would replace our current sick and vacation accruals and usage.

  • Transition Agreement (Major Takeaway—you will not lose any of your accrued sick or vacation hours)
    • All banked sick will be placed in a “legacy sick bank” to be used for sick calls/medical leaves
    • All 2026 vacation accrued and awarded will be honored
    • Vacation hours will be converted to PDO hours
    • Flight Attendants with at least 21 years of service will be credited 12 PDO hours on a one-time basis
    • Mesa Flight Attendants will begin accruing PDOs instead of sick and vacation starting in 2026
    • Mesa Flight Attendants will begin bidding for vacation next fall for the first half of 2027 (Republic bids vacation twice a year, for January-June and then July-December)
  • How PDOs work
    • Flight Attendants accrue PDO hours monthly, based on longevity (see chart in JCBA summary document)
  • Sick calls paid at 4 PDO hours a day or trip value (unless Flight Attendant requests 4/day)
  • Vacation is bid and paid at the Flight Attendant’s choice of 18, 21 or 24 hours per week
  • PDO hours remaining at the end of the year can be (in any combination):
    • Carried over to the next year (up to 150% of annual accrual)
    • Cashed out
    • Contributed to Flight Attendant’s 401k
  • Flight Attendants can also cash out up to 50 PDO hours per month
  • PDOs are paid out when Flight Attendant leaves employment
  • Flight Attendant may donate PDOs to another Flight Attendant who has exhausted their bank
  • Flight Attendants may bid up to 126 PDO hours (FA may project how many PDOs they would have at the time you would take the vacation)
  • Vacations run Monday-Sunday, but Flight Attendant may elect to slide vacation 3 days in either direction
  • Company may offer option to buy back vacation in any month (vacation removed but Flight Attendant still paid for it—and Company may offer more than value of vacation)
  • Company may offer to defer vacation until later in the year, and may pay a financial incentive to do so
  • Flight Attendant may request individual PDO days up to 12 months in advance
  • Flight Attendants also receive 2 blocks of 3 golden days off (“GDO”) per year. These are bid by seniority. They are unpaid and considered part of your minimum days off but will be guaranteed if awarded.

Expenses

Note: Domestic and International (including Canada and Mexico) per diem will be continued in the JCBA at the same amounts as in our recently ratified contract.

  • If room not provided on RON, Flight Attendant may seek alternate lodging and be reimbursed cost of room + $50
  • Republic provides day rooms for scheduled or unscheduled sits over 5 hours (unscheduled will be provided if room can be obtained at reasonable price—Republic Flight Attendants tell us management has never denied dayroom due to cost)
  • Transportation to hotel: If shuttle does not arrive in 30 minutes, Flight Attendant may take Uber to hotel

Scheduling, Reserve and Hours of Service 

JCBA

  • Mesa’s language on SAP was added to the JCBA—on a trial basis; either side can end after 6 months. Cannot drop below 30 hours in SAP only
  • Trade deadlines reduced to 4 hours before earlier trip of trades between Flight Attendants, 24 hours for trades with OT
  • Mesa’s jet-bridge trade language will be in JCBA
  • Lineholder can trade a trip for all or part of a reserve block, provided the trade does not result in any one-day block
  • Minimum days off increased to 12 per month for lineholders, 11 per month for reserves (no change depending on length of month)
  • Scheduled/rescheduled max duty period of 14 hours; can go to 16 if last leg is DH; Flight Attendant must consent to any flying over 16 hours
  • Report time will be 30 minutes before scheduled departure of first flight (may be increased by Company to 45 and up to 60 if operationally necessary)
  • In addition to hard lines, and reserve lines, Republic has composite lines, Guaranteed Low Time (“GLT”) lines and can have CDO lines
  • GLT lines would replace Mesa’s reduced-credit lines. They are awarded by seniority and remain in effect until the Flight Attendant requests not to be GLT any longer (that is, they are not awarded on a monthly basis).
    • Minimum guarantee of 37.5 hours; lines can be awarded to 52 hours
    • No more than 20% of Flight Attendants at a base can be GLT
    • Must maintain at least 112.5 pay hours per quarter
    • Can pick up to 65 hours
  • Reassignment/rescheduling
    • Must be for same days, no earlier report on Day 1 and cannot be release on last day more than 2 hours after original release time
    • Cannot be reassigned to reserve unless Flight Attendant agrees
    • Can only be rescheduled into a day off for weather, ATC etc. If the reason is staffing, Flight Attendants must consent to rescheduling. Choice between 150% pay OR, if the reschedule causes the Flight Attendant to drop below minimum days; can choose alternate day off in current or next month
  • Republic has long call (LCR), short call (SCR) and airport reserve (called ready reserve at Mesa and hot reserve at Republic)
    • Trip can be assigned to reserves 6 days in advance
    • LCR has 12-hour call out and can be converted to SCR up to 2 times per month or after they are given an assignment (for the rest of the block)
    • SCR
      • Two-hour call out
      • No more than 1 RAP per day (unless single RAP crosses midnight)
    • ASR
      • Airport reserve limited to 8 hours (paid 1 hour for each 2 hours of airport)
      • Can be scheduled up to 14 hours for combined airport and flight time
    • Only LCR can pick up reserve trips—called proactive pickup, no more than 6 days before trip (no aggressive bidding for SCR)
    • Trips assigned by RAP and days of availability, Flight Attendant can preference First out, otherwise will be first in, first out (Flight Attendant with same days of availability who completed trip first is first to get a new trip)
  • Reserves can be assigned a trip or airport reserve period regardless of how long they had been on reserve before check in—14 hour max duty period begins at show time
  • No minimum flying—can trade/drop all flying (except for GLT and in SAP)

