March 30, 2015

Hotel Committee Update We are in the early stages of standing up the Hotel Committee. Much of our early work focused on interviewing candidates and determining the ultimate size and makeup of the committee—we had well over 100 pilots express interest in volunteering and were committed to speaking to as many of you as we could. As of now, we have filled the committee positions and we have asked four pilots to join the committee (in addition to the chairman and vice chairman positions). Thanks to all of those who volunteered- we are excited to have such a talented pool of candidates. If you were not selected to be part of this committee, you are still more than welcome to submit your interest in another. Click here to see which committees still need candidates.

We are pleased to introduce the following members of your Hotel Committee:

Andy Sneller (Chairman) Andy joined JetBlue in 2011 and serves as an Airbus first officer at JFK. He currently lives in Long Island, but will be moving to Connecticut with his wife and two sons in June. Prior to joining JetBlue, Andy was at NetJets for two years and for four years where he served as a Pilot-to-Pilot representative. Andy also served on the PVC Hotel Committee for 2½ years prior to union certification. He spent the final eight months as the committee’s chairman and has extensive experience in the hotel sourcing and selection process.

Corey Schmidt (Interim Vice Chairman) Corey is a BOS Airbus captain from Charlottesville, Va., and has been with JetBlue since 2005, following nearly 12 years of active duty in the U.S. Navy. He continued to fly G-IVs in the Navy Reserve and recently retired as a commander with 20 years of service. He was a member of the first JetBlue/ALPA Organizing Committee and in 2013, he served on our PVC Hotel Committee. Corey quickly became an expert in JetBlue’s hotel-selection process during the final year of the PVC committee structure and is a staunch advocate for the pilot layover experience.

Tom Krizek (Interim) Tom is a JFK Airbus captain but will be transferring to BOS this fall. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and was hired at JetBlue in September 2001. In 2007, Tom joined the PVC Hotel Committee, and after four years of committee involvement and hard work, Tom was appointed as its chairman. During his tenure, Tom fought hard to improve our hotels and layovers. His priorities have always been to procure the best possible hotels to allow our pilots good quality rest.

Eric Wiskus (Interim) Eric is a third-year first officer and has recently transitioned from the E190 to the Airbus. He is now based in LGB, close to home in Huntington Beach where he lives with his wife and two young children. Eric served as the Hotel Committee chairman at Pinnacle Airlines for five years. His experience as a former ALPA committee chairman will be invaluable here at JetBlue.

Jason Smith (Interim) Jason joined JetBlue in 2005 and is currently a FLL Airbus captain. Jason grew up in the tourism and hotel industry in Belize and worked at a family- owned hotel and dive shop. After graduating from college in 1994, Jason joined both of Belize’s national carriers, Tropic Air & Maya Airways. He later moved to San Juan and flew for four years with several local airlines including Merlin Express and American Eagle. His unique flying resume includes stints with Global Airways, Capital Cargo, and . Jason has lived in South Florida for the past 11 years and currently resides in Pompano Beach. Jason’s distinctive upbringing and Spanish language skills, coupled with his diverse and extensive airline (and hotel) background allows him to bring a unique and fresh perspective to the pilot hotel-selection process.

Matt Wilson (Interim) Matt came to JetBlue in 2009, after working at for almost nine years. He is currently an E190 first officer based in MCO. At Comair he faithfully served on the ALPA Safety Committee and has extensive knowledge of the committee process within ALPA. In particular, he worked on ways to counteract fatigue in flight crews and measures to mitigate reduced rest. He grew up in California and Colorado but currently resides in Orlando, Fla., where he spends the majority of his free time with his two daughters. Matt, like most pilots at JetBlue, spends a large portion of his time away from home on layovers and joined the Hotel Committee to support the pilot group and to ensure we can maintain and improve the overnight experience at JetBlue.

Despite being in the early stages of forming the committee, we have begun to reach out to JetBlue management and establish the necessary connections that will allow us to become more effective at maintaining and improving your hotel experience on the line. We will also work with our business partner API and hope to improve the lines of communication between Flight Operations, API, Crew Services, and the pilot group. On the heels of multiple IROPs it has never been so clear how important the hotel “picture” is to our operational success as an airline and our collective quality of life. We have three immediate goals: establishing roles and responsibilities within the committee, providing a Hotel Committee policy manual that ensures efficiency and transparency, and engaging JetBlue management and API in meaningful cooperation.

Recent Happenings FLL: You may have noticed that there are some layovers at the Renaissance in Fort Lauderdale during the April bid month. While I wish we could report JetBlue is moving all pilot layovers to this much more acceptable hotel, this move is simply due to the need for additional rooms for some weeks in April.

Security: A quick word on security while on a layover. As many of you know, it is always important to remain vigilant and conscious of your safety and security while on a layover. Typically, all crew layover hotels are vetted by Bluewatch prior to going to contract; that means they should be consistently safe and secure.

That being said, there was recently an incident at the FLL Bonaventure Resort & Spa. The situation involved suspicious behavior taking place in the dark parking lot while our pilots were awaiting a van pickup. Thankfully, the crew took quick action, called Bluewatch, and made their way to the hotel lobby in search of a safer environment. There has been a spike in security-related concerns with this particular hotel. The Committee believes that most, if not all, of the security issues involved with this property stem from the design of the hotel. The company decided to break with past practice by choosing a hotel with “motel style” outdoor room access. Bluewatch completed a secondary inspection of the Bonaventure and still deems it to be a low-risk property. Your Hotel Committee has requested a meeting with the company to discuss this matter and is awaiting a response. We will continue to press for mutual progress in making the layovers at the Bonaventure Resort safe and ask that you send us any reports of potential security concerns.

Finally, if you have any feedback–concerns, complaints or compliments–regarding layovers or transportation, log on to MyCrewhotel and document your experience. Furthermore, we ask that you copy [email protected] on your message so that a member of our Hotel Committee can reach out to you.

In unity!

First Officer Andy Sneller JBUMEC Hotel Committee Chairman Air Line Pilots Association, International (402) 770-7775 [email protected]