SearchCrew Management & Training

Crew Contract Search

Collective bargaining agreement search that quotes the section and applies it to every person on the trip

Every answer quotes its section, with the letters and settlements behind it.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
demo4.1sto answer “Can I extend a reserve past 14 hours on CV 88?” with the section quoted, from 6 sources and the trip
demo2agreementsapplied to one trip: two reserves, two answers — one may be extended with her consent, the other must be replaced
demo$642.60of premium pay found by the 06:12 morning check on three extensions without recorded consent, before a grievance
target0answerswithout a quoted section: quoted, or “the agreements do not answer this clearly” sent to Labor Relations
In short

What is Crew Contract Search?

Crew Contract Search is collective bargaining agreement search for airline crew scheduling. A scheduler asks a question about the pilot contract or flight attendant contract in plain words; seven agents answer in one sentence, quote the section, apply it to each person on the trip under the agreement that covers them, and lay out the letters of agreement and grievance precedent behind it. Labor Relations confirms the answers that need it.

How to choose AI for airlines: a buyer's guide to agentic AI solutions →

Updated

The problem

Why collective bargaining agreement search still waits for Labor Relations

Collective bargaining agreement search, today, is a crew scheduler with a departure clock running and a PDF open. The flight attendant contract and the pilot contract each run over 400 pages, amended by dozens of letters of agreement and read through years of grievance settlements, System Board awards and Labor Relations interpretations. Crew tracking flags the hard legality limits it encodes, but not the “may, with consent” rules, the pay that follows or the letter signed since the last rules release. So the scheduler searches “extension”, asks a senior scheduler or a work rule analyst, or calls Labor Relations and waits.

The risk sits in the answer nobody could check in time. Answers differ by shift; “may, with consent” is applied as “may”; a settlement reached without precedent is read as a rule; and after a merger, two agreements cover people on the same aircraft. Consent given by phone goes unrecorded, payroll finds the disagreement at pay close, and the wrong answer becomes a grievance before a System Board of Adjustment.

demo1,534pagesin four agreements at the sample airline, with 63 letters of agreement and 418 grievance settlements
estimated47minwaiting on a Labor Relations call-back for an unusual question
demo41questionsin one week at the sample airline that the agreements do not answer clearly, in 6 groups
Where a hard contract question's minutes goestimated
By hand76 days
With the solution0.3 days
  • Searching the agreement for the right section10 → 0.1 d
  • Checking letters of agreement signed since the rules release8 → 0.1 d
  • Working out which agreement covers each person on the trip5 → 0.1 d
  • Working out the contract pay6 → 0.1 d
  • Waiting on a Labor Relations call-back47 → 0 d

Estimated split for one unusual question asked by a crew scheduler, by hand and with the solution; the 47-minute call-back is the prototype's timed sample of 160 questions.

How it works

How a question becomes a quoted answer

Seven agents answer from the agreement that covers each person, lay out the precedent, and catch what breaks a confirmed answer; Labor Relations decides.

What comes in
Agreements in4 agreements · 63 letters, 581 settlements, awards, rulings
Agents at work
Crew context agenttrip and agreement
Then
Contract agentsection quoted
Citation checkerevery sentence
Then
Precedent agentbinding or context
Pay agentthe arithmetic
Then
Consistency agentgrievance risk
Change agentanswers that changed
A person decides
Labor Relations Managerconfirms answers and rulings, with a reason
What comes out
Quoted answers
Confirmed interpretations
Fixes before a grievance
One case, step by step

Collective bargaining agreement search on a delayed London flight

Thursday, 16:40 in Crew Scheduling at Corvane Airways' Denver hub. CV 88 DEN–LHR, a 787-9, is delayed 2 h 45 min for a hydraulic pump: new departure 19:55. Two reserve flight attendants were called out for it, and they work under two different agreements. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 0116:40

    One question in plain words, answered in one sentence

    Jordan Pace · Crew Scheduler

    The trip bar already shows CV 88, the delay, two reserves on board and the two agreements that cover them. Jordan asks: “Can I extend a reserve past 14 hours on CV 88 to LHR?” In 4.1 seconds, at confidence 0.96, from 6 sources and the trip, the Contract agent answers “Only with her consent.” Section 12.D.4 lets Scheduling extend a reserve on an international sequence past 14 hours, up to 16, only if she agrees; LOA 26-03 requires her consent recorded in the crew app before departure.

