5.09.20 – PHL Base Brief – June Allocations/Face Masks and Temperature Checks/April Pay Protections

Saturday, May 9, 2020

• June Allocations
• Required Face Masks and Temperature Checks
• April Pay Guarantee Pay Protection
• Commuting Flights and No Jacket During Summer Months
• Virtual Town Hall with Jill Surdek

 

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June Allocations
As we all know, the airlines have been walloped with this pandemic, and customer demand has been dramatically reduced. The following information is from the June allocations call:

PHL had 1084 FA’s take a PVLOA effective for May. We had 77 additional PVLOA’s effective in June, with 60 Flight Attendants taking a VEOP. We do not have the numbers yet on how many have requested a PVLOA extension.

If you compare the year-over-year numbers, they illustrate the severity of this pandemic.

PHL will have 41,682 block hours with PIT having 2,468, representing a loss of 78.1% from June of 2019.

The LRD tool is now open and shows your projected status. The LRD tool has one job, which is to determine Lineholder or Reserve status.

• Lineholder Status
  If your status indicates you are a Lineholder (L/H), then you will be considered as a Lineholder when VLOAs are processed (regardless if you toggle to RSV).
• Tentative Status
  If your status indicates Tentative, the default designation in LRD is L/H, which means you will be considered as a Lineholder for the VLOA Bidding process.
• Reserve Status
  If your status indicates you are Reserve (RSV), then you will be considered as a Reserve when VLOAs are processed (regardless if you toggle to L/H).

 

If you are Tentative in the LRD, this means you are tentatively a Lineholder but could be moved to Reserve based on how many VLOAs are awarded.

Bidding for the 70-hour VLOA is now open and will close on Monday, May 11th at 1200 (CDT). You may access the ballot via Jetnet > Flight Service > 70-hour VLOA Bidding

If you are bidding for the VLOA, you are requesting a leave and will not be able to pick up carry-over time flying into a leave.

Required Face Coverings/Masks
As of May 8th, all team members will be required to wear a face-covering or mask when you cannot maintain six feet of social distancing at work. Face coverings are required for Flight Attendants when onboard the aircraft.

Temperature checks are currently being done in PHL for all workgroups except Flight Attendants and Pilots. They were going to start temperature checks for crews in PHL this past week; that has been delayed. Temperature checks are being conducted in MIA and DFW. If you are transiting through these stations, you will be subject to temperature checks. We do not know when they will begin at other bases.

Beginning May 11th, all passengers on American Airlines will be required to have a face covering or mask.

Please continue to monitor and check Jetnet and Mobile CCI for updates from the Company.

April Pay Protections
We are receiving a lot of calls from Flight Attendants who have not yet seen their pay protection adjustments. In a mobile CCI message dated March 25th, Melanie Rennels, Manager Contract Administration – Flight Service, provided the following information:

APFA has been addressing this with the Company. Jill Surdek did bury a little blurb about this in her update that was sent to mobile CCI yesterday. She basically stated they will get it paid as soon as possible via a special check.

Commuting Flights and Jackets
APFA has approached the company to discuss the impact of restricting flights to 85% and potentially denying the jumpseat if it is an aircraft that only has a double jumpseat available. We have requested an exception for commuters to be able to be given a seat on these flights. As soon as we have additional information, we will provide an update. If you experience a situation where you are denied the jumpseat, and you were denied boarding due to the 85% capacity limit and didn’t get to work, we need to know. Please send us an email and also provide information to your FSM.

APFA has also requested the ability to wear our short sleeve shirts without a jacket for the summer months. It is no secret that we have many Flight Attendants based in regions that are blazing hot in the summer. Many of our flights are in and out of these hubs for all Flight Attendants. We will continue to push the company to relax this requirement.

Virtual Town Hall with Jill Surdek
The Company will be hosting a virtual town hall on May 12th from 1230 until 1330 (CDT). This town hall will provide updates on various topics. Please refer to your mobile CCI dated May 8th for call-in information.

In Solidarity and Unity,

Kim Kaswinkel
APFA PHL Base President
[email protected]

Tracey Montanari
APFA PHL Base Vice President
[email protected]