10.04.22 – APFA ORD Base Brief – November 2022 Staffing and Allocations

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

November 2022 Staffing and Allocations

Hello Chicago! This year has flown by, it is almost 2023. The holiday travel will soon be here. We want to start by welcoming any of our SFO colleagues who will transfer to Chicago following the devastating news of their base being suddenly closing. You are welcomed to the ORD family; we wish it was under different circumstances.

Chicago has started to see more new hires sent directly to base than we have seen over the last several months. Welcome to ORD! We hope this trend continues.

The November staffing and allocations call was held on Monday. Here are some highlights:

• The Seattle – London trip is back on the bid sheet for most of the month.
• There are a handful of widebody domestic trips on the bid sheet – both turns and multi-day.
• The sit times exceeding 3+ hours continue to drop. Every base continues to appreciate the reduction of extended sit times.
• ODAN starts per day are down from October.
• There is a slight uptick in both turns and 4+day sequences (driven by the SEA-LHR trip). We will be sure to monitor how this is impacting flying and reserve utilization.

Staffing

The systemwide reserve percentage is 17.9%. Chicago is slightly lower at 17.1%. The Company continues to cite a variety of factors with regards to the reserve percentages. The new hires that are coming to base will help alleviate the seniority that is forced onto reserve over the holiday months.

The expected line average at PBS open is 80.8. The systemwide average is 81.1. This average is in line with the average for September. This number is higher than we would like, as the higher average reduces the flexibility to hold lower time in PBS. We continue to push for more line holders to help spread the flying out more equitability.

Hot Topics

AFSM Contact information 

The Attendance Flight Service Manager program continues to evolve. In an effort to try and respond in a more acceptable manner, a new singular email address has been created. In addition to your AFSM, this email will be monitored by Flight Service administrators in Dallas. The new email address for Chicago is: [email protected]

Critical Period  

November is a holiday month, which means Thanksgiving week is deemed “critical” with regards to attendance. This period is the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving through the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Those dates are: November 23rd-November 27th. Reach out to your AFSM or review the attendance and performance policy for more information regarding this critical period.

LHR Deadhead 

There are many trips that have a deadhead either to or from London. London is extremely strict when it comes to deadheaders being treated as passengers. If you are working one of these trips, be sure to review the procedures in your tablet: Comply365 -> Destination Information Folder -> Destination Information -> Destinations -> Europe. You can also reach out to ORD Flight Service if you have any questions about the procedures.

Trip construction:

1-day: 29% in November vs 26% in October

2-day: 27% in November vs 27% in October

3-day: 38% in November vs 43% in October

4-day: 6% in November vs 4% in October 

PBS Preliminary Manning Plan

Please be kind to one another! Stay safe.

In Solidarity,

Susan Wroble
APFA ORD Base President
(630) 802-2268
[email protected]

Dray Howard
APFA ORD Base Vice President
(630) 215-8410
[email protected]

Justin Patterson
APFA ORD Base Council Representative
(509) 720-0067
[email protected]