11.04.22 – APFA ORD Base Brief – December 2022 Staffing and Allocations

Friday, November 4, 2022

December 2022 Staffing and Allocations

Happy November, Chicago! It is already time to bid for December. We want to start by welcoming any of our SFO colleagues who will transfer to Chicago following their base closure. Although we wish it were under different circumstances, we welcome you to the ORD family. We also want to welcome our new hire Flight Attendants.

A Systemwide Informational Picketing will take place on November 15th from 11am until 1pm. In ORD, we will be at the upper-level elbow between Terminal 2 and 3. In the coming weeks and months, the APFA Negotiating Committee will be passing proposals regarding scheduling, reserve, economics and more. Membership involvement is more important now than ever! Flight Attendants need to show the Company we are unified and fighting together for contractual improvements. We hope to see as many of you as possible in uniform! Bring your friends and colleagues. The more the merrier!

The December staffing and allocations call was held on Thursday. Here are some highlights:

• The Seattle – London remains in Chicago for the month of December.
• There are a handful of widebody domestic trips on the bid sheet – both turns and multiday.
• 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 up for December – we continue to look for a middle ground with ODANs.
• The month will be heavier with flying the second half of December – after December 15th.

Staffing

The systemwide reserve percentage is 24.2%. Chicago is slightly lower at 23.3%. With the addition of the holiday incentive days, we had hoped this number would be significantly lower. The Company continues to choke off flexibility for line holders with higher than necessary reserve numbers. National and base APFA continue to push back on inflated reserve numbers.

The Company continues to cite a variety of factors with regards to the reserve percentages, specifically absenteeism.

The expected line average at PBS open is 80.2 hours. The systemwide average is 81.0 hours. This average is in line with the average for November. 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. To try and respond in a more timely 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   

December is a holiday month. This means Christmas week is considered “critical” with regards to attendance. This period is December 22nd through January 3rd. If you have an absence during this period, it can result in an additional attendance point. If you work all operational assignments during this period, you will receive an incentive point which can be used towards future absences. Reach out to your AFSM or review the Flight Attendant Attendance & Performance Program 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 a deadheader 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: 32% in December vs 29% in November

2-day: 26% in December vs 27% in November

3-day: 36% in December vs 38% in November

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

ODAN starts per day: 9.6 in December vs 6.0 In November

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]