Your AFA Council 12 Scheduling Committee wanted to provide you with an update with our schedules for LAX and SAN
SAN
San Diego schedules currently remain consistent. They are consistently high averages of roughly 85+ hours. There is a slight increase in the number of line holder positions, as well as a slight increase of red eye flying. The flying remains a usual mix of one day pairings to 4- day trips. Like with every base bid package, there is the good, bad, and ugly flying. No one base immune to having bad/ugly flying.
LAX
Los Angeles will begin seeing the transition out of the Summer schedule into Fall schedule beginning mid-month of August. Here are few things that come to mind:
Service to China: The PRC Visa
Service to Shanghai (PVG) is expected to launch on August 27th. As of July 1st the company has informed us that only twenty-six percent (26%) of the base has obtained their PRC Visas. All Flight Attendants awarded reserve lines, including those with special qualifications (ie...Mandarin/Cantonese and International Purser) are expected to have obtained this requirement by the start of service. While line holders are not required to have a PRC Visa, it is highly recommended that all Flight Attendants based in Los Angeles obtain one: you limit your bidding options by being ineligible to be awarded a line to Shanghai. You also risk a missed trip(MT) should the crew desk try to attempt a draft for the PVG flight. For further details on how to obtain the PRC Visa, see the Cover Letter found in CCS/Bidding/Bid Packets.
August 2024 Seasonal Flying Changes
There will be a significant schedule change around the 18th of August, with many reductions in domestic frequencies. All Night turns to KOA and OGG, daily HVTs to TQO and CUN, as well as additional flying to LIH and HNL is expected to end. This will result in some heavily dated flying at the beginning of August.
New Aircraft to Los Angeles: The Airbus A321 NEO
Due to Limited Gate Space in Los Angeles, the company continues to up gauge aircraft. For August some service to Chicago will start to be flown on the new A321 and is reflected in our pairings.
Upcoming International Flying Changes
The company has indicated that our seasonal 2nd flight to London is expected to continue through most of October. They indicated they expect to launch a 2nd flight to Hong Kong around the same time. Given that Hong Kong is a much longer flight, this will result in a larger increase in international flying for Los Angeles.
Contract Education: Ensuring prompt Transportation and Sufficient Rest (Section 6.Z.1)
We would like to remind everyone of the language found in Section 6.Z.1 of the Contract which states:
If on a regular basis on a layover on a domestic pairing, prompt transportation is not available as provided in Paragraph V.3.a. above, and after attempting to solve the problem, the Company is unable to provide regular prompt transportation, the Company shall reschedule the layover to eleven (11) hours.
It is essential that you write a Hotel & Transportation Committee Report if you arrive at your layover scheduled between 10:00 and 10:59 and the scheduled transportation is not waiting or does not arrive within 15 mins. This will allow our Hotel & Transportation Committee to work with the Company to increase our layover times to ensure we have sufficient rest. This report can be found on Help Hub.