    The section opens beside the answer, highlighted — Corvane FA 2024, page 214 of 412, in force 1 Mar 2024.

  2. 02Applied to CV 88

    Two reserves, two agreements, two answers

    Crew context agent

    The Crew context agent reads the trip from crew tracking: both reserves reported at 15:10, projected release 05:50, 14 h 40 min of duty. Dana Whitfield is on the Corvane agreement: extend only with her consent, ask before 19:25, extension pay an estimated $91.20. Marisol Vance is on the Halden Air agreement until 31 Dec 2026, whose Section 9.C.2 allows no extension past 14 hours, with or without consent: replace her by 18:55. Jordan picks Kelsey Ng from the free reserves.

    “Kelsey Ng assigned to CV 88 · Marisol Vance released without loss of pay”

  3. 03Behind the answer

    The precedent chain, each letter, award and settlement labeled

    Precedent agent

    Below the answer sit Section 12.D.4 (Mar 2024, binding), grievance settlement G-25-0412 (Jun 2025, context only), LOA 26-03 (Mar 2026, binding) and Labor Relations interpretation LRI-26-11 (Jul 2026, guidance). G-25-0412 paid six flight attendants on CV 92 DEN–FRA three hours at 150%, $1,186.20, and was settled without precedent — so it is shown, and never cited as a rule. System Board award SB-23-07 is ruled out: it covers domestic sequences only.

    “Settled without precedent: it shows how the section was applied, and why the letter exists. It is never cited as a rule.”

  4. 0416:46

    Consent asked in the crew app; the answer sent to Labor Relations

    Jordan Pace · Crew Scheduler

    One click drafts the crew-app message to Dana: the new departure, her projected release at 05:50 MDT, the extension to 16 hours under Section 12.D.4 and the pay at 200% under Section 6.F.2, reply by 19:25 — 30 minutes before departure. Jordan sends it, and Dana consents at 16:46, recorded in the crew app. The answer is already with Renee Calloway in Labor Relations as C-26-0317, on the before-departure clock.

    “Sent from the crew app, as LOA 26-03 and LRI-26-11 require. You send it; the agents do not contact crew members.”

  5. 05The pay

    What the reserve extension pays, with the arithmetic

    Pay agent

    Asked what Dana Whitfield is paid for the extension, the agents answer “An estimated $91.20” and show the working: 15:10 report to 05:50 release is 14 h 40 min, 40 minutes past 14 hours, at her 8th-year rate of $68.40 under Section 6.A, paid at 200% under Section 6.F.2 — 40/60 × $136.80. Had she not consented and been extended anyway, LOA 26-03 paragraph 4 would add 3 hours at 150%: $307.80.

    Pay figures stay “estimated” until Crew Payroll confirms.

  6. 06When the book is silent

    “No clear answer” — and both readings, for Labor Relations

    Contract agent

    Jordan asks whether a partner-airline deadhead counts toward the 16 hours. Confidence is 0.52, so the agent does not guess. Section 2 defines deadhead only on a Company or codeshare flight, and no letter or settlement decides the rest. Reading A counts it as duty under Section 12.B; Reading B does not. The question goes to Labor Relations as U-26-031, with two earlier questions on the same point.

    “The agreements do not answer this clearly.”

  7. 0716:50

    Her afternoon, on one screen

    Renee Calloway · Manager, Labor Relations

    Renee's Today screen counts 3,214 questions this week, 89% answered with the section quoted; 9 answers to confirm, 3 past the 4-hour clock; 6 groups with no clear answer; and 3 grievance-risk findings with $642.60 of pay proposed. At the top of Needs you: C-26-0317, due 17:14. She can ask the agents about any of it; they answer from the agreements and the logs, and cite them.

  8. 08Confirmed

    Confirmed with a reason code, then shared with the union

    Renee Calloway · Manager, Labor Relations

    C-26-0317 arrives with the language, the precedent chain and a check against confirmed answers: it matches 14 answers confirmed on 12.D.4 since March, the last on 2 Oct, and is the first on CV 88 with a Halden Air reserve. Renee picks “Confirmed: the section applies as quoted” and signs. The scheduler is told at once, and she can share the interpretation with the union's contract administrator for joint concurrence.

