2.06.26 – APFA CLT Base Brief – March 2026 Staffing and Allocations

March 2026 Staffing and Allocations

Friday, February 6, 2026

We had our monthly call to discuss the trips for March. It’s hard to concentrate on our upcoming schedule without acknowledging the colossal melt down that happened system wide last week and this past weekend in CLT. Only at American would any management expect its employees to sleep on a floor or be forced to seek self-help hundreds or thousands of miles from home. Only at American would a complete shutdown of communications and planning be tolerated. Only at American would management expect to get away with massive violations of the Collective Bargaining Agreements with its labor unions. Only at American would this type of insult to its employees and customers be the “New Norm”.

Click here for a link to the types of violations we saw during the recent storms. Management has heard from us and soon they will hear from all of you. If you think you had a violation during any of the storms, please document your experience and file a direct connect for the appropriate pay remedies. Every year, every storm, we hear the same thing, we are poised to have a great year, or this won’t happen again. We have heard all the excuses before but if this is our real business model, we are doomed to repeat the past and fail epically. It’s time for real accountability from management, not just rhetoric. Document your experiences and share your stories and pictures. Reliability, Profitability and Accountability applies to everyone, this is our future too. The company’s actions during the storms failed all three of these concepts and their actions affect us all. It can’t just be rhetoric; it has to be practiced.

As expected, March begins the steady climb into summer. Our flight hours will be 196,259. This is a major boost, and this is more time than we had last June. This is a sign that this summer will have record schedules. Let’s hope they can handle these amounts and not repeat the summer of 24. The contributing factors for the increase in time are the shift to more 737 flying (4 FAs instead of 3 on many routes), the start of seasonal IPD, and the return to 9 banks of flying. Our full banks return, with the exception of Tuesdays where we will have 8 banks and some elimination of flights from some of the banks on Wednesdays. Last year, we had more cuts to the banks on the weekends. Our distribution of time for the month looks like a roller coaster, peaks on Fridays and lows on Tuesdays. Other than the first day of the month, there are no real spikes, the time is evenly distributed. This means that it should be realistic to have an even month when planning your bidding strategy.

With the increase in time, we are getting an increase in head count. By the end of March, we will have 119 new hires on the property. The increase in time is also the reason the company is giving for an increase in reserve numbers, even though the usage from last year does not support this. Our reserve rotation cut off is June 9^th, 2022.

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The Reserve numbers are calculated without the new hires because most of them will not be out in time for PBS to run. Their days off are pre-plotted. We would hope their schedules offset any need for coverage needed days. This would give our current reserves more flexibility when trying to build their schedules. The company is using the new hires as cannon fodder; they are not included in the counts and provide an extra buffer to cover a fragile system and any IROPs. If you include the new hires, the actual reserve percentage is 26%.

Even with the increase in time, our line average remains low at 77.7. This is desirable and we should not see as many people held to the 78-hour minimum. The 78-hour minimum is driven by bidding while PBS is running, your bidding strategy should have both constraints built in based on your seniority and where you have been held in the past. Keep in mind, the amount of time we have is equal or above last summer, only our increase in head count is off setting the higher line averages.

• 1 days will make up 21% of our trips. (Up)
• 2 days will make up 21% of our trips. (Down)
• 2/3 days will make up 17% of our trips. (Down)
• 3 days will make up 27% of our trips. (About the same)
• 3/4 days will make up 3% of our trips. (Just a few more than last month)
• 4 days will make up 4% of our trips. (Up)
• ODANs will make up just under 5% of our trips. (Same)
• Red Eyes will make up 2% of our flights. (Up)

Bullets (All night turns) and Pink Eyes have a few more but make up less than 1%.
Our trips have a good distribution similar to what we have been seeing. There is no major holiday in March where we would expect to see a spike in flying and subsequently more 3 and 4 days built in. With a more even distribution of time, it allows for a more variety of trip types to be built.

The 1 days are up. This is good news, only 18% of these are 4 leggers. Usually, the system is trying to make 1 days, and we see an increase in 4 leggers as a result. The 1 days only had a few more 4 leggers, which tells us that there is more time in the system and more opportunities to make 1-day trips.

The 2 days remained the same and the one thing we are leery of is when the system pushes to make 2 days, the departure times suffer and early morning departures are all that we see. We are still seeing a good mix of departure times for the 2 days; this is a good sign that the system can maintain the amount of 2 days without sacrificing departure times.

The 3 days actually reduced for the 3^rd month in a row. The reduction is small so the percentage remains about the same, but it is a positive trend we hope can continue into summer flying. The 3 days are also plagued with the most sit time and shorter layovers.

There is a slight increase in the number of 4 days and the commutability has dropped, but these are some of the most consistent trips. They have varying departure times and not a lot of legs crammed into them. There were a few more 3/4 days and all of those were commutable. The 2/3 days dropped slightly, and they have the usual low frequency cities as overnights.

Our base remains consistent with ODANs. We are geographically positioned for these trips, and the company has to fight the computer to keep them low. We have the same amount of ODANs as February and hope they don’t place too many constraints to limit these when we go to a full 9 banks all days of the week.

Our IPD starts to come back at the end of March. All 3 LHR trips operate all month along with MAD, FRA, and MUC.

DUB, FCO, CDG all return on March 26^th with deadheads through PHL and MIA as positioning trips.

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March 2026 Bidding Timelines

While our trip construction has found many areas of balance, it still remains extremely fragile to the elements. The programs we use to run this airline are only as good as the people using them. American needs to decide where they want to be and who they want to be. The continued path of failed excuses has led us nowhere.

We have entered a new era with our new CBA, and it seems the company intends to keep as much of the past alive for as long as they can. Wear your Union lanyards and send a clear message to management that we will not tolerate the continued violations to our contract and a failing business model. American can adapt, grow or die withering on the vine. For the employees, the path is clear.

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To bid for vacation, go to the Crew Portal. Once logged in, click on:

Monthly Bids > Vacation > Annual > Bidding Ballots

If you have any questions regarding your accrual or bidding process, you may email [email protected] or open a ticket on the Support Tab on Crew Portal.

Take care of yourselves and each other.

The Charlotte APFA Team

In Solidarity,

Scott Hazlewood
APFA CLT Base President
[email protected]

Frank Cagle
APFA CLT Base Vice President
[email protected]