10.15.21 – APFA CLT Base Brief – Friday, October 15, 2021

Friday, October 15, 2021

CLT Flight Attendants,

Welcome Back

In the last year and a half, many of our fellow Flight Attendants decided to take various leaves of absence to help preserve jobs for others. Next month, the majority of them will be coming back, with the rest following in December. To all the returning Flight Attendants, first and foremost, welcome back. While most of you were away, the Charlotte base acquired a satellite base which is RDU. When you bid in PBS, keep in mind that if you bid specific trips in PBS or TTS, make sure you double-check the origination city. Whether you bid specific or generic, you can exclude RDU in your properties to only show CLT trips. Some other catches are built into the system to help prevent the accidental awarding of satellite trips, so be alert for any warnings that pop up during the bidding process. These alerts are built in to help prevent being awarded trips you do not wish to fly.

If you live in the RDU area and would like to fly out of the satellite, you can email Dee Dee Todd at [email protected]. Dee Dee can explain how it works and provide tips on how to bid for these trips.

APFA Board of Directors Meeting Next Week

Next week, the BOD will convene for their Fall Meeting. With everything on our plate right now, this will serve as an important meeting that will have decisions and information that can affect just about every Flight Attendant on some level. Getting this information to the members promptly will benefit everyone. This is your Union, and the decisions made by its leaders should be timely and transparent so every member can see what decisions are made in real-time. With this in mind, Charlotte’s own Charles Starks will attend and report out periodically each day on Facebook through the CLT F/A Mobilization site. Charles will be providing the “blow-by-blow” details in almost real-time so you can see the decisions made and get the information without waiting for an official hotline to come out. Tune in next week starting on Tuesday on the CLT F/A Mobilization Facebook site for updates that will be posted throughout the day. We know that many of you have questions on a wide variety of topics. We hope this format will provide answers faster so you can make decisions based on all the current information rather than relying on the jumpseat grapevine that is not always a reliable source.

From Your Safety Reports

Our number one job is safety. Each month we track your safety reports and look for trends that need immediate attention to ward off safety and security concerns we face before they become a major issue. Over the last few months, we have seen increased assaults and verbal attacks on Flight Attendants. The Company responded to this by addressing the issue on several different levels. Senior management came to Charlotte last month and held a town hall to address the concerns of our Flight Attendants. While APFA believes there is much more work to be done on this issue, the response we did see was encouraging. Senior Vice President of Flight Service, Brady Byrnes, hosted the Charlotte event and was accompanied by Gary Tomasulo, Managing Director of Corporate Security and Vice President of Corporate Safety, Bobbi Wells. The presentation centered around the need for documentation of an event from multiple sources as soon as possible before the Company can take any action such as placing someone on a no-fly list. Our current reporting process has roadblocks to fast documentation of events, and this is our frustration with the Company’s current approach. The one message that resonated is the Company will not act until an incident is documented. It is vital to fill out the CERs and ASAP reports on all safety-related incidents, so we have accurate information, and the Company can take appropriate action.

Here are the latest statistics from your Safety Reports for the Charlotte Base:

• Fume/Odor Events—9     FAs seeking medical attention from fume event— 0
• Passenger Illness on Aircraft—57   Possible Covid— 1
• Passenger Misconduct on Aircraft— 287
  • Mask Related— 66
  • Intoxicated Pax— 12
  • Pax Miscellaneous Misconduct— 57
  • Pax Smoking — 6
  • Pax Fighting— 3
  • Pax Removed from Aircraft— 29
  • Pax Video Taping Crew— 3
  • PASSENGER ASSAULTS ON FLIGHT ATTENDANTS— 6
  • Non-Rev Misconduct— 3
• Passenger Injury on Aircraft— 23
• FA Injury on Aircraft (Non-Fume)— 5
• FAs ILL/Sick on Aircraft (Non-Fume)— 2
• Turbulence Events— 5    Injuries— 0
• Aircraft Mechanicals— 5
• Passenger/Live Animal Removed from Aircraft— 7
• Passenger Lost/Stolen/Damaged Property— 1
• Security Concerns— 5
• Diversions— 6   (Medical Diversions— 4)
• Minimum Crew Violations— 1
• Sexual Harassment/Misconduct— 3
• OPS Issues— 8
• Deaths/Bird Strikes/ Slide Deployments/ Lightning Strikes— 0

As you can see, we deal with a wide range of Safety Issues every day. The number of assaults is still way too high and remains of high concern. We are also watching an upward trend in the amount of Fume Events. Thanks to your safety reports, we can use this information to push for positive change in the areas that need to be addressed to help improve the safety and welfare of both our Crewmembers and Passengers.

We are at a crossroads in the pandemic recovery process. While we see positive signs in some categories, we get setbacks in others. We still have a long way to go before saying this is over and things are comfortably back to “normal.” Many have to make tough choices right now, and this is when we should be supporting each other. If you feel the stress and need someone to talk to, we have a great team of EAP professionals who can help. Reach out. We are here for you. Call 817-540-0108 ext. 8701.

Take care of yourselves and each other,

The Charlotte APFA Team

In Solidarity,

Scott Hazlewood
APFA CLT Base President
[email protected]