9.05.23 – APFA CLT Base Brief – October 2023 Staffing and Allocations

October 2023 CLT Staffing and Allocations

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Good day,

We had our monthly call with the company to review the trips for October. There were not a lot of surprises as Charlotte will continue to operate a robust schedule for the foreseeable future. We will be seeing the end of some IPD with Rome ending on Oct 3rd and the last Dublin run on Oct 27th. Even with the loss of some IPD flying, we are maintaining 161,000 flight hours. There are more trips on the schedule than there were in Sept. (Keep in mind, one IPD flight is worth about 5,000 hours – daily flight, larger crew).

It is no surprise that the company is keeping huge amounts of reserves in Charlotte, and October will see 26% reserves including the 43 new hires joining our ranks. The LRD will not show the new hires and will reflect 24.2%. The company has explained that the formula they use has reduced the reserve numbers system wide, except Charlotte. They cite that we are using our reserves despite the fact that they have created a system that is doomed to fail with almost 40% of our trips daily are systems trips created as a result of the fragile schedule they have imposed.

When we look at the UBL, we do not see incentive being used nor is red flag offered consistently to offset the problems. They just keep upping the number of reserves to cover the sinking numbers they keep seeing. We continue to see an inflated amount of trips on the 1st day of the month with 736 trips originating on this one day. The rest of the month ranges between 300 to 400 trips. This means they will have to staff more reserves just for a few days and put in more coverage needed days into PBS. We have asked for this to be addressed in the form of smoothing out the end of one month into the next, but it has fallen on deaf ears.

The only difference in October is the holiday on the 31st will see a drastic pull down in trips with just 154. Keep this in mind for November, if the 31st is pulled down, the 1st of November will be inflated also. This problem has been in place all year and will continue to drive up our reserve numbers for the remainder of the year. The reserve cut off will be March 25th, 2013. With the current staffing model being used, we can expect reserve numbers to be 28 to 30% in December and January. Those seniorities that rotated this summer can expect to rotate during the holidays also. You should bid accordingly if trying to protect one of these months as a lineholder.

• There will be 2,940 available flight attendants for October.
• 2,228 will be lineholders.
• 712 (+43 new hires) slated for reserve
• The line average will be set at 81.3.

The reserve numbers directly affect the line average. We have asked for fewer reserves and more lineholders to bring down the line average, but the reserve numbers are set first and this trips the whole house of cards. More lineholders are held to higher lines and assigned more trips in PBS. This cuts the flexibility of lineholders and triggers more coverage needed days and flight attendants being assigned trips they don’t want. This makes the productivity numbers go south for the company and they put more reserves on the schedule for the next month. It’s a repeating cycle. Cause and effect. While we are happy to see more new hires joining our ranks, our staffing model is far short of where we need to be to have a balance that supports high reserve numbers and lower line averages. We do not meet the transfer needs and have seen an exodus of those who want to transfer out as opposed to those who want to transfer in.

The trips break down as;

• 1 days will make up 23% of our trips.
• 2 days will make up 30% of our trips.
• 2/3 days will make up 8% of our trips.
• 3 days will make up 21% of our trips.
• 3/4 days will make up 2% of our trips.
• 4 days will make up 3.5% of our trips.

The distribution of trips remains about the same as we have seen all summer and reflects a good balance of what we need. The 1 days are becoming a challenge as the schedule changes for the fall have reduced the island and leisure destinations. The computer wants to make 1 days, so it has created more 4 leg one days. 40% of our one days are now 4 leggers. We have been cautious not to ask for a reduction in one days, but if the one days are all 4 leggers, the desire for these trips reduces. One of the problems is the sit time/connection time remains a problem with many of the 4 leggers having long sits in the middle. This means longer duty days and high fatigue trips. The seniority of those who are bidding and holding these continues to drop, a sure sign that these are becoming a problem to cover. Our suggestion is to cut the connections and keep the crew with the airplane. The resistance comes with the productivity model they adopted during Covid and a resistance to allow for soft time to be built into trips. The budget constraints put in place during Covid are still in effect.

The 2 and 3 days have more legs built into them with an average of 3 legs a day. The duty days are longer, and this makes for a fragile system. They need to cover more flying with stagnant numbers on the headcount. More with less, adopted during Covid and the source of many of our problems today.

The 4 days were more commutable with only 12% of the total 4 days having an issue with commutability. We asked for a concentration on the front end of the 4 days, but there is resistance to try any large moves while we have such a heavy schedule. No relief any time soon, just tweaks of improvements that can crash from month to month without a serious commitment to programming changes.

18% of our overall trips have more than a 2+30 hour sit built in. This is about as good as they can get under the current programming as keeping crews together and following the airplanes has maxed out. Until they tighten the connection times and change the model, this will be a problem that can only be addressed with better duty rigs under a new contract.

ODANs remain strong at 8% of the trips. The red eyes have the same changes we asked for in Sept and are coming in at 3% of the trips. We still saw some 2 leg return red eyes and fully expect to see them in open time as they have become the least desirable trips. And yet they continue to be built.

The pink eyes and the bullets (All night turns) are still coming in at less than 1% of the trips. We are starting to see more of these as the problem red eyes are being converted to pink eyes and bullets.

October 2023 Bidding Timeline

As we take deeper dives each month into each type of trips, we see the good and the bad on many levels. We look for solutions and try and present our ideas for improvements. The feed back we get from you is crucial in understanding what you want in the trips. The company used to work with us when they could to try our ideas where they could and many times, we saw positive results. This past year has been a challenge and our requests have fallen on deaf ears. This is the game plan that was put in place when we were in financial crises, and they have yet to abandon this model. The goal was to return to profitability and the airline has achieved that goal. It is time for the company to recognize our part in restoring AA to financial profitability. The current programming used to create the system is not employee friendly and we fear the only improvements we will see will be done at the negotiations table. We showed our resolve last week with our strong numbers in the strike authorization voter turn out and results, we are ready for improvements to take us into the new reality that we experience every day. I encourage everyone to follow the hot lines, wear your pins and lanyards and support the union as we fight for a better contract. If we settle for stagnation and keep the same construction constraints, we can expect little change in how our trips are constructed. Remember, you are the union, take an active role in your union, stay informed and get involved. Join the contract action team and help us win a better quality of life for everyone.

Take care of yourselves and each other.

The Charlotte APFA Team

In Solidarity,

Scott Hazlewood
APFA CLT Base President
[email protected]