    “Signed by Renee Calloway with the reason code; on the audit trail.”

  9. 09Found at 06:12

    Three extensions that broke a confirmed answer, priced

    Consistency agent

    The morning check compared crew tracking and the crew app with confirmed answers. Finding W-14: Ava Brennan and Noah Pierce on CV 76 DEN–CDG on 4 Oct, and Leah Moreau on CV 64 DEN–NRT on 11 Oct, went past 14 hours with no consent recorded before departure. LOA 26-03 paragraph 4 adds 3 hours at 150% each: $642.60, proposed to Crew Payroll for the October pay close, with a note to 148 flight attendant schedulers.

    “Nothing is paid or sent until you approve.”

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who reads the contract.

The same agreement, seen by four people at Corvane Airways who carry it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.

JP
Jordan PaceCrew Scheduler · Inflight Scheduling, Denver
Crew Scheduler
Before
Covers 40 to 60 open trips a shift and searches a 412-page PDF, or waits on Labor Relations, while the departure clock runs.
Now
Asks in plain words and gets one sentence with its section, applied to each reserve on the trip, with what to do and by when.
RC
Renee CallowayManager, Labor Relations (Inflight)
Labor Relations Manager
Before
Answers the same extension question for every shift by phone, and meets the different answers later as grievances.
Now
Confirms answers with a reason code, rules once on unclear questions for everyone who asks next, and fixes a broken answer before a grievance is filed.
VO
Victor OseiCrew Payroll Analyst · extensions and premiums
Crew Payroll Analyst
Before
“If Scheduling extended her, I need the section that sets the rate” — and finds the disagreements at pay close.
Now
Sees the pay of each answer with its section and arithmetic, and receives approved pay corrections with the letter that requires them.
GN
Graham NyquistDirector, Labor Relations · approves agreement indexes
Director, Labor Relations
Before
Learns which answers a new letter changed when someone files a grievance over the old one.
Now
Sees every answer a new letter or the joint agreement changes, and who asked, before it takes effect.
Built on the engine

7 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Seven agents answer from the agreement that covers each person, lay out the precedent, and catch what breaks a confirmed answer; Labor Relations decides.

Contract agent

Answers in one sentence from the agreement in force on the trip date and quotes the section; asks back when the answer depends on a detail, such as which agreement covers her.

  • Never answers without a section, or from an agreement not in force
  • Below confidence 0.85 it asks back or sends the question to Labor Relations
Crew context agent

Reads the trip, the people on it, their duty so far and projected release from crew tracking, and finds the agreement that covers each person from crew records.

  • Read-only; never changes a schedule
Precedent agent

Finds the letters of agreement, grievance settlements, System Board awards and Labor Relations interpretations touching the section, labels each binding, guidance or context only, and says why each does or does not apply.

  • Never treats a settlement without precedent as a rule
Citation checker

Checks every sentence of an answer against the section it quotes, and blocks an answer that does not hold.

  • Can block, never rewrite
Pay agent

Works out the contract pay of an answer — rate, premium and minutes — and shows the arithmetic with the section that sets it.

  • Figures are estimates until Crew Payroll confirms
Consistency agent

Compares actions in crew tracking, and answers given across shifts, with the answers Labor Relations confirmed; flags grievance risk and prices it.

  • Never contacts a crew member
  • Proposes only: nothing is paid or sent until Labor Relations approves
Change agent

When a letter of agreement or a new agreement is signed, replays the last 90 days of real questions against it, finds every answer that changes and drafts the note to the people who asked.

  • Never sends a note
Labor Relations Manager

Confirms and rules; the scheduler decides on the trip. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask the collective bargaining agreement in plain words

Ask about a trip, a section, a letter or a finding. Every answer quotes its section, or says the agreements do not answer clearly.

Can I extend a reserve past 14 hours on CV 88 to LHR?

Only with her consent. Section 12.D.4 lets Scheduling extend a reserve on an international sequence past 14 hours, up to 16, only if she agrees. LOA 26-03 requires her consent recorded in the crew app before departure. Marisol Vance is on the Halden Air agreement, which allows no extension past 14 hours: replace her.

