2.10.22 – APFA DFW Base Brief – March 2022 Allocations

Optimizer programming was adjusted for March to incorporate the ten-hour FAR minimum rest requirement currently under final review with the FAA. We are pleased that the company proactively built pairings to adhere to the proposed rest requirements, which the FAA will hopefully implement soon. There will be positive and negative impacts on trip construction when implementing significant changes to optimizer programming.

Currently, the ratio of turns and two-day pairings to three and four-day parings is not desirable. Turns and two-days have continued to decrease while three-day trips increase. The base has a ratio of 50% turns and two days and 50% three and four-day pairings. We stressed that the base is losing flexibility to manipulate schedules when most pairings work two or three long duty days for minimal hours. We proposed a ratio of 65/35 with four-day pairings remaining low. The company attributed missed trip targets to the new layover rest programming,

The base brought up the hub transit initiative, which co-pairs Pilots and Flight Attendants. Since its implementation in October, DFW has seen a steady decline in desirable turns, ODANs, two-day pairings, and an increase in sit/connect times and three-day trips. ODANs for March have decreased dramatically, with the company implementing a maximum 12-hour duty period instead of the current contractual 14-hour maximum.

The allocations department was concerned that 14-hour duty periods for ODANs would not allow Flight Attendants to bid ODANs back-to-back in PBS once the new FAR rest requirements are officially implemented. We disagreed with the company’s position; further discussions will be held to determine ODAN programming parameters. PBS will be programmed not to award sequences requiring a Covid-19 vaccination to unvaccinated Flight Attendants starting in March. With the change in PBS, the company lifted the base-centric staffing constraint on specific destinations that required crew vaccinations. Unfortunately, we lost our highly desirable YYZ and YVR turns, along with our YYC two-day. We expressed our disappointment in losing these popular and productive pairings. There are two schedule changes in March.

The schedule change is minor at the beginning of the month and primarily affects domestic and NIPD flying. At the end of the month, the schedule change starts the IATA summer schedule and will affect IPD flying. Daylight savings time weekend may cause some layover variations due to the time change.

DFW was allocated 340,566 hours for March, an increase of 2,640 hours from February. AUS satellite base was given 1,489 hours, an increase of 42 hours. STL satellite base was assigned 4,392 hours, an increase of 13 hours from February. American is flying 87.9% of its block hours compared to March 2019.

3FA and 4FA Sequence Duration

• 1-Day: 23.5%
• 2-Day: 26.8%
• 3-Day: 43.0%
• 4-Day: 6.8%

3FA and 4FA Overnight Rest Distribution

• Overnight Rest 10-10:30 hrs: 0.0%
  • FEB 2022: 1.8%
• Overnight Rest 10:30-11hrs: 0.4%
  • FEB 2022: 9.5%
• Overnight Rest 11-12 hrs: 5.1%
  • FEB 2022: 16.1%
• Overnight Rest 12-14 hrs: 34.3%
  • FEB 2022: 17.5%
• Overnight Rest 14-16 hrs: 24.3%
  • FEB 2022: 19.3%
• Overnight Rest 16-24 hrs: 28.7%
  • FEB 2022: 30.4%
• Overnight Rest 24-34 hrs: 7.2%
  • FEB 2022: 5.3%
• Overnight Rest Greater than 34 hrs: 0.1%
  • FEB 2022: 0.1%

3FA & 4FA Productivity

• Credit Hours per Calendar Day: 5:22 hrs
• Schedule Block Hours per Calendar Day: 4:53 hrs
• Credit Hours per Duty Period: 5.42 hrs

3FA & 4FA Sit-Time

• 2 Hours: 13.3%
• 2.5 Hours: 8.3%
• 3 Hours: 2.6%

3FA & 4FA Leg Distribution

• 1-Leg: 27.6%
• 2-Leg: 49.2%
• 3-Leg: 22.7%
• 4-Leg: 0.5%

3FA & 4FA Duty Distribution

Duty length is calculated including sign-in and release time.

• 3 to 4 hours of duty: 7.9%
• 4 to 5 hours of duty: 12.1%
• 5 to 6 hours of duty: 5.5%
• 6 to 7 hours of duty: 2.8%
• 7 to 8 hours of duty: 8.4%
• 8 to 9 hours of duty: 15.3%
• 9 to 10 hours of duty: 13.0%
• 10 to 11 hours of duty: 15.8%
• 11 to 12 hours of duty: 15.4%
• Greater than 12 hours: 2.2%

3FA & 4FA Block Distribution

• 3 hours or less: 14.7%
• 3 to 4 hours: 12.5%
• 4 to 5 hours: 13.3%
• 5 to 6 hours: 19.5%
• 6 to 7 hours: 19.1%
• 7 to 8 hours: 15.0%
• 8 to 9 hours: 5.4%
• Nine hours or greater: 0.5%

DFW Combined Operation Percentage of Sequences

All equipment all positions.

• 1-Day: 21.0%
• 2-Day: 21.9%
• 3-Day: 48.6%
• 4-Day: 7.3%
• 5-Day: 1.0%
• 6-Day: 0.3%

Designated email for Allocations and Manning questions and concerns:

[email protected]

Be careful and fly safe!

In Solidarity,

Amber De Roxtra
APFA DFW Base President
(682) 422-7179
[email protected]

Amy Knox Green
APFA DFW Base Vice President
(972) 696-9766