6.06.21 – APFA PHX Base Brief – July 2021 Allocations
Sunday, June 6, 2021
July 2021 Allocations
On Thursday, June 3rd, we participated in our monthly staffing and allocations call with Planning. In attendance for Phoenix were members of the PHX scheduling committee Robin Agee, Secorra Flowers, and Scott Barnes.
The first conference call/meeting was the staffing call. In this call, we discussed the available headcount, number/percentage of Reserves deemed necessary, and the possibility of unpaid Voluntary Leaves of Absence (VLOAs). PHX was allowed to speak after five other bases voiced their concerns. CLT is the only base that has a higher number of Reserves than PHX. When PHX was called to speak, Scott Barnes questioned the high number of Reserves and asked for an explanation.
228 Reserves (26.7%) is too high, and in our opinion, the Company is using PHX to recover the operation each time there is weather in DFW. However, the Company once again reiterated that historical data was used to determine the percentage of Reserves. We continue to remind the Company that historical data does not apply to PHX as over 1/3 of our base was displaced. We will continue to reinforce our strong belief that the Company erred when they displaced 468 PHX Base Flight Attendants whenever we are given the opportunity.
The second call later that day was the allocations call. In this call, we discussed the sequence construction, type of trips (i.e. number of 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-day sequences, ODANs, Red Eyes, etc.), any contractual violations, the length of duty day, and overnights. Secorra Flowers, PHX Base Vice President, spoke for PHX reporting our concerns and requests.
While we had an increase of approximately 55 hours to our flying in PHX for July, we had some of our historical flying moved to other bases to cover their lack of IPD sequences. As a result, we lost 4% of our turns, 4% of our 2-days, 3-days increased by 6%, and the 4-days increased by 1%.
Once again, the construction of Mexico and Speaker-designated sequences was discussed for the third straight month. Secorra pointed out the benefit of pure speaker sequences, not wasting them on 32-hour overnights in domestic destinations, and by breaking off the MEX turns and GDL turns, the Company adds more desirable 1-day pairings with at least six (6) credit hours or more.
As we have not seen the other bases sequences, we are currently unaware of how much of our historical flying was moved to other bases. However, we do know that the JFK and PHL turns have been built into pairings for those bases, and hopefully, once the IPD flying increases, we will see those return to PHX.
While we did request more ODANS, we did see a decrease from 3.5 to 2.6 for July. Secorra did ask the Company to see if they could build TUS ODANs instead of the 32-hour overnights we see in some of our 4-day sequences.
We are still hearing from several Flight Attendants that they are still having a problem getting their AA email on their tablet. For this reason, and because we have some Flight Attendants returning from leaves and others may have missed this Tablet Tip, we are including it again in this month’s base brief.
Tablet Tips
by Michelle Wentworth, PHX Base Council Representative
The Company sent out an email on April 12 stating that they were enhancing mobile device security. It should have been said that they were sunsetting the orange email icon on the FA tablet and requiring you to set up your AA email account in the Outlook icon.
Failure to do this may have disabled your email access due to security concerns. To fix the issue, you can call IT at 480-693-6029 or Stratix at 800-343-0343 for support. You may also fix it yourself, but make sure you are not in airplane mode. Click on the orange icon on your tablet > hit the menu > then settings wheel > then email address and delete your email account from this space. Then, you may need to turn your tablet off and then on, and/or be in WIFI and not just on the network. Next, go to the outlook icon and add your email by typing in your AA email address and Jetnet password.
FYI, within the outlook email, swiping left automatically moves email to archive. You will need to change email default settings to trash. To do that, within outlook, hit the icon to the left of “inbox”>the settings wheel (on bottom left)> swipe options > then change next to swipe left > delete. Then the swipe left will delete the email instead of going to archive.
Remaining July Bidding Timelines
Check Your Dashboard
We are still receiving quite a few reports from Flight Attendants that they have late reports on their lines that are in error. Please remember, whenever you are on reserve, check your dashboard and your HI1 for any Late Report (LR) designation. When you are assigned a sequence with less than two (2) hours to schedule report, but within two (2) hours of departure, the computer system will automatically assign a LR to your line if you check in after the scheduled report time of the sequence.
Crew Scheduling should be sending a communication to your FSM and have them remove the LR. However, as we know, errors can happen. If you notice you have a LR and you reported to your sequence within the 2-hour report window, email your FSM and ask them to remove the late report. This is your line, and you are responsible for ensuring that your pay, hours and any irregularities are addressed in a timely manner.
