10.11.22 – APFA PHX Base Brief – November 2022 Staffing and Allocations

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

November 2022 Allocations and Staffing

On Monday, October 3, 2022, APFA Base representation had the monthly staffing and allocations call with the Company. On this call for PHX were Robin Agee and Secorra Flowers. While PHX did not have the highest percentage of Reserves at 19.2%, we still believe 18.5% would be sufficient for PHX and keep the base from having any bidding constraints. When Robin spoke regarding the projections for PHX, she requested that the Company review the numbers again and bring the percentage down. Unfortunately, due to the slight rise in absenteeism during September, Manpower Planning was not comfortable with reducing the number of reserves as requested. We will continue to see higher sick calls during the transition time from Reserve month to Lineholder month as long as scheduling has to assign sequences to Reserve Flight Attendants that fly into their Lineholder month.

As stated in last month’s base brief, there is no longer a monthly allocations meeting. All discussions on sequences and construction are now to be addressed by email with Planning for review. In November, our hours increased by 1,699. In October, we had  56,645; in November, we will have 58,344. There will be a 1% decrease in 1-days, a 2% decrease in 2-days, a 2% increase in 3-days, and a 1% increase in 4-day trips. ODANs will decrease from 9 starts to 4.1 starts per day, with predominantly RNO and SFO ODANs. The decrease in ODANs results from the schedule change and the time change in November.

As for the quality of the sequences, we noticed a slight increase in the 3+ hour sit times. The longer sit times are primarily limited to DFW/CLT/ORD/MIA and always with a plane change.

With the closure of SFO and the transition of their flying to other bases, we will see some new flying here in PHX. We will also probably notice a change in the type of flying. While we have tried to keep the number of 4-day sequences to a minimum, with the increase in commuters, there may be an increase in multi-day sequences to accommodate as many Flight Attendants as possible. We will watch the percentages in the coming months and continue to request the type of sequences that our membership prefers to bid/fly.

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Welcome Back

We are excited to say “welcome back” to another group of our displaced Flight Attendants. The November headcount will include 42 formerly displaced PHX Flight Attendants. These 42 had a priority of return status since their displacement in February 2021 and have patiently waited to return home to PHX. In December, we will welcome another 24 displaced Flight Attendants and 17 other FAs (primarily from SFO). We will also see a minimum of 50 vacancy transfers into PHX in January 2023.

While this will clear the majority of our priority of return Flight Attendants, there are still 12 Flight Attendants who are out on medical or IOD that cannot be cleared until they return to active status. Several of our displaced PHX Flight Attendants did not file a priority of return form on time, either due to misinformation or not receiving the information. We have not forgotten these Flight Attendants and will continue to work to bring them home. Our goal is to have everyone home before the end of the first quarter of 2023. Ultimately, we would like to see our vacancy list cleared and new hires in PHX before June 2023. As we have stated, until we see new hires in PHX, rotating Reserve will not work smoothly at this base, and we will continue to see higher absenteeism from the 28th of each month until the 5th of the following next month. This is due to Flight Attendants being assigned Reserve sequences into their Lineholder month, disrupting their days off.

We would also like to extend a warm welcome to the SFO-based Flight Attendants that will call PHX home due to their base closure. The announcement of their base closure has been difficult for these Flight Attendants. Many have called SFO home for over 30 years. Please ensure that all of these Flight Attendants are greeted with a smile and open arms! This will not be an easy time for them, and we would like to make this transition as seamless as possible. If you know of any crash pads or have commuter hotel information, please forward it to Robin or Secorra to add to a list we are compiling. We will forward the information to those Flight Attendants calling PHX home beginning January 31, 2023.

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2023 Annual Enrollment

2023 Annual Enrollment runs from October 13th through November 4th. You will have until 11:59pm (CT) on Friday, November 4 to elect your 2023 benefits. A printed guide will not be mailed to your home. Go to myenrollment.aa.com and click on “Enroll” to get started.

2023 Annual Enrollment Cheat Sheet

2023 Annual Enrollment Checklist

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Bid Sheet Information

Since paper copies of the Bid Sheets are no longer printed you may not know about some of the information available on the Flight Service website. The Flight Service Website now has a Bidding & Resource Tab where you can find the Current and Archived Bid Sheets.

