oct 2014 sig notes finalfdx.alpa.org/portals/26/docs/sig notes/oct 2014 sig notes final.pdf ·...

SIG NOTES OCT 2014

The SIG Notes are a joint document produced and edited by both ALPA and Company SIG Representatives.

Line targets requested by the company were higher than we have seen in many months. With the exception of the 767 all domestic bidpacks have different BLG’s between the Captain and First Officer seats. We refer to this as “split BLGs.” So, if you are a “buddy bidder” please take note as the FO lines won’t likely sync with Captain lines. Summary of the Build: With the exception of minimal buy-up in HKG, no other bidpack will have buy-up for the month of October. While duty times continue to be of great concern, on the domestic side, consecutive night duty times were lower overall in the longer pairings for October. Pairing Assessment Process: For September the ALPA PSIT team reviewed roughly 2650 pairings throughout all bid packs. The ALPA SIG/PSIT requested over 522 (21%) pairing change requests from both prelim and final pairings.

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Disputed Pairing Process: October saw a decrease overall in the number of disputes. There are two disputed pairings in the 777, three in ANC and one in LAX. All of these pairing designs were long international pairings with circadian disruptions and/or shifting of work-rest periods prior to achieving a reset.

Disputed Pairings: • MEM 777 47/19 OCT • MEM 777 52/19 OCT

• ANC MD11 13/4 OCT • ANC MD11 15/18 OCT • ANC MD11 16/19 OCT

• LAX MD11 22/21 OCT Rich Hughey, ALPA FedEx MEC Scheduling Committee Chairman Marty Harrington, ALPA FedEx MEC Scheduling Committee Vice-Chairman JD Oliver, ALPA FedEx MEC Scheduling Committee Knowledge Manager

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Disputed Pairings: None PSIT Notes: October is a 5-week bid month. We were able to build 27 lines at an average of 87:46. Seven lines were built below the 85hour BLG minimum, and will be bought up to comply with the CBA. October will be the second month of the new structure of the southern cone trips. Three of these trips in October have the southern horn paired with the MNL short layover. We have identified this sequence as particularly fatiguing and the company will attempt to reduce the duty after the MNL layover. Your feedback is requested on any operational or fatigue issues you may encounter. Europe flying has returned to the HKG bidpack. While only one line, we are encouraged and would like to see more of these going forward.

Captain First Officer Average CH 87:46 87:46 RLG CH 85 85 R-‐day value CH 4:32 4:32 # of Regular Lines 27 (45%) 27 (50%) # of Secondary Lines 11 (18%) 10 (19%) # of Reserve Lines 22 (37%) 17 (31%) Total # of Lines 60 54 Total CH Available (no c/o) 2451 2451 Avg CH/R day 5.9 7.6 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 237 237 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 8.8% 8.8%

A-300 [email protected]

PSIT: Brandon Viuhkola Kevin Kelly

Please communicate with us regarding bid pack pairings & lines, revisions & extra pairings or any scheduling issue. We cannot do our job without your input. Our preferred method of communication and tracking is via the ALPA Scheduling Committee PIREP.

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Disputed Pairings: None

PSIT Notes: October is a 5-week bid-month with the highest BLGs we have seen in several years. Columbus Day falls on the 3rd Monday of the month but had a negligible impact on pairing design in the bidpack. Buddy bidders need to be aware that the lines for Captains and FOs may be different as a result of different BLGs for each seat. Line quality was affected by our constantly evolving pairing design. While many longer pairings displayed shorter duty times this month, many pairings are being built with additional flight sequences. This additional flight sequence many times reduces the flexibility of using these pairings as “hooks” to pair with other flying. Missing from the lines are OAK standby pairings during weeks 2 through 5. The company had constructed all the OAK standbys with a mid-trip DH to LAX to operate LAX-SNA-MEM on Monday night. We worked with the company to change all of these except for the first week. The weeks 2 through 5 standbys will be available during the view/add window. Please continue to provide us with your inputs, both positive and negative. Many times your information helps us affect change and improves your overall QOL.

