7.18.25 – APFA PHX Base Brief – Friday, July 18, 2025

Friday, July 18, 2025

Secorra and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you, our PHX-based Flight Attendants, for your continued professionalism and customer service during the recent irregular operations, especially this past weekend. Many of you waited several hours on hold for scheduling and tracking. Others reached out to your Base Leadership as well as representatives from other bases. We all spent hours on the phone, sending emails, and following up to ensure that crews were not left stranded. Once again, this was a significant failure not only for our Flight Attendants, Gate Agents, and all frontline employees but also for our passengers.

For those of you who waited hours for a hotel—many of you on duty for more than 16 hours—we sincerely apologize for the lack of Company support. For those waiting endlessly for your sequences to be rebuilt with no contact from Scheduling and Tracking, please understand that the representatives on duty in both departments were working as quickly as possible to resolve the issues. They were understaffed and overwhelmed. If you were given a TM or MT due to a lack of communication, please contact Secorra Flowers or me by filling out an APFA PHX Contact Form.

This is not the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth time we have experienced irregular operations of this magnitude during my tenure as Base President. Each time, we have received assurances and promises that this will not happen again. Just as our National President and National Scheduling and Contract Chairs were told this past Monday, changes are being made to help the process function more smoothly in the future. However, due to the empty promises we have received in the past, we want to remind all of you of the contract provisions that are available during these times.

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CBA Scheduling and Contract Reminders

10.J.  Please know this section of the contract. Especially the following:

• 10.J.1.c.  The intent of paragraph J. is that a Flight Attendant be permitted to operate the sequences that they were awarded through PBS, TTS, ETB, etc.  Consequently, a Flight Attendant should not be removed from their sequence unless all options have been utilized to prevent a cancellation or delay, including assignment to any available reserve or Standby Reserve.
• 10.J.2.d.  In no case shall the Lineholder be required to report for a sequence earlier than originally scheduled.
• Per 10.J. 3.a. once a Flight Attendant crew reports for a sequence, the Company may reschedule a Flight Attendant crew to maintain scheduled operations.
• 11.F.  Domestic On-Duty Limitations (Actual Operations).  Please refer to this chart once you check in for your sequence. 11.E. is for sequence construction only.
  
• 12.O.  Priority of Assignments – For Lineholders please review 12.O.6.  including 12.O.6.a. “A Lineholder shall not be involuntarily assigned while on vacation or while on groupings of days off that touch a vacation; and 12.O.6.b “a Lineholder shall not be involuntarily assigned more than twice per bid month.”

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Last Leg Deadhead

During the recent irregular operations, several PHX Flight Attendants were unable to notify Scheduling/Tracking that they would not be taking their scheduled deadhead flights. Some were left on hold indefinitely while trying to inform Scheduling of their decisions.

Please be aware that rebooking through ECS is intended to notify Scheduling, but it was not functioning properly during this period. According to the Collective Bargaining Agreement CBA 16.H, a Lineholder is only required to inform Scheduling if they will not take their scheduled deadhead. This notification must be made before the scheduled deadhead. Failing to notify Scheduling may result in receiving a Missed Trip. If you are unable to complete the call to Scheduling, make sure to take a screenshot of your call log, document your hold time, or keep a copy of your cell phone bill as evidence of your attempted notification. This documentation will assist us in addressing any Missed Trips noted on your HI1.

Additionally, Reserves must request and receive consent from Scheduling if they choose to take a different flight back to base or to their commuter city (CBA 16.H.1).

• Deadheading Flexibility Scenarios & Important Deadheading Reminders
  

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Cancellation of First Leg of a Sequence

During this last irregular operations one of the many questions we received included what is a FA’s responsibility to report when there is a cancelation of the first segment of a sequence, even though the rest of the sequence is still on their line. Please refer to 10.J. … scheduling has until 4 hours after the original sequence sign in time or three hours after the disruption is known (whichever is later) to repair the sequence. This applies to mid sequence cancellations also.

• What is considered positive contact? If you look at Section 10.V.6. the list includes Crew Scheduling(Tracking), a Company designee (member of Management), Inflight Management or the Captain. It is not a voicemail on your cell phone, a Crew Coordinator or Gate Agent. A Gate Agent can tell you that Crew Scheduling wants you to call; but again it is not positive contact.
• Keep in mind returning to base, a Lineholder is finished and cannot be “tagged” or given an illegal double up. As a reminder, if you are a Reserve once you are past your release time (block in plus 15-minute domestic debrief, or 30 minute NIPD/IPD debrief) you cannot be rescheduled.
• Per Section 8.G.1. of the CBA:
  A Flight Attendant will not be required to work during a vacation.
  A Flight Attendant may elect to pick up ETB time on a vacation day(s).  
  And Section 8.J.4 “once awarded, vacation shall not be cancelled by the Company”. These two sections of the Contract are important to know, especially as a reserve, as it contractually keeps the Company from scheduling a Flight Attendant into their vacation by adding additional flying to the end of their sequence.

If you are on Reserve and get back from an assigned/awarded sequence later than originally scheduled, check your assignment for the next day. If it provides less than your contractual 12 hours rest, it is your responsibility to call Scheduling to be given legal home base rest.

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Please remember the following important information:

We cannot contact regular departments such as payroll, pay compensation, and inflight administration during the weekend. If you have questions or issues, please reach out to your Senior Crew Manager first. If the issue cannot be resolved at that level, you can then contact me or Secorra.

As a reminder, a phone call on Sunday morning at 2 AM regarding your sick points is not considered an emergency. If you absolutely must make that call, please use the 800-595-1471 phone number rather than our cell phones. However, if you find yourself stranded during a sequence and feel unsafe, please do call us on our cell phones, as that is considered an emergency.

Once again, thank you to all PHX-based Flight Attendants for your professionalism during this recent period of irregular operations.

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]