The PBS Cover Sheet PDF has a lot of useful information:

• Bidding Timeline
• Support Tab Information
• VIP Crew Phone Tree Prompt Directory
• Contractual Scheduling Charts for Duty Days and Rest Periods
• How to find Standby and RAP information for your base
• Onboard Service Information
• Equipment Bid Position Information by A/C
• Service Highlights
• Changes to the Master Bid Sheet
• Equipment codes
• Monthly Airline Schedule Highlights
• Monthly Sequence Construction Highlights
• Charters

Hotel and Transportation information has been moved to its own document (Master Hotel List):

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Mandatory Equipment Training on the Boeing 777 and 787

Beginning early next year, anyone that is not trained on the 777 or 787 will be drafted into training. If you would like to go on a day of your choice, we strongly suggest you bid for those classes in the next couple of months. The December bid will open on November 1st at Noon (CT), and close on November 6th, at Noon (CT).

To access the ballot, follow this path: Flight Service Website > Training > Under Ballots & Assignments > DEC2022 RBEST Training Ballot

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Late Reports and Your Reserve Month
When you are serving your Reserve month and receive a call to report for a sequence with a 2-hour call out, always check your HI10M and ensure you did not get a late report. Scheduling is not putting these on your line in Crew Portal or on your HI1. The Attendance Flight Service Manager (AFSM) is not putting these on your schedule. The computer is automatically putting it on your schedule and it will need to be removed by your AFSM.

Remember, we no longer get two (2) hours from scheduled sequence report. We get 2 hours from call out and that can be 15 minutes or more after the scheduled report. Even though you reported on time contractually, the computer does not recognize this, and automatically give you a Late Report (LR). The majority of time Crew Scheduling will send a note to the AFSM, and they remove the LR. However, sometimes this does not occur. For this reason, we strongly suggest that you review your HI10M for any LR and request they be removed in a timely manner. The HI10M is found in mobileCCI under Pre-Flight Documents in the Crew section.

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Airport Standby

• As a reminder, per JCBA Section 12.F.17. “A Standby must be available for immediate contact and assignment while on Standby duty but is not required to be in the Standby room.” Flight Attendants do not have 15 minutes to call scheduling back when on an airport standby shift as we do on a RAP. Not answering your phone, or not immediately calling back could lead to a missed trip.
• How is your scheduled duty day limitations determined when assigned a sequence while on standby? JCBA Section 11.E. is the table used to determine the length of day. The report time of the sequence determines your duty day max, not the airport standby report time.

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Calling out Sick

We have seen an increase in absenteeism over the last 3 weeks. While we understand that this is flu season and COVID is still a serious threat to our workgroup, we also know that many of you have met the out-of-pocket maximum and can now have that surgery or procedure that won’t put a serious dent in your pocketbook.

If you know you are going to be missing work and taking a block FMLA or medical leave, please make sure you keep track of the paperwork progress. You are responsible for calling out sick to avoid any Missed Trips (TM) or Late Sicks/Sick on Contact (LC).

We encourage you to contact Crew Scheduling and call out sick for the block of days you know you will not be available. You do not have to call out trip by trip, or day by day. You may call out in advance. If you do not know the ending date of the leave, then do not call out too far in advance, but just keep track of what your schedule states.

Should you receive correspondence from the PHX Attendance Flight Service Manager (Elaine Reynolds) please follow-up to keep her apprised of your circumstances, such as FMLA recoding. The system does not alert her to updates on your status.

The APFA National Health Department is a great resource should you have any questions regarding Medical Leaves.

Here is the link to the APFA Health Department page:
https://www.apfa.org/departments/health-department/

Email Address:
[email protected]

Online Contact Form:
https://www.apfa.org/departments/health-department/health-department-contact-form/ 

Phone Number:
817-540-0108, ext. 1, 3

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Contract Negotiations and the Contract ACTION Team

The Negotiations page offers more transparency to the negotiations process then we have seen in the past. Remember, knowledge is power! This is your source for factual information, and exactly where we are in the negotiation process. Check the page often for updates.

As Activists for the Contract ACTION Team, you will be a direct link between the general membership and our Negotiations Committee. You will be tasked with talking to your flying partners about communication sent out by the Union’s Negotiations Committee, directing Flight Attendants how to sign up for the hotlines, how to access information as well as how to participate in ACTION events such as: email campaigns, base, regional and systemwide events.

As we continue to build our movement, we encourage all PHX Flight Attendants to sign up as Activists.