12.04.25 – APFA ORD Base Brief – January 2026 Staffing and Allocations

January 2026 ORD Staffing and Allocations

Thursday, December 4, 2025

Happy December, Chicago.

Yesterday was the January Staffing and Allocations call. The New Year represents the peak of the holiday travel season. January includes both the “critical” dates for attendance as well as days eligible for holiday incentive pay.

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WBT Reminder

This quarterly training must be completed by Monday, December 8 at 23:59 (CT) to avoid a Missed Assignment (MA). Please don’t give the company a reason to issue you discipline. Get it done!

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Important Dates

• Contractual month: January 1st – January 30th
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day – January 19th
• Christmas Day – December 25th
• Kwanzaa – December 26th
• New Years Eve – December 31st
• New Years Day – January 1st

Critical period for attendance

• December 22nd – January 3rd

Attendance and Performance Policy Information here.

• Holiday Pay eligible days – CBA 3.K
  • December 24/Christmas Eve
  • December 25/Christmas Day
  • January 1st /New Years Day

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Allocations

The trip construction for January is slightly skewed towards 3-day trips and fewer 1-day trips. This is due to the seasonal flying we have on the widebody to offset the hours. Hopefully we will see more 1-day sequences in future months.

APFA advocated for and was successful in securing six LAS-NRT trips next month. These begin and end with a DH to and from LAS. This flying is to accommodate the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas.

If you find yourself working one of these trips, you can find destination information in your EFB for NRT specific flying: Comply365 -> Destination Information -> Destinations -> Asia/Oceania -> Japan.

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Staffing

ORD has a reserve percentage of 18.1% for January 2026, vs the system average of 19.7%, a decrease from January 2025 RSV numbers, where ORD was at 20.4%.

There will be 2,159 lineholders in January.

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Daily Departures

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Sequence Distribution

• 1-day: 22% in January vs 24% in December.
• 2-day: 25% in January vs 26% in December.
• 3-day: 49% in January vs 46% in December.
• 4-day: 4% in January vs 4% in December.
• ODAN Starts per day: 6.3 in December vs 7.5 in December.

10% of flying is Wide Body.

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PBS Preliminary Manning Plan

Safe Travels!

In Solidarity,

Justin Patterson
APFA ORD Base President
ORD Base Number: (773) 645-0809
Cell: (509) 720-0067
[email protected]

Dray Howard
APFA ORD Base Vice President
ORD Base Number: (773) 645-0809
Cell: (630) 215-8410
[email protected]