6.18.22 – APFA DFW Base Brief – Seoul, Korea (ICN) Speaker Staffing Change

Saturday, June 18, 2022

Seoul, Korea (ICN) Speaker Staffing Change

You may have noticed the Company changed the Speaker complement for the roundtrip DFW-ICN-DFW (281/280) for the July bid month. Currently, this trip is staffed with three (3) Korean Speakers. Starting July 2nd, the flight will be staffed with two (2) Korean (KO) Speakers and one (1) Chinese Mandarin (CM) Speaker. The Company did not advise APFA of the change and we found out the same way all of you did: by reading the bidsheet.

Since this flight only operates to and from Seoul, there is no need for a CM Speaker. This flight should continue to be staffed with up to three (3) KO Speakers. However, the Company insists there are FOS programming limitations that require the change. This is being done in violation of JCBA Section 15.A.4.

Let’s break down the “what”, the “why”, and the “how”:

• Currently, DFW-ICN-DFW (281/280) is scheduled to operate on the 787. Starting July 5th, this flight routing will operate on the 777.
• Currently, DFW-ICN-PVG-ICN-DFW (127/128) operates on the 777 and will continue to do so.
• Because (starting July 5th) both flights will operate on the same aircraft type (777), FOS is constrained to aligning the same Speaker complement for both sequences once PBS is final and Flight Attendant schedules are loaded.
• While PBS awarded 281/280 with two (2) KO Speakers and one (1) CM Speaker, and 127/128 with one (1) KO Speaker and two (2) CM Speakers, both trips will go into FOS programmed for one (1) KO Speaker and one (1) CM Speaker from July 5th onward.

What does that mean for me if I held the trips as a Speaker for July in PBS?

• If you held one of these Speaker positions in PBS, the trip and the position are yours.

What does this mean for the other scheduling systems (TTS/UBL/ETB/ROTA)?

• Trading, dropping, picking up or being awarded/assigned an ICN trip will be per the FOS Speaker requirement: one (1) KO Speaker and one (1) CM Speaker.

The bottom line is the Company should have shared this information with APFA as soon as they knew this programming limitation would impact ICN flying. Had we been notified earlier on in the process, we could have proposed solutions that would have avoided this contract violation. Management has acknowledged their error in not involving APFA sooner.

We have been in discussions with the Company over the last few days seeking a remedy for Flight Attendants harmed by this violation of Section 15 of the JCBA. We would like this to be handled through the PBS misaward process. If we are not able to come to an agreement with the Company, we will pursue a remedy through the grievance process.

Additionally, we have discussed potential changes to these sequences for August that would mitigate the need to have both flights aligned on the Speaker complement in FOS. We will communicate any new information once we have more to share.

Please also see the Company’s communication regarding this Speaker staffing change:

Going forward, if you have an issue in any of the scheduling systems related to the Speaker complement, we want to know about it. Please submit a Scheduling System Issues Report Form via the form on APFA.org.

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
[email protected]