Can a flight attendant be junior assigned twice in a month?

It depends on which agreement covers her. A Corvane lineholder may be junior assigned no more than two times in a bid month under Section 13.B.3. A Halden Air flight attendant may be junior assigned once per calendar month under Halden Air Section 10.F, paid at 150% of the trip's credit.

Can I give a short-call reserve pilot an international trip with 90 minutes' notice?

Only if the pilot agrees. Pilot Agreement Section 25.J.3 requires at least two hours' notice before report for an international trip; with 90 minutes, the assignment needs the pilot's agreement and is paid at 150% of the trip's credit. Answered from the Corvane Pilot Agreement only.

Which answers change on 1 January for Halden flight attendants?

412 answers from the last 90 days change for 296 people when the Joint Flight Attendant Agreement takes effect, among them extensions (Joint 12.D.4, 118 answers) and junior assignment (Joint 13.B.3, 97).

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

Ask the contractCollective bargaining agreement search beside the trip: the one-sentence answer, the section quoted and highlighted in the agreement, the answer applied to each reserve and the precedent chain.
Applied to the tripEach reserve on the trip under the agreement that covers her, projected duty against the 14-hour line, what to do and by when — one extended with consent, one replaced.
The precedent chainThe section, the grievance settlement, the letter of agreement and the Labor Relations interpretation, each marked binding, guidance or context only, with the settlement open beside it.
Ask for consentThe crew-app consent request the scheduler sends, with the section, the extension pay, the reply-by time before departure and what happens if there is no reply.
The contract payExtension pay with the arithmetic — duty, minutes past 14 hours, hourly rate and premium — and the pay section quoted beside it.
No clear answerWhen the crew work rules do not answer clearly: the reason, two readings drafted with their sections, and the question sent to Labor Relations.
Labor Relations todayQuestions this week, answers to confirm, unclear questions and grievance risk, what needs the manager and a thread to ask the agents.
Confirm with a reason codeAn answer confirmed by Labor Relations with its reason code, after a check against answers already confirmed on the same section.
Rule once for everyoneUnclear questions grouped, with both readings, the nearest sections and who asked; a ruling becomes a Labor Relations interpretation.
Grievance riskExtensions in crew tracking that broke a confirmed answer, the premium pay under the letter of agreement, and the proposed pay correction and note.
Agreements and precedentThe pilot contract and flight attendant contracts in force with their dates, and every section, letter, settlement, award and interpretation, searchable and labeled.
What a new letter changesA new letter of agreement replayed against 90 days of real questions: the answers that change, who asked, and the note waiting for approval.
Thresholds and rulesAnswer confidence, precedent age, settlements without precedent, pay estimates, and the locked rules on schedules, crew contact and what the union sees.
Governance

Built for contract interpretation you would defend at the System Board.

Every sentence on its sectionEach answer quotes the section of the agreement it rests on, open beside it with its book, page and effective date. The Citation checker blocks an answer that does not hold; otherwise the answer is “the agreements do not answer this clearly”.
The right book, for the right personAnswers come from the agreement in force on the trip date, for the person it covers — read from crew records — so a flight attendant from the acquired airline is never scheduled under the other airline's rules.
Precedent labeled, never stretchedEvery letter, settlement, award and interpretation is marked binding, guidance or context only. Grievance settlement precedent is shown for what it is: a settlement reached without precedent is never quoted as a rule, and precedent older than seven years is shown as context.
People decide, with a reasonThe scheduler decides on the trip. Labor Relations confirms, corrects or rejects answers with a reason code, rules on unclear questions and approves notes and pay corrections; the union's contract administrator concurs or disputes what is shared.
Agents never touch the schedule or payThe agents never change a schedule, a contract or pay, and never contact a crew member; the scheduler sends a consent request. This rule is locked off in settings, and the union sees only shared items.
Every step on the recordEvery question, answer, agent step and decision is on a chained audit trail, ready to export as evidence for a grievance or a System Board of Adjustment hearing under the Railway Labor Act. Every settings change is a new version.
Configuration