Secorra suggests that you check your HI10M for any anomalies and discuss any irregularities with your FSM. The time to resolve these issues is not when you are given a disciplinary action
Contract & Scheduling Classes
Your PHX leadership attended an online Contract & Scheduling class with Marti McMillan, National Scheduling Chair, Jeff Petersen, National Contract Chair, Renee Mayer, JCBA Specialist, and Josh Black, National Secretary, on Thursday May 20th. Several of our PHX Base Council Representatives, as well as Secorra and myself, attended this class.
The class was informative, interactive and very helpful. We, along with both National Chairs, are excited to be able to offer these classes to our membership in the near future. As soon as we know the dates, we will send a communication to the membership.
PHX Base Meeting
We have been working with Josh Black, APFA National Secretary, discussing the possibility of having a virtual base meeting for PHX. We are pleased to announce that we believe a townhall style online base meeting will be possible. We were hoping for a June date, but due to heavy commitments in June, we are now looking at a July meeting date.
We will inform the membership once a date is secured. Once we can all meet safely face to face, we will find a venue to accommodate an in person base meeting. We are estimating this to happen in October.
Senior Bump Notice of Dispute (NOD)
The NOD filed for the 13 most senior Flight Attendants that were not allowed to senior bump out of Reserve in March of 2021, was denied at the local level. This was anticipated as Labor Management sees this as a topic that should be argued at the Regional Level. Robyn Walters, APFA PHX Regional Representative, has met preliminarily with Labor Management and will be meeting with them again this Friday to try and resolve the grievance. If a resolution cannot be met, the grievance could advance to a quarterly system board of review as early as August.
Minimum Crew
If you are part of the working crew and you step off the airplane at any time while passengers are on the aircraft, including deadheading crew members and FSMs on QARs, for anything other than safety related duties, that is a violation of minimum crew. If this occurs, please fill out an ASAP within 24 hours of the incident. Should you be unsure if the reason you stepped off was considered “safety related” fill out an ASAP. If you have any questions, please call us at 800-595-1471 Ext 0.
“Well for Work” for June
As a reminder, all active Flight Attendants are required to a complete and Well for Work in Comply365 or at aa.comply365.net by the end of each month.
It is a short declaration acknowledging that you are aware of the symptoms of COVID-19 and you agree to do an individual health evaluation before reporting to work each day to determine if you are displaying any new, unusual, or worsening symptoms of COVID-19.
If you are on leave, you are not required to submit a Well for Work self-declaration until you are back to active status. You do have to complete Well for Work if you are attending CQ.
Employee Parking Relocation and Update
On Wednesday, June 2nd, we were advised through a mobileCCI message that the City of PHX Parking Office will be relocating all employees to their pre-pandemic parking location. If you had rooftop parking prior to the temporary T4 Garage parking, you will remain in Terminal 4. Those that were at Terminal 2 or 44th Street will return to those locations.
***UPDATE*** The City of Phoenix has completed their audit of the rooftop parking program. PHX Flight Service has been awarded a limited number of additional rooftop parking spaces. Please review the important details below:
To apply for rooftop parking privileges:
- Submit a NEW Parking Agreement Form to [email protected]. Subject line: Terminal 4 Rooftop Application. Forms must be signed and completed in its entirety.
- If you applied previously and were on a ‘waitlist’ you MUST REAPPLY.
- Forms must be received by PHX Flight Service by 0800 on Thursday, June 17, 2021
- Forms received after the deadline will be placed on the waitlist
- Notification of the award will be made on Thursday, June 24, 2021
Marie Kiszczak, Flight Service Coordinator, is in charge of our parking program for PHX Flight Service. She is the liaison with the City of Phoenix and is there to help you. She is not in control of the parking program it is under the administration of the City of PHX. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact the parking office at 602-683-3615 or send an email to [email protected].
APFA PHX Phone Number
800-595-1471
- Ext. 1 – National Office and Contract & Scheduling Desk
- 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
PHX Base Council Representatives (BCRs)
- Scott Barnes – [email protected]
- George Bertges – [email protected]
- Johnnea Bigcraft – [email protected]
- Beth Flannery – [email protected]
- Del Frohlich – [email protected]
- Ralph Huerta – [email protected]
- Gene Labat – [email protected]
- Robin Rakiec-Jones – [email protected]
- Nicole Sartain – [email protected]
- Randi Scanlon – [email protected]
- Michelle Wentworth – [email protected]
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have 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]