8.08.24 – APFA DCA Base Brief – September 2024 Staffing and Allocations

September 2024 Staffing and Allocations

Thursday, August 8, 2024

When PBS processing begins, if additional Lineholders are needed, those with Reserve status will be changed to Lineholder status in the following order:

Tentative Flight Attendants whose preference was Lineholder in the LRD process.
Reserve Flight Attendants who toggled to Pref LH in the LRD who were unable to hold Lineholder status in LRD.
Most junior Reserve Flight Attendants involuntarily moved to Lineholder status after all the above have been utilized.

Important: If you are in one of these 3 categories above, you will want to bid 7 layers of Reserve and 7 layers of Lineholder in PBS.

DCA: 39,114 (-774)
IAD: 1,629 (-251)
BWI: 3,418 (+75)

44,161 total flying hours (DCA, IAD, BWI )( – over 950 month over month)(-1151 year over year)

September will not be a flex month.
The contractual targeted credit range default is 70-90 with an opening line average of 77.5 hours.
28 unpaid VLOA’s for September.
DCA Reserve seniority for September begins at system seniority 25,206 with an OCC date of May 18, 2023.
Reserve percentage is down 1% compared to September 2023 with an increase of 14 Lineholders over September 2023.
The overall headcount year over year is up by 32 Flight Attendants.

September Events and Timelines

Labor Day Monday, September 2
Schedule change on September 4
Back to School

Allocations Notes for September:

950 Less Block Hours compared to August 2024
796 sequences
50% decrease in ODAN flying from August 17 sequences (BDL, BOS, PWM, RDU, SYR)
No LAX turns
LAS High Time Turns Operating 15 days
PHX ‘pink Eye’ operating 31 days
PHX 2-day trip 17.10 RON operating 30 days
BWI 1days operating 7 days
18 Charter/Honor sequences: 13167,13220,13232,13237,13246,13254,13258,13260,13269,13276,13284,13285,13290,13296,13303,13310,13317,13320
276 Sit times over 2.5 hours
8 Spanish Speaker Positions
29 NIPD DCA sequences with RONs: CUN, GEO, KIN, MTY, SLP
No NAS turns
4 days BDA turns
Canada layovers: YYC, YYZ
IAD high time 2-days (13 sequences)
60 Total Sequences for BWI
19 Total Sequences for IAD

Last Month, we had two PBS minimum line constraints. One constraint required a minimum of 70 hours at a base seniority of 60 or a system seniority of 2972, and the second required 78 hours at a base seniority of 344 or a system seniority of 16,900.

In September of last year, we had a minimum constraint of 70 at system seniority 1 and a second constraint of 78 hours at system seniority 12,239 (about 23 years seniority).

This September, we have 1151 fewer block hours than last September, with 14 more Lineholders at the opening of PBS. We have fewer inactive Flight Attendants than last September. Our opening line average for September is 77.5 hours. Last September, our line average at the close of PBS was 81.5, with 28 VLOAs offered and awarded.

Scheduled Duty Days:

<8 hours: 49.0%
8-10 hours: 26.7%
0-12 hours: 21.9%
>12 hours: 2.4%

Scheduled Legs in Duty Day:

1-leg: 31.2%
2-legs: 49.3%
3-legs: 17.9%
4-legs: 1.6%

Scheduled Layover Rest:

< 11 hours: 0.1%
11-12 hours: 5.6%
12-14 hours: 28.6%
16-18 hours: 18.7%
>24 hours: 9.6%

Scheduled Sit Times:

2-2.5 hours: 11.0%
2.5-3 hours: 8.5%
>3 hours: 2.7%

September 2024 Bidding Timelines

September 2024 System Reserve Seniority

Required Base Equipment and Service Training
Widebody Aircraft Training 777/787/IFS

Last month, we reported filing a notice of dispute (NOD) regarding widebody aircraft training. A Dispute Resolution Conference (DRC) was held a few weeks ago, with an out-of-base facilitator listening to the Company’s and Union’s positions on this matter. Unfortunately, the facilitator ruled in favor of the company, stating that the company followed all contractual and procedural aspects with no violation. We rejected this outcome and have sent the rejected NOD to the SBA department at APFA for further review.

New Hires
We have completed our new hire indoctrination for 2024. Classes 2401, 2402, 2403, and 2404 will soon be off probation. We know it has been a challenging six months, but their dedication and desire to be the best have not gone unnoticed. Classes 2405 through 2415 still have some time to go, but we are confident that they will be successful too.

We Have a TA!
We are excited to announce that we have reached a Tentative Agreement (TA) between the Company and APFA. Our Negotiating Committee, in collaboration with our Lead Negotiating Attorney, will be visiting all crew bases to present the economic and scheduling improvements.

We highly encourage you to attend these base visits as they will offer valuable insight to help you make an informed decision on the Tentative Agreement (TA). APFA will host virtual town hall meetings for those unable to attend in person. These meetings will be recorded and made available on APFA.org for you to watch at your convenience.

Yesterday, DCA held its TA base visit. Many of our DCA Flight Attendants participated, along with APFA National President Julie Hedrick, the Negotiating Committee, our APFA Lead Negotiating Attorney, and our DCA Contract ACTION Team (Dylan, the CAT ambassador, and the team, Alex, Gina, and Sara).

Dianne and I would like to thank you all of you for joining us and for your participation and support!