Captain First Officer Average CH 91+32 90+22 RLG CH 87+43 86+46 R-‐day value CH 4+37 4+34 # of Regular Lines 227 (65%) 230 # of Secondary Lines 65 (18%) 52 # of Reserve Lines 60 (17%) 56 Total # of Lines 352 338 Total CH Available (no c/o) 21,250 21,250 Avg CH/R day 18.6 20.0 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 1055 1055 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 4.7% 4.7%

A-300 [email protected]

PSIT: Mike Pearcy Harry Edwards Curt Henry

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Disputed Pairings: None PSIT Notes: We were able to construct 23 lines versus 24 this same 5-week month in 2013. This was complicated by the CDG standby pairing being reduced from 46 CHs to 34 CHs. You will note several of our shorter pairings left in open time. These remaining pairings simply do not fit together to build into a line. As usual, these pairings will be available in the CIA and Secondary Line process. BUD has returned to the winter profile in October and is not disputed constructed in this manner. We continue to place a high priority of having trips containing MAN/CPH free from duty the week after this pairing. TLV trips over the weekend of Oct 4th are constructed differently with Yom Kippur holiday in Israel. The situation in TLV continues to be fluid and unpredictable. All TLV pairings are subject to revision based on threat assessment by the Company. Please bid with this in mind.

Captain First Officer Average CH 89+58 89+58 RLG CH 86+27 86+27 R-‐day value CH 4+33 4+33 # of Regular Lines 23 (53%) 23 (55%) # of Secondary Lines 9 (21%) 7 (17%) # of Reserve Lines 11 (26%) 12 (28%) Total # of Lines 43 42 Total CH Available (no c/o) 2238 2238 Avg CH/R day 10.7 9.8 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 235 235

Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 9.5% 9.5%

B-757 [email protected]

PSIT: Andrew Hall Scott Hubin


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[EUR 757 Continued] An evening STN out and back from CDG was added the week of Oct 27th. This is not

expected to be a regular pairing even though we have seen it on occasion the last few months. European and Israeli daylight savings time ends on Sunday 26Oct14. Please carefully review the local times on your affected pairings. Feedback from you, the line pilot, is essential for good operations in the EMEA. If required, consider filing fatigue, POR, and/or ASAP reports if

you encounter challenging situations on the line. We also encourage you to contact your PSIT on scheduling matters.

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Disputed Pairings: None.

PSIT Notes: October is a 5-month week and our build targets had a big spread between the Captains and FOs. The Captain target was in fact high enough to allow us to build 3 full weeks of Double Deadhead flying on many lines. This could not be duplicated on F/O line construction. Therefore, be very vigilant if trying to buddy bid. As we continue to focus on fatigue modeling, a few more cities will be mixed for fatigue mitigation. GJT and BOS continue to be mixed (with ICT and RSW/HTS). PVD used to be simply limited in number of consecutive turns, but is now fully mixed with TLH. Newly mixed cities also include JFK/PIA and PWM/MKE. We are asking the Company for a time change to PWM to allow us to build it pure again. GTF night turns are not being mixed, but rather used sparingly as filler trips. This amount of mixing for fatigue mitigation is far less than is required in the MD-11 and Airbus domestic lines, though, since they have more of the West Coast cities. And when we do mix, we use only the minimum number of “impure” turns to make each line work, keeping purity higher. We still have a few deadhead cities turning to MEM that can’t be built through the full week because of a 1-in-7 violation. There are a few less of these than last month, and we continue to petition the Company to fix these. Feel free to contact us with your suggestions and with you observations of what doesn’t fly as scheduled throughout our system.

Captain First Officer Average CH 94+35 88+22 RLG CH 90+53 85+00 R-‐day value CH 4+47 4+32 # of Regular Lines 156 167 # of Secondary Lines 37 42 # of Reserve Lines 36 52 Total # of Lines 229 261 Total CH Available (no c/o) 15043 15043 Avg CH/R day 22.0 15.2 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 828 828 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 5.2% 5.2%


