Spirit AFA-CWA MEC President

Jason Kachenmeister, Spirit AFA MEC President, began working as a Flight Attendant at Spirit in January 2002 in Detroit. Following the downsizing of DTW in 2007-2008, Jason moved to ACY where he was based until 2011.

With the birth of his youngest daughter Amelia, Jason moved back to Michigan and became an FLL commuter for the next three years until the LAS base opened. Jason then transferred to LAS and continued to commute to that base until the DTW base reopened in 2016. While the DTW base was downsized, Jason had to return from a line holder to a reserve schedule, he witnessed the contract violations the company was committing against the reserve flight attendants firsthand. This treatment of the reserve flight attendants by the company prompted him to join the AFA scheduling committee in local 76 back in 2008.

Eventually, Jason became the MEC Scheduling chair for a time and participated in several groundbreaking modifications to the way crew scheduling operated; including changes to maximize reserve rest periods between reserve notification shifts as well as the creation of the reserve grid for approving drops/trades that are still in use today. Jason has also spent time with crew planning on more efficient base staffing formulas and worked with the company to open the LAS and ORD crew bases. Upon returning to the DTW base, Jason resumed his former role as the LEC 76 scheduling chairperson and, in 2018, was tasked to assume the vacant position of MEC Hotel Committee Chairperson. As Hotel Committee Chairperson, Jason has overseen drastic changes to the AFA Hotel Committee at Spirit resulting in nearly 25 layover hotel upgrades over the past 3 years.

In October of 2019, Jason was elected as the MEC President to finish out a previously vacated term following a resignation and was re-elected unanimously in 2020 to serve a full term. As MEC President, Jason negotiated on behalf of Spirit flight attendants to reach agreements resulting in the COVID MOU’s, including the CVTO/EVTO programs, and mitigating any flight attendants being furloughed due to the pandemic.

Jason looks forward to continuing his role as MEC President and adding the additional duty of chairing the negotiation committee. Jason continues to be a DTW-based flight attendant, approaching his 20th year at Spirit. Jason lives in Tecumseh, MI with his wife Jill (also a Spirit Flight Attendant) and their three daughters.

Negotiations Representative

Colleen Burns is a 6 year Flight Attendant with Spirit Airlines. She currently serves LEC 77 as the Grievance Co-Chair and the Government Affairs Chair. She values the mission for economic and social justice for all Flight Attendants. Her current role within her local council shows the passion she has for improving the quality of life for our workforce. She is incredibly passionate about the legislative process and will continue to press for stronger legislative protections and benefits for our first responders in the sky.

Her interest in serving outside of LEC 77 and her knowledge of the contract led her to submit to serve for negotiations. She is an out-of-the-box thinker and uses the contract to support the members of LEC 77. She values the importance of the work flight attendants do as safety professionals and believes we need to be compensated accordingly. She believes firmly in holding the company accountable for breaching the contract and hopes to help negotiate a contract that better protects our flight attendants and increases our quality of life.

Colleen has extensive knowledge in the grievance arena, training in EAP and government affairs where she has worked closely with both state and federal legislators to ensure that our voice is heard. Colleen was born and raised in the south suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, where she has lived most of her life. She will be graduating in June with her B.S. in Psychology, and Graphic Design with a minor in Marketing. She currently lives in southern Illinois with her partner, 2 dogs, and 2 snakes. Colleen spends her personal time working out, enjoying outdoor activities, and binge-watching LOTR and Harry Potter.

Negotiations Representative

Olson Santiago-Carreras, better known as Rick, started with Spirit Airlines as a Flight Attendant in 2017 and was assigned to LEC 76 DTW. In 2019 he transferred to Orlando where he became involved with AFA.

Rick currently holds the position of Scheduling Chair for LEC 37 as of June 2019 and as MEC Reserve Chair as of July 2020. He has extensive knowledge in both Scheduling and Reserve.

Before working at Spirit Airlines, he worked as a District Manager at Cricket Wireless, a division of AT&T Wireless. There, he assisted in the development of benefits, vacation/PTO, sick leave, and health care for all employees.

He was born and raised in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. After High School, he moved to Orlando, FL. Currently, he resides in Houston, Texas, and commutes to Orlando for work. He is in the process of obtaining his Bachelor’s Degree in Business and hopes to continue his education and seek a law degree in business and labor law.

AFA International Senior Staff Negotiator

Paula Mastrangelo, AFA International’s Sr. Staff Negotiator assigned to work with us on the upcoming contract negotiations, assisted us with our third tentative agreement ratified in 2016. She is a seasoned veteran who has negotiated many contracts with AFA carriers.

Paula started her career with AFA in 1988 and has led negotiating teams to successfully conclude agreements across the industry, from first-time regionals to United’s CBA. Recently, Paula worked with Hawaiian, Alaska, and Envoy to reach and ratify their new deals.

A firm believer that leverage at the bargaining table comes from an informed and mobilized labor group, Paula looks forward to working with our Spirit team to fire up our members and address pressing concerns.