12.04.22 – APFA PHX Base Brief – January 2023 Staffing and Allocations

Sunday, December 4, 2022

ACTION ITEM:
Send a letter to Kipp Stoneman, Managing Director of Crew Workforce & Schedule Planning; Chip Mayer, Director of Crew Schedule Planning; and Anne Moroni, Vice President of Operations Planning and Performance, and tell them we are sick and tired of being ignored!

CLICK HERE to send the letter below to Kipp Stoneman, Managing Director of Crew Workforce & Schedule Planning; Chip Mayer, Director of Crew Schedule Planning; and Anne Moroni, Vice President of Operations Planning and Performance

Reserve numbers are out for January, and it is clear that the company is intent on punishing Flight Attendants for management’s inability to properly staff and run the airline. When management shared with APFA a preview of the January staffing plan, we provided data demonstrating the reserve numbers are unnecessarily high.

As has been the case every month for the last year and a half, management was uninterested in considering any of our constructive criticism or ideas and chose not to engage in a respectful discussion. The Managing Director of Crew Workforce & Schedule Planning called Flight Attendant concerns “nonsensical” and threatened to add 300 reserves to the plan as an implicit punishment for APFA having the audacity to raise concerns.

Until recently, management has blamed the high reserve numbers on you for calling in sick. Now that absenteeism is demonstrably lower, they have chosen to find something or someone else to blame and have conjured other reasons for the numbers.

Today, they point to operational issues and have taken aim at our contractual work rules. They blame an inability to reschedule Lineholders at management’s whim as a justification for the high reserve numbers.

What does that mean for you? The network schedule the company has put together, coupled with poor sequence construction, has conspired to make it less and less likely the trips for which you bid will operate as scheduled.

Many of you are being forced to minimums of 70 or 78 hours in your PBS awards. More time crammed into your schedules has eaten away at the flexibility provided in the JCBA.

Lastly, improved Holiday Pay has changed bidding behavior. Flight Attendants are bidding to work the holidays, but management is not giving us credit for our contribution to the operation. When formulating the staffing plan for January, they only accounted for a fraction of the positive impact we made in November.

APFA’s position is consistent: Flight Attendants want lower reserve numbers, humane trip construction, and the flexibility that our scheduling tools afforded us pre-pandemic.

This is a call to action! It’s time to send the message below to Kipp Stoneman, Managing Director of Crew Workforce & Schedule Planning; Chip Mayer, Director of Crew Schedule Planning; and Anne Moroni, Vice President of Operations Planning and Performance. It’s time to let them know we are sick and tired of being ignored.

Management needs to hear directly from you.

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CLICK HERE TO SEND THE FOLLOWING LETTER:

Ms. Moroni, Mr. Mayer, and Mr. Stoneman,

Reserve numbers are out for January, and your intent to punish Flight Attendants for management’s inability to properly staff and run the airline is evident. When APFA Leadership received this information, you were provided with data that demonstrated that reserve numbers were unnecessarily high.

Instead of engaging with the Union in a respectful discussion of our objections, the Managing Director of Crew Workforce & Schedule Planning called our concerns “nonsensical” and threatened to add 300 reserves to the plan as an implicit punishment for APFA having the audacity to raise concerns. 

Up until recently, you have blamed Flight Attendants calling in sick for the high reserve numbers. Now that absenteeism is demonstrably lower, you have changed your claims. Now, you point to operational issues and are blaming our contractually negotiated work rules. 

But that’s not all. The continued subpar sequence construction, coupled with the cramming of 70-78 hours on bid awards has removed much of our pre-pandemic flexibility, and creates an overabundance of broken sequences that must be rebuilt and recrewed.

Your actions continue to take away flexibility and force high-time flying onto schedules, which makes it impossible to adjust sequences in TTS. Your answer is higher reserve numbers, and you continue to ignore suggestions and input from our Union Leadership. 

We are sick and tired of being ignored. Stop turning your backs on constructive dialogue with our Union and improve the work/life balance for your Flight Attendants.

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The following link was created for all our membership to copy and text/email to their FA friends so that we can inundate Planning Management with our emails. Let them know that the high reserve numbers are unacceptable, and we are tired of being blamed for their inability to properly staff and operate this airline.

https://mailchi.mp/apfa.org/action-item-send-a-letter-to-crew-workforce-and-schedule-planning

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January 2023 Staffing and Allocations

On Saturday, December 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. We were advised that PHX has 1175 total headcount for January, with 1085 active… 771 line holders and 314 reserves (29%).  PHX has the highest percentage of reserves, with LAX closely behind at 28%, CLT at 27.2% and DFW at 27%. This is not acceptable. These high reserve numbers force our Line holders into higher-than-normal line averages; in PHX the average will be 80.5. This clearly hinders our flexibility.

As for allocations our flight hours will see a decrease, as they did at all bases, with the January pull down of flying beginning January 10th. In December, we had 60,665 flight hours and in January we will have 58,950; a decrease of 1,715 flight hours. We will see a decrease in 1 days by 2%, 2 days will increase by 4% of our flying, with a decrease in 3 days of 2% and our 4-day sequences will remain at 4% with the majority commutable. ODANs will increase from 8.1 starts to 12.9 starts per day, with predominantly RNO, SMF, SLC, SAN, BFL and FAT ODANs.

The quality of the sequences  will continue to remain the same, with sit times held at the maximum of 3.15 in DFW, MIA, CLT and PHX in conjunction with a plane change or return from destinations that require clearing customs.

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Upcoming Critical Period
Please Note They Are Different Than Holidays

The upcoming critical periods include any operational assignment (flight assignment, Reserve day, or duty day) on dates during the following periods:

• December 22 through January 3.

The Flight Attendant Attendance & Performance Program will provide you with answers to any further questions. Please contact your Attendance Flight Service Manager (AFSM) with questions regarding your incentive point.

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Incentive Credit
Reward Bank

Flight Attendants that work all operational assignments (sequences, airport standby assignments, Reserve Availability Periods (“RAPs”), and special assignments) and have no absences or removals (e.g., Sick, FMLA, Jury Duty, Military, Personal, Bereavement, etc.), including pre-planned absences and removals, on days during a critical period accrue one (1) incentive credit that will reduce a future point-generating dependability event. Employees may earn up to three (3) incentive credits per year. Incentive credits are unlimited and do not expire.

*See page 8 of the Flight Attendant Attendance & Performance Program

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APFA PHX Phone Number
800-595-1471

• Ext. 1 – APFA Headquarters (DFW)
• Ext. 2 – PHX Base President Robin Agee
• Ext. 3 – PHX Base Vice President Secorra Flowers
• Ext. 4 – Mandatory Meeting Representation
• Ext. 5 – Medical and Injury on Duty
• Ext. 6 – Reserves
• Ext. 0 – General Questions

Save the image below, for when you do not have access to the internet:

Please reach out to us with any questions or concerns.

In Solidarity,

Robin Agee
APFA PHX Base President
480-238-2303
[email protected]

Secorra Flowers
APFA PHX Base Vice President
602-551-8116
[email protected]