Your labor policy, set once

The thresholds, rules and clocks the agents follow are settings, saved as versions on the audit trail.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Answer from the agreement in force onThe trip dateTrip date · Question date
Answer confidence0.85Below it, the agent asks back or sends the question to Labor Relations
Precedent older than7 yearsShown as context only, whatever its kind
Settlements without precedentContext onlyShown as context; never quoted as a rule
Pay figuresMarked “estimated”Until Crew Payroll confirms · On or off
Agents may change a schedule or contact a crew memberLocked offThe scheduler sends consent requests and makes changes
Before-departure questions30 minutesAnswered by Labor Relations within; other confirmations within 4 business hours
No clear answer2 business daysRuled by Labor Relations within
Connections

Works with the systems crew scheduling already runs on

Crew trackingtrips, rosters, duty and actions — read only
Crew payrates and pay close; corrections only after approval
Crew appconsent requests and replies
Grievance trackergrievances, settlements and awards — read only
Document managementagreements and letters of agreement as signed
Email and Teamsnotes and notifications
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
0
answers without a quoted section: quoted, or sent to Labor Relations
Every sentence on its section
or "the agreements do not answer this clearly"
target
Sameday
an action that breaks a confirmed answer is flagged, before a grievance
Findings with the pay exposure
and a drafted fix
target
6s
median to a quoted answer, from about 47 minutes waiting on a call-back
Before47 min
With agents6 s

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate (the 47-minute call-back is the prototype's timed sample of 160 questions). Context: Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. §151 et seq. and §184 (System Boards of Adjustment); 14 CFR Part 117; 14 CFR 121.467; FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, §335. Corvane Airways, Halden Air, their unions, people, agreements, sections, letters, settlements and awards named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What crew scheduling and Labor Relations leaders ask us.

What is Crew Contract Search?

Crew Contract Search is collective bargaining agreement search for airline crew scheduling. A scheduler asks a question about the pilot contract or flight attendant contract in plain words; seven agents answer in one sentence, quote the section, apply it to each person on the trip under the agreement that covers them, and lay out the letters of agreement and grievance precedent behind it. Labor Relations confirms the answers that need it.

How do crew schedulers search a pilot or flight attendant contract?

With Crew Contract Search, from a question box beside the trip. The agents read the trip from crew tracking, find the agreement in force on the trip date for each person, and answer with the section open beside the answer, highlighted. When the answer depends on a detail they ask back; a pilot scheduler gets answers from the pilot agreement only.

Can a reserve flight attendant be extended past 14 hours?

A reserve extension past 14 hours depends on the agreement that covers her, which is why the answer is applied per person. In the working solution, one reserve may be extended up to 16 hours only with her consent recorded in the crew app before departure, and the other, under the acquired airline's agreement, may not be extended at all. Federal flight attendant duty and rest limits under 14 CFR 121.467 sit beneath the contract's own rules.

Which agreement applies after an airline merger?

Until a joint agreement takes effect, each workforce keeps its own. The agents read from crew records which agreement covers each person, answer from that one, and flag trips where flight attendants from the acquired airline were scheduled under the other airline's rules. When the joint agreement is signed, they show which past answers will change.

Is a grievance settlement treated as precedent?

Only if it was. The Precedent agent marks every letter, settlement, System Board award and interpretation binding, guidance or context only, and says why. A settlement reached without precedent is shown as context — how the section was applied — and is never quoted as a rule.

What happens when the contract does not answer clearly?

The agents say so: “the agreements do not answer this clearly”. They draft both readings with their sections and the nearest sections, group the question with others like it, and send it to Labor Relations. The ruling becomes an interpretation that answers the next person who asks, and can be shared with the union for joint concurrence.

Does the AI change the schedule, the contract or crew pay?

No. The agents never change a schedule, a contract or pay and never contact a crew member. The scheduler decides on the trip and sends any consent request; Labor Relations confirms answers with a reason code and approves every note and pay correction before it is sent or paid; every step is on the audit trail.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your agreements, letters of agreement, settlements, awards and interpretations, with a sample of past questions — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. A new agreement is added by upload; the agents index its sections and Labor Relations approves the index.

See it on
your agreements.

We'll run Crew Contract Search on your own pilot and flight attendant agreements, letters and a sample of past questions.