Two thoughts:
1. Wow, that looks like an extremely useful app if you're a flight attendant!
2. How is their employer not providing this functionality? I guess maybe they are, but only parts, or it's a shittier version. But still.
1. Wow, that looks like an extremely useful app if you're a flight attendant!
2. How is their employer not providing this functionality? I guess maybe they are, but only parts, or it's a shittier version. But still.
Reading between the lines, flight attendant scheduling is probably quite .. adversarial, as shift scheduling at restaurants can be. The employer would like employees to have the minimum information so they meekly accept the shifts they're given.
Violating "regulatory rules" should result in fines and the government coming down on you. I would think this is the worse outcome, but less likely than...
Violating "union contract negotiated rules" should result in grievances ending in legal action if the employer doesn't agree they broke the rules. This should be a lighter penalty but the union seems more likely to pursue the remedy than the government.
So which actually is it that the company considers worse?
I’m not suggesting they willfully violate the contract either. Many of the schedulers are simply ignorant of the nuances in the rules because they’re complex. They are just trying to get trips covered. When employees are armed with knowledge greater than the scheduler(tools such as this, or often just experience) you end up with phone arguments/discussions that cause delays and cancellations. The company would far rather that they keep moving the jets and settle grievances for the handful of people that catch issues after the fact.
This kind of old, hierarchical thinking from the 1950s needs to go away.
Yes, it does, but no, it won't.
Just as democracies must always be better armed and prepared than expansionist autocracies, or the autocracies will take over, people need to be better armed and prepared than those who want to exploit them, or they will get exploited.
Unfortunately, the exploiters often arrive better armed and prepared, and it is an uphill battle.
Often, the only winning move is to not play the game.
They've recently backed strikes and raised wages https://unitedafa.org/news/2022/1/21/solidarity-works-flight...
The rest is part of the contract - https://www.afacwa.org/flight_attendants_achieve_10_hours_re...
> Washington, D.C. (October 4, 2022) — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today finalized a rule requiring 10 hours minimum, non-reducible rest for Flight Attendants between duty days – finally implementing a 2018 law that will make aviation safer for over 100,000 Flight Attendants and the passengers in our care. The rule will increase the rest period to 10 irreducible hours when scheduled for a duty period of 14 hours or less. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, issued the following statement ...
What would one have in a contract to help this issue?
That said, it does not prevent all exploitation. IIRC, the FA's in this story have a union and a contract, yet this form of exploitative behavior is not prevented.
"14 CFR § 121.467 - Flight attendant duty period limitations and rest requirements: Domestic, flag, and supplemental operations."
This can get tricky when flying across time zones and date lines.
> Although the law was passed back in October 2018 and was meant to be implemented within 30 days, the Trump administration allegedly put the measure on the backburner and “on a regulatory road to kill it”.
> The previous administration initially blamed the delay on a massive backlog facing the FAA caused by a partial government shutdown and then the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 737MAX.
Compare that to every FA knowing every single time there's a breach, being able to compare notes etc.
I'll tell you how. It's because the app doesn't exist under the regime of a CIO and multiple layers of project managers, program managers, extensive regulatory requirements, fiefdoms, competing internal political interests, and the other various "enterprisy" crap that will kill off any entrepreneurial spirit.
That's why.
Currently, we have been flying out of a major Delta hub and we took for granted what an airline app should be.
Now as we are planning flights between Delta, American and United, I can confidently say that American has by far the worse consumer app of any of the major airlines or hotels.
I wouldn’t be surprised that their internal apps and websites are a similar shit show.
I'll take a flight on Delta with a layover over a flight on American that's nonstop. Of the majors, it's far and away the best. And their app is very good.
I’m on a lot of calls and travel within the US for work occasionally. While my company will fly me from anywhere and to anywhere in the continental US, I can’t ask them to fly me internationally
Travel outside of the US is mostly vacations and work just enough days so I don’t burn through my vacation days
In reality, you are basically relying on the fact that no one can tell when you open your laptop whether you check personal email or work email etc. But legislation wise you very well might be in breach of visitor conditions. And if you stay long enough, taxes might kick in.
Canada is a notable exemption because IRCC issued a note on What kind of activities are not considered to be “work”?:
> long distance (by telephone or internet) work done by a temporary resident whose employer is outside Canada and who is remunerated from outside Canada;
However, unless the relevant immigrant authority or legislation did this , the law still applies.
There are now numerous countries which issue special digital nomad visas. See https://travel.stackexchange.com/q/45092/4188 for more.
Well, that depends. For example, the United States has a B1/B2 visa where you can do business things like meetings. That's not work. But still, if you are a tourist aka you get a rare B2 only visa then no what he did was not legal -- and just because he is C level doesn't mean he won't breach the law in this. Might be out of arrogance or ignorance, even.
His answer sounds like "I am a rich man, laws, pfft" to me.
I'm not an employment lawyer, but I don't think it works like that.
In general, it’s not legal to be an unregistered digital nomad unless you have the right to work in the country you are in. If you enter a country on a tourist visa, the primary purpose of the trip must be tourism. If you enter on a tourist visa for the intention of being a digital nomad, you have violated the visa.
In practice, it probably doesn’t matter as long as you are discrete. it's difficult for governments to detect this practice and many countries even tolerate the practice. But since being a digital nomad is almost always technically illegal, travelers have had challenges when they are discovered by the wrong person.
The bigger concern is usually your employer. Working overseas without approval is usually a friable offense.
IOW, the chances of remaining employed will crumble.
This is true for my employer. We are allowed to work outside of the country for at most 60 days.
I'm not sure how this works in the reverse direction, or in Mexico.
It is complex enough that the only answer that is definitely wrong is "I'm just traveling for me so I can do whatever I want."
https://kansaspolicy.org/rethinking-taxes-around-remote-work...
> Kansas has policies that could deter remote work and are deterring greater interstate work with our neighbors. Kansas requires employer withholding for people working in the state just for one day, which creates an annoying hurdle for companies trying to operate even in a small capacity in Kansas. In 2020, the Kansas legislature considered a bill that would have extended the withholding requirement period to 30 days, but the proposal died
> The term “domicile” has a special legal definition that is not the same as residence. While many states consider domicile and residence to be the same, California makes a distinction and views them as two separate concepts, even though they may often overlap. For instance, you may be domiciled in California but not be a California resident or you may be domiciled in another state but be a California resident for income tax purposes.
> Domicile is defined for tax purposes as the place where you voluntarily establish yourself and family, not merely for a special or limited purpose, but with a present intention of making it your true, fixed, permanent home and principal establishment. It is the place where, whenever you are absent, you intend to return. The maintenance of a marital abode in California is a significant factor in establishing domicile in California.
As long as you're remaining transitory and not staying in a single, fixed, permanent home you should be fine.
Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (takes about two to three months to get out of California) won't establish residency in California.
This is what worries me, say they start checking Air BnB contracts and start auditing vacationers.
https://www.palmspringstaxandtrustlawyers.com/working-vacati...
Thanks for the input.