11.11.24 – APFA CLT Base Brief – December 2024 Staffing and Allocations

December 2024 CLT Staffing and Allocations

Monday, November 11, 2024

We had our monthly meeting with the company to discuss the schedule for December. There are some unique characteristics that only apply to December, but they are the same issues we see every year. Our flight hours will be 156,294. The time for the month is lower than November, but most of the time is pushed to the second half of the month. This is crucial because it almost cuts the month into 2 months when you are bidding. This could trigger half month logic, where the computer will force more trips on your line to the second half of the month. Depending on your seniority, having a good bidding strategy can work if you know where the time is and bid to where they will need you, rather than a normal “even” month bidding strategy.

The first half of the month will see the reduction in banks of flying on the usual Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. There are schedule changes that have some spikes at the beginning of the month and a big jump in flying starting on the 19th. The 24th and Christmas day are pulled down with very few trips going out on these days. The 31st (New Years) will also see a drastic pulldown. The 2nd (First day of the bid month) has the highest spike in flying, if you want more time at the beginning of the month, the 2nd is a great starting place to pick up flying. There is a small schedule change on the 5th that adds some opportunities, and the other upticks are the weekends as far as the first half of the month.

The second half of the month has the spike on the 19th and time remains high through the 23rd. The 26th has the next spike and time remains strong through the 29th. All of these factors will come in to play when building your strategy. To help you plan, we have the following graph that shows the peaks and valleys where the trips are.

There are no VLOAs for December. Our reserve numbers continue to remain high. The reserve cut off date will be April 6, 2015. We have the second highest reserve numbers with PHX having the highest. There is only one reason for the high reserve numbers, a fragile trip construction system that breaks frequently and the high reserve numbers are needed to cover for this. Charlotte is a catch all base for all the east coast bases when their trips break. We have tracked reserve numbers and usage, we have listened to all the excuses and in the end, none of them explain why they need so many reserves other than the obvious, our trips break. It’s Occam’s Razor. We have been advocating for a reduced reserve headcount this year during December. We have the holiday incentive pay and we know it works. Last year, they said they only had limited data to go off of and promised us the incentive would come into play in 2024. As with every other promise they have made over the years, it was never going to matter. The construction system needs massive amounts of reserves to make it work. It is not the sick rate, nor is it bidding habits. The crutch of having high reserves is inherently built into the system that they created and are running every day, it is not because of the behavior of the flight attendants. PHX and CLT have been fighting this battle for 6 years now and all the “fixes”, “excuses”, and “solutions” have done nothing to reduce the numbers in our bases to be consistent with the system wide average. When everything is pealed away, the answer is staring you in the face. Occam’s Razor. We anticipate high numbers in January also, this is the one constant that we can count on from management.

The trips break down as;

• 1 days will make up 22% of our trips (Up from last month and last year)
• 2 days will make up 20% of our trips (Down from last month- same as last year)
• 2/3 days will make up 19% of our trips (Up from last month – Up from last year)
• 3 days will make up 23% of our trips (Down from last month and down from last year)
• 3/4 days will make up 3% of our trips (Up from last month and up from last year)
• 4 days will make up 3% of our trips (Down from last month and about the same as last year)
• ODANs will make up 6% of our trips (Slightly down from last month and down from last year)
• Pink Eyes and Bullets are slightly down and come in at 1% of our trips (Same)
• Red Eyes will come in at 2% of our trips (Down from last month and down from last year)

Our distribution of trips mirrors the peaks and valleys of the time distribution. Less ODANs on Tuesdays and Saturdays and a complete pulldown on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The system always wants to add 4 days when there is a big increase in time added. We have been pushing for years not to cram this time during the critical period into 4-day trips. Last year and this year, they did not do this. They broke up the natural instinct of the programming and built more 1 days and the schedule allowed for more 2/3-3/4 days with long layovers.

The one days are strong, usually the winter schedule makes it harder to create one day turns and that means more 4 leggers. With the strong holiday schedule, we saw less 4 leggers as they only make up 15% of the 1 days.

The 2 days are down but there is still a good amount of them. This is desirable over the second half of the month where you can put in some 2 days and still have some time to celebrate the holiday.

The 3 days are down for the first time in a few months, but this is where you will see the most sit time. 20% of our total trips have sit times over 2+30. It’s going to be interesting to see the schedule changes when the new contractual sit penalty comes into play. The number of trips (Outside of the 1 days) that had 4 legs in one day built in has drastically decreased. After the December holiday schedule, it will be interesting to see if this trend continues.

There are fewer 4 days, and the commutability did not improve, but there was a drastic increase in 2/3 and 3/4 days that are commutable. This is the first time our trips with whole day layovers has topped 20%. This can help in a holiday bidding strategy where you can plan to have the holidays with friends or relatives while on a layover. If you don’t think your seniority can hold certain days off, it’s worth looking at these trips.

The Red Eyes are down, and we did see a slight improvement where they are “stepping” to the West Coast rather than a full turn before the departure to the West coast. We saw more trips that would go to DFW and then SEA for example. This should be a slight improvement, and we will see if the trend continues.

The ODANs are slightly down, mainly due to the cuts in the last bank of flying twice a week. They traditionally come down in the winter for this reason but there are still a healthy amount of them.

Pink Eyes and All-Night Turns (Bullets) were down from the increase we saw in November. They are back to the traditional routes.

December 2024 Bidding Timelines

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Attendance/Incentive Points and Holiday Pay

Please Note: The Critical Period for Attendance/Incentive Points is separate from Holiday Pay.

For more information on holiday pay, click here to review the recent Holiday Pay hotline.

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From the WINGS Foundation: Recycling Update

Have our recycling procedures changed?

To be clear- recycling procedures have not changed. It is still standard service procedure to recycle aluminum cans and Wings Foundation is not advocating for Flight Attendants to stop recycling. Please continue to recycle for the benefit of the environment and trash management onboard the aircraft.
Safe Travels!

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Contacting Management for Company Systems and Policy Questions

If you have questions about PBS, TTS, or any other company systems or policies, please direct your inquiries to CLT Inflight via email or phone at 980-985-5510. Your crew managers are responsible for assisting you.

Management, including your crew managers, should be available to answer Flight Attendant questions about all aspects of our jobs rather than focus on micromanaging and disciplining Flight Attendants with insignificant issues. When management closed the Flight Attendant Bidding and Resource Center, they assured Flight Attendants that help would be available. Please reach out if you need assistance with your bids or any other company policy questions or issues. If you do not receive the help you need, please contact your APFA base leadership.

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December is a tricky month; everyone has a strategy to try and get some of the holiday off so they can celebrate. Take your time when bidding, look at the trips, be realistic with your seniority and remember, the pay incentive works. The schedule drops on the actual holiday, and we have been told that January 1st will also be pulled down (Low time). This adds a unique twist that can work in your favor to get some time off during the holiday, you just have to develop a plan and work it.

Take care of yourselves and each other.

The Charlotte APFA Team

In Solidarity,

Scott Hazlewood
APFA CLT Base President
[email protected]