1.09.25 – APFA PHL Base Brief – February 2025 Staffing and Allocations

February 2025 PHL Staffing and Allocations

Thursday, January 9, 2025

Hello PHL,

February will be the first non-holiday month for 2025. Two items to consider for the bid month are Super Bowl LIX on February 9 and the schedule change on February 13.

During the three days prior to and after the Super Bowl, additional flights and frequencies will be built into sequences to/from MSY for all bases.

There will also be additional flying utilizing the 321T during this 6-day window. Premium Trans-con flying will need to be adjusted to provide 321T’s necessary for this market. While the 321T flights primarily affect the NYC and LAX bases, PHL FA’s need to be prepared to work the 321T in the event of crew rescheduling or aircraft re-routing.

NEW HIRE CLASSES FOR 2025

With great pleasure, we get to add this section back to our base brief. The first training class for New Hire FA’s begins January 15. New hire classes are scheduled to continue weekly well into March. The first class of graduates will be available to fly early in March. There were no projections made concerning base assignments. We will let you know as soon as we are notified if or when PHL receives new hires.

RESERVES

Good news! Reserve percentages for PHL went down in February. In January, 18.4% of the available headcount was on reserve (406 projected reserves). February, this number falls to a projected 15.2% (370 projected reserves). System wide the average dropped from 21.4% (5,561) to 18.9% (4,853). The only dates to keep in mind for higher-than-normal reserve utilization are Super Bowl Sunday (February 9), and Valentine’s Day (February 14). These dates and several days prior are potential CN days to consider when bidding for reserve lines in February.

STAFFING

February’s monthly line average is projected to be 77.0 hours. Systemwide, the line average is projected to be 77.4 hours. The average number of sequence starts per day for PHL will be 280. Systemwide, this average is 3,132.

For PHL, this means an average of 280 Flight Attendants each day to cover all sequences for that day. Systemwide, this number is 3,132 Flight Attendants, on average, to cover all sequences daily. Sequence starts = (# of sequences) x (# of positions/sequence). Thursdays-Sundays for the month seem to have the highest sequence starts in PHL.

After the schedule change on the 13th, sequence starts increase to 280+ for almost every day. There will be a systemwide increase of flying hours as a result.

MONTHLY VOLUNTARY LEAVES OF ABSENCE (VLOAs)

VLOAs were offered again for the February bid month. 52 VLOAs were awarded in PHL with a most junior line holder seniority of 9106. This is down from 74 VLOA’s in January.

SEQUENCE STATISTICS

ODANs

ODANs have increased slightly. Destinations available to bid are PIT, PWM, BOS, PVD.

IPD

The February 13th schedule change returns our IPD flying for FCO, ZRH, and CDG. Sequences in these markets will have positioning flights that include DH’s and longer layovers.

For the month of February, LIS and AMS will alternate between 3-day and 4-day sequences.

DOH remains staffed with 10 FA’s. We will continue to monitor the staffing for this particular market and challenge the company if they try to reduce it.

DOMESTIC WIDEBODY FLYING

The DFW two day continues to operate daily. There also will be one two day on the 13th that RONs in JFK with a first-leg DH to MIA, and one two day on the 25th that RONs in MIA.

PIT SATELLITE

PIT will see basically no change at 4,744 hours for February. Using the projected line average of 77 hours, PIT will have a projected 61 lines of pure PIT flying. This number will go up or down based on the bidding of individual flight attendants and vacation. Some bidders will only bid partial lines of satellite flying, bid high/low lines, have vacation, etc.

GENERAL REMINDERS

WBTs for Inflight Quarterly Training are due January 20 at 11:59 PM (CT).
There is an increase in late call outs (LC’S) for reserves while on a RAP. Calling out sick after positive notification of an assignment while on a RAP, can trigger an investigation for not being positioned for duty. Please keep in mind reserves in PHL must be positioned to report within 2 hours after being assigned.
You may have noticed, there have been changes in how we navigate to the Inflight web-page. If you are on JetNet and click on DEPARTMENTS > INFLIGHT, it will now link you directly to the CREWPORTAL. If you wish to go to the inflight website, log into the CREWPORTAL first, and click on LINKS > INFLIGHT WEBSITE.
Every month the PBS Cover Sheet is included in the bid packets. CREWPORTAL > DEPARTMENTS > BIDDING & RESOURCES > CURRENT BID SHEETS > PBS COVER SHEET. The Cover Sheet includes: charts for duty limitations, home base rest and layover rest requirements, as well as phone numbers, bidding timelines, links to the PBS guide and so much more. It is a good practice to save a copy of this cover sheet to your device or EFB each month. The cover sheet contains answers to many frequently asked questions.
Willingness to Serve applications for Base Elections are due January 25 at 1000 AM (CT). If you have any questions, please contact us at 215-360-3115.
Voting on Constitutional Changes closes on January 16th at 1200 PM (CT). If you have any questions, please reach out to us at 215-360-3115.

Click here for information on the 2024 Dues Restructure