PSIT: Paul Hanson J.D. Oliver Tom Rutledge Matt Gandy Stu Ledet

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PSIT Notes: October is a five-week bid month, with 25 lines and an average credit of 93+37. This is up from our previous five-week bid month (JUL14) of 18 lines and an average credit of 90+12. The October pairings reflect the updated block times based on winter winds, so the build looks somewhat different than last month as a result. First, GEG nights are now built with a 36 hour layover due to the increased block time (MEM-GEG). This increased time made a nice grouping with SGF for the building process. Secondly, the B757 flight out of IND now goes to FNT, which is a slightly shorter duty day and flight than last month. Lastly, we have SAN-OAK-SAN (B757) flying back in a number of west coast pairings. As a result of the increased block time on the MEM-GEG segment, we had a lack of daytime pieces that work with GEG and unfortunately had to leave over 15 GEG pairings in open time that were unbuildable as this city no longer turns to itself. Thus, we have again made suggestions to the Company as to what B757 cities would alleviate this utilization issue with the B767 build. In addition, SJC experiences the same issue with not having a hook city to connect it to, thus you will see the majority of these pairing contained in the bottom 6 lines in the bid pack. We are keenly aware of the frustrations

Captain First Officer Average CH 93+37 93+37 RLG CH 89+56 89+56 R-‐day value CH 4+44 4+44 # of Regular Lines 25 25 # of Secondary Lines 5 3 # of Reserve Lines 5 4 Total # of Lines 35 32 Total CH Available (no c/o) 2340+38 2340+38 Avg CH/R day 24.6 30.8 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 95+39 95+39 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 4% 4%


PSIT: Paul Hanson J.D. Oliver Tom Rutledge Matt Gandy Stu Ledet


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[MEM 767 Continued] of this style of building and are committed to continuing to make the Company aware of our desire to build these trips in a more efficient manner. In closing, we want to say ‘thank you’ for the time spent providing feedback and criticism based on your experiences. When you encounter issues or occurrences that are outside of our norm, we encourage you to file all the applicable reports. If you aren’t sure what to do, send us an email and we will provide guidance.

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13, 15– Late reset - 6 days into the pairing and after many circadian disruptions. 16 – Multiple work-rest shifts to a late reset and a HKG drool with no rest facilities.

PSIT Notes: The build for October 2014 revealed a significant increase in credit hours and a much higher BLG average. The company requested 94 CH for captains and 92 CH for first officers. We have also found a large number of PVG drools over 7 hours that create a critical launch and a near maximum length duty. These will now be fixed going forward. Other drools (NRT & HKG) are being addressed as well with each build. Pairings 6, 7, 48, 49, and 51 will have changes or be moved to a different base. The pairings that stay in the ANC base will be available in the view add window. Peak is rapidly approaching. Fly safe and stay alert!

Captain First Officer Average CH 93:40 92:01 RLG CH 89:56 88:21 R-‐day value CH 4:44 4:39 # of Regular Lines 65(56%) 86(64%) # of Secondary Lines 22(19%) 23(17%) # of Reserve Lines 28(25%) 26(19%) Total # of Lines 115 135 Total CH Available (no c/o) 6868.7 8906.7 Avg CH/R day 12.9 18.0 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 635.5 769.8 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 9.2% 8.7%

MD-11 [email protected]

PSIT: Brian Lessin Jeff Sparks

Disputed Pairings: 13/4 OCT 15/18 OCT 16/19 OCT

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Disputed Pairing: 22/21Oct14 Pairing 22 – Disputed for cumulative fatigue resulting from 5 consecutive international duty periods without a reset. The final two duties of the sequence are a 7:28 block night hub turn (KIX-CAN-KIX) followed by a direct body clock swap into KIX-PEK-ICN. . The LAX PSIT believes it will be very challenging to ensure alertness on the final two operating duties. PSIT Notes: October is a 5 week bid month with no major holidays. The company requested a target Bid Line Guarantee (BLG) of 94:00 hours for Captains and 90:00 for First Officers. With the pairing designs presented to us by the company, we were able to build the Captains lines to 93:42 and the First Officer lines to 90:10. The target BLG request is an increase from 87:00 for Captains and 84:00 for First Officers in July (the last 5 week bid month). [LAX MD11 Continued]

Captain First Officer Average CH 93:42 90:10 RLG CH 89:56 86:27 R-‐day value CH 4:44 4:33 # of Regular Lines 34(51%) 47(57%) # of Secondary Lines 14(21%) 15(19%) # of Reserve Lines 19(28%) 20(24%) Total # of Lines 67 82 Total CH Available (no c/o) 3485 4502 Avg CH/R day 9.6 11.8 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 552 654 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 13.7% 12.7%


