8.04.21 – APFA ORD Base Brief – September 2021 Allocations

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Hello ORD! It was a long and hot July. We hope that you were able to find some well-deserved rest and relaxation during the month. August has already begun with a rocky start. Here is our allocations base brief for September 2021:

September Allocations

There is not much to report from the September Allocation call. The Base Presidents decided unanimously to not participate this month. Month-after-month, we address with the Planning Department the undesirable trips that continue to be built with long days, short layovers, excessive sit times and horrible report/release times. Shockingly, September allocations look even worse than August.

It is unsure as to when the Company will realize that building trips to the edge of legalities may look good for their bottom line, but any cost savings are lost when these trips fall apart in the actual operation. Add a totally incompetent Hotel/Limo Department to the mix and it is a recipe for disaster in the making. We need only look at the past few weeks to see something has to change. Flight Attendants are tired! The Base Presidents will continue to work with APFA National President Julie Hedrick to escalate this issue with management to a higher level.

Daily Operations

Make sure this number is in your phone! Daily Ops is your 24/7 lifeline for immediate attention! Contact them for all safety/security issues at work or on your layover.  A CERS should be written for all safety/security incidents. Contact Daily Ops directly at 682-315-7070.

Please remember ORD Flight Service, FSMs and MODs, are also available to support you at K19 during the hours of 0430-2100. They can be reached at 773-686-2615.

MedAire

If you need medical assistance at work, MedAire provides immediate 24/7 access to a team of doctors and nurses.  Their Global Response Center can be reached directly at 1-480-333-3801.

Rescheduling

If you feel you have been rescheduled in violation of section 10.J, please complete a DirectConnect along with an APFA Scheduling System Issues Report. This will help ensure a faster resolution should the reschedule be determined to be an illegal reschedule.

Duty Day Legalities

The following charts are quick reference guides to help determine your duty day legalities:

• When Do I Go Illegal Calculation

• Standby Duty Day Limitations

Contract & Scheduling Representatives

The APFA Contract and Scheduling Desk is available at 817-540-0108, Monday through Friday from 0700 – 1900 (CDT) to answer questions. Our APFA Live Chat online is available from 1500 – 2300 (CDT), Monday through Friday. You may also use APFA Live Chat on Saturday, Sunday, and holidays, from 0900 – 1700 (CDT). The live chat link may be found on the home page of APFA.org.

Staffing

Our available headcount is slightly up month over month. The total Reserve number and line average have been reduced. The projected total Reserve count is 299. The systemwide Reserve percentage is 16.2% and ORD comes in at 15.7%. We are pleased to continue to see this number moving in the right direction, compared to where we started in June at 401.

The projected starting line average is 76.5. This is slightly lower than we like. However, we are hopeful that this will eliminate the minimum constraints we have seen the last few months. Please keep in mind, the lower line average does not mean Flight Attendants will not hold higher time. The lower line average should put us in a position where no one is forced to have more hours than desired.

Compared to August, the systemwide job hours are down 65,178 in September. ORD is down 10,190 hours, and MSP is up 51 hours.

Allocations

The ORD trip distribution for August matches closely with the systemwide distribution. It remains identical to August except for a slight increase in 3-day sequences.  Our previous request for an increase in 1-day sequences was ignored. ODANs were reduced to 6.5 starts per day; many with the shorter ground time. ODANs with longer ground time was another request previously made and ignored by the Company. IPD sequences remain the same as August, with the addition of FCO which will operate 4 days a week.

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September Bidding Timelines

Thank you for your hard work and commitment to safety. We remain available for questions and feedback.

Please be kind to each other and stay safe.

In Solidarity,

Susan Wroble
APFA ORD Base President
(630) 802-2268
[email protected]

Dray Howard
APFA ORD Base Vice President
(630) 215-8410
[email protected]

Justin Patterson
APFA ORD Base Council Representative
(509) 720-0067
[email protected]