Leaves of Absence 

  • Bereavement not paid from sick/vacation (as first 5 days at Mesa are)
  • All jury duty paid (only first five days paid at Mesa)
  • 90 days of health insurance on MLOA, then COBRA (just COBRA at Mesa unless using sick/vacation)
  • MLOA capped at 4 years (3 at Mesa)
  • Indefinite union leave (3 years at Mesa)

Uniforms

  • Uniform replacement: Republic has $275 annual uniform allotment (Mesa has 50% off for new pieces, but also a 100% replacement scheduled for Flight Attendants with 5+ years of service)
  • Cleaning allowance of $20/month (vs. Mesa drawing for $150 uniform credit for perfect attendance)
  • If Flight Attendant is involuntarily transferred to a base with a different code-share partner, Company will replace uniform

Grievances

  • Only union can file grievance
  • After filing, all grievances sent to a month Settlement Conference, after which
  • Company issues decision
  • Disciplinary grievances appealed to 2-person System Board
  • Contractual grievances appeals to Board or sent to  mediation

Furlough, Displacement, Closing of Domiciles and Recall

Republic has Time off Without Pay (TWOP), while Mesa has voluntary furlough, but they work similarly

  • Furlough at a certain base, but in system seniority order may elect to take furlough or to displace another Flight Attendant at a different base
  • No limit on recall rights (Mesa has 5 years)

Moving Expenses 

  • Actual moving expenses for up to 10,000 pounds, done by a professional mover
  • Total moving expenses not to exceed $7,000
  • $500 payment if Flight Attendant chooses to to move
  • Minimum 4 moving days
  • Mileage for 2 cars

Insurance and Benefits 

Health Insurance

  • Republic has a high and a low deductible plan
  • Better benefits than Mesa except comparable to Mesa’s highest plan
  • Difficult to compare costs as Mesa does not share information
  • Contribution to HSA
  • Caps on premium increases

401k 

  • Republic has better match (4-8%, depending on seniority)
  • Travel Flight Attendants can obtain travel on Delta, American and United; similar retiree plans at United and American; Delta only provides to current employees

Transition to Republic Benefits

  • No Flight Attendant will have any loss in insurance coverage when transitioning between plans
  • Flight Attendants will not need to meet new deductibles or out of pocket maximum if transition occurs mid plan year
  • Flight Attendants who are vested in the Mesa retirement plan will be fully vested in the Republic plan

Commuter Policy

These policies are quite similar in how they work (need two flights, proof of boarding card, procedure if Flight Attendant cannot commute, etc.) Primary difference is Republic:

 

  • Covers probationary Flight Attendants
  • Can be used by any Flight Attendant to get to work
  • Also covers ground commutes
  • Can use the policy in 6 times (new in JCBA, used to be 4) in a rolling 12 month period vs Mesa system of earning credits based on longevity and attendance
  • Mesa has payroll-deducted commuter hotels; Republic has their TOP program (in which Flight Attendants may get a hotel room for free if it is available and if they are the first crew member to request it)

Attendance Policy

This is an occurrence based system with offenses and penalties spelled out:

  • Flight Attendants may have one occurrence-free sick call every six months, if they provide a doctor’s note
  • Occurrences drop off after 12 months
  • Flight Attendant will be terminated if they have 2 No-shows (“missed reports”) in 12 months
  • For sick calls or late shows, 6 occurrences in 12 months lead to a written advisory letter, 7 lead to a Final Advisory Letter and 8 will result in termination. However, management can accelerate these steps if it reasonably suspects a pattern of abuse.
  • Flight Attendants must dispute an occurrence they believe is inappropriate in order to contest it if they ultimately are disciplined
  • Perfect Attendant Incentive (will replace Mesa’s 2% of wages per quarter of perfect attendance): Paid in PDO hours, ranging from 1 hour to 2.5, depending on length of perfect attendance.