9.07.22 – APFA DCA Base Brief – October 2022 Staffing and Allocations

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

October 2022 Staffing and Allocations

When PBS processing begins, if additional Lineholders are needed, those with Reserve status will be changed to Lineholder status in the following order:

1. Tentative Flight Attendants who were involuntarily moved to Reserve status.
2. Reserve Flight Attendants who toggled to Pref LH in the LRD who were unable to hold Lineholder status in LRD.
3. Most junior Reserve Flight Attendants involuntarily moved to Lineholder status after all the above have been utilized.

***Important***
If you are in one of these 3 categories above, you will want to bid
7 layers of Reserve and 7 layers of Lineholder in PBS

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• DCA: 34,855 flying hours (+1516 month over month)
• IAD: 2526 (+48)
• BWI: 2503 (+69)
• 39,884 Total Flying Hours (DCA, IAD, BWI)
• October will not be a flex month and the contractual targeted credit range default is 70-90
• We will see a Fall Schedule change on October 6th
• Vacation Buyback was offered for the month of October – All FAs that put a bid for the buyback was awarded; DCA had 14 awarded
• October Holidays: Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day on October 10 and Halloween on October 31
• 75 systemwide Charter flights for October
• Co-pairing with the Pilots through the hub cities continues
• DCA October Reserve seniority begins at system seniority 22,528 OCC date of October 14, 2021
• New hire Class 22-18 and 22-19 will be joining the base September 19 & 26 with a total of 33, Class 22-18 will be able to bid in the October PBS process and Class 22-19 will be assigned pre-constructed Reserve lines due to timing of their graduation.
• LRD will not include these 33 new hires, but they are accounted for in the Reserve numbers above

Allocations notes for October:

• Increase in block hours for October of 1623 hours for the combined co terminal flying
• 747 total sequences for DCA, IAD, BWI
• ODAN sequences down from September: CHS, PVD, RDU only operate 26 days
• 5 LAX high time turns operating 8 days and 1 high time PHX turn operating only 1 day
• 3 PHX ‘Pink Eye’ sequences operating 31 days
• 52 737 MAX trips
• Charter/Honor sequences 4 day-2576, 3 day-12683, 3 day-12734
• Canada RONs out of DCA: YHC, YYC, YYZ
• NIPD RONs: BGI, BJX, CUN, GDL, GEO, GUA, KIN, MTY, POS, QRO, SLP, STX, SDQ
• 12 Speaker sequences -NIPD sequences out of DCA. Bid accordingly if you hold a Spanish speaking language qualification and want to be considered for these trips
• Sit times between flights have started to decrease

Scheduled duty day:

• <8 hours 46.7%
• 10-12 ours 27.6%
• 10-12 hours 23.5%
• >12 hours 2.2%

Scheduled Layover times:

• <12 hours 3.6%
• 12-18 hours 68.1%
• 18-24 hours 18.2%
• >24 hours 10.1%

October 2022 Bidding Timelines

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DCA RAP Start Times:

• RAP A: 0200-1400
• RAP B: 0500-1700
• RAP C: 0900-2100
• RAP D: 1400-0200

Final Notes for the DCA Base:The September PBS bid was one of the worst we have seen in many months. Our minimum constraints of 70 and 78 hours started at system seniority 1 and 1007. All Flight Attendants in DCA were held to a minimum of 70/78 hours with a maximum of 90 hours to complete the PBS bid run and not have a high percentage of open time left over.

In past allocation briefs, we have discussed our Flight Attendants bidding habits and the effect it plays on the PBS results. September was not any different. The PBS Admin had to run the PBS bid award process more times than usual to find a solution that would bring the open time to the contractual 3% limits coming out of PBS.

Many Flight Attendants were unsatisfied with their results and filed misawards and challenge questions to the Company Admin. Besides the bidding habits being one issue, we have suggested a broader number of Lineholder to be placed in PBS to accomplish the goal of allowing Flight Attendants to bid and be awarded the hours that work for them in any given month. Instead, we are seeing Flight Attendants being forced to more time with little to none in flexibility post-PBS.

Management has stated that Flight Attendants are hired as full-time employees. They fail to recognize that we have a system and past practice to allow for flexibility and that our jobs are not the regular 9 am to 5 pm (Monday through Friday) schedule many of them hold. We are often held out for various reasons and don’t get home for days outside our sequence’s footprint. Our scheduled return to base time is often extended by many hours due to reschedules or actual operations. We accept this as part of our job structure but DO NOT accept the constraints and lack of flexibility that has been imposed upon us.

Your APFA DCA Base Leadership is continuing the conversations on how to improve our PBS and scheduling tools. We have had meetings with the APFA Contract & Scheduling Departments and local base management. Scheduled later in the month are meetings with Crew Scheduling Management. We have a new regional director. When possible, we will set up a date and time to discuss the issues in DCA.

Any documentation of flexibility issues is appreciated, and examples are needed. Please email your APFA DCA Base Representatives. Also, please let the Company know that you are not satisfied with the lack of flexibility and the bidding constraints in PBS by emailing them or bringing the issues to your Flight Service Manager (FSM).
PBS Refresher Training Class

On Friday, October 14th, from 11am until 4pm, APFA DCA will offer a PBS refresher training class. The PBS refresher will be held in the HUB Gathering Room in Concourse C (formally center pier).

With the holidays fast approaching and the bidding logic slightly different in the holiday months, we will offer this class to you, as we did last year.

Our trainers will review the fundamentals of PBS and more comprehensive bidding rules and Target Credit Range (TCR) strategies. This training can benefit our new hires who will soon be rotating as Lineholders and give a refresher to others. All are welcome to attend!

The training class will also be offered virtually. If you cannot attend in person, you can join via Microsoft® Teams.

Please keep this date open if you are interested in this class. Look for more information to follow in the coming weeks!

YOUR base leadership will not stop advocating for you!

In Solidarity,

John Pennel
APFA DCA Base President
[email protected]

Dianne Britton
APFA DCA Base Vice President
[email protected]

Lisa Barnes
APFA DCA Base Council Representative – Allocations
[email protected]