PSIT: Chip Brown Cody Chenoweth


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We were only able to build one pure HNL line this month due to a couple factors. First, ANC still has a large percentage of HNL flying. Second, with a high target BLG, when trying to build additional HNL lines we ran into a minimum days off problem. This means that in order to get the line value above the CBA minimum of 85:00 hours, the line didn’t have the required minimum number of days off (16 in a 5 week month). The front-end deadhead on pairing 2005 is being revised. Be advised that this trip will be available for the view/add window, and may be available during the secondary line process. Cody Chenoweth and I are constantly pursuing opportunities to improve the LAX bidpack and your feedback on line construction to: [email protected] is always welcome. Ultimately it is you, the line pilot, whose feedback is critical for any positive improvement in the LAX MD11 flying.

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PSIT Notes: The company requested BLGs of 95 hours for captains and 94 hours for FOs. These numbers are up 7 and 10 hours respectively from July, our last 5-week month. Due to the higher BLGs this month there are 30 fewer captain lines and 45 fewer FO lines. GDL and TLC are back to their 30-plus hour layovers, with the seasonal standby period added to the front end. Pairing 258’s ICN-PVG-KIX sequence was built with a 7+32 drool in PVG. Our concerns with this are several, to include the difficulty of flying in and out of PVG and the fact that the crew would have to transit Customs twice in getting to the hotel and then back to the aircraft. Our concerns were made known to the company. They’ve committed to fixing this going forward. Finally, we’re here for you so please provide us with feedback. We’ll entertain any and all suggestions and, though we can’t guarantee we’ll be able to implement them, we’ll do our best to find a suitable outcome.

Captain First Officer Average CH 95+02 94+31 RLG CH 91+12 90+53 R-‐day value CH 4+48 4+47 # of Regular Lines 319 354 # of Secondary Lines 97 104 # of Reserve Lines 88 79 Total # of Lines 504 537 Total CH Available (no c/o) 32887 36039 Avg CH/R day 19.7 24 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 1511 1717 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 4.4% 4.5%


PSIT: Charlie Sutton Rich Coombs Dan Opp Pat Rink Joe Brewster Harley Troyer

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Disputed Pairings: #47/19 OCT #52/22 OCT #47. The pairing begins with 7:04 SBH MEM-ANC critical launch. Following a 9 hour body clock shift, it operates to KIX. The crew is then subjected to a 10.5 hour shift into a multi-leg duty day of just over 8.5 hours in length. This duty period will operate through their MEM based WOCL (having not received a reset in the pairing yet). The crew will then have a 15:49 layover into a 6.5 hour duty deadhead/GT. They have another 24 hour layover with a 5 hour body clock shift into a nearly 9.5 hour multi-leg duty. #52. The pairing begins with 7:04 SBH MEM-ANC critical launch for the only reset (within 2 time zones of LBT) in the 8 day Asia trip. It operates to TPE for a 24 hour layover and shifts 8 hours into a 7+ hour duty deadhead in economy class. They will then have a 21 hour layover followed by the SIN-KIX 7:43 un-augmented duty period. They then get a 15 hour layover before operating to PVG for a 26 hour layover. They are then asked to shift their body clock 7 hours to prepare for the PVG-MEM 15+ duty day. All this occurs without a reset in Asia.


PSIT: Gregg Hall Pat Hagerty Amadee Pepper Jon Casello

Captain First Officer Average CH 95:11 94:13 RLG CH 91:31 90:34 R-‐day value CH 4:49 4:46 # of Regular Lines 138 (67%) 288 (70%) # of Secondary Lines 40 (19%) 77 (19%) # of Reserve Lines 29 (14%) 44 (11%) Total # of Lines 207 409 Total CH Available (no c/o) 13,864 28,160 Avg CH/R day 25.2 33.7 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 1,995 3,718 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 12.6% 11.7%

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[MEM 777 Continued] PSIT Notes: Greetings, Autumn is rapidly approaching and the Asia peak is in full swing. October is a 5-week bid month with Columbus Day falling on Monday the 13th. The split BLGs continue to shrink with Captains at 95:11 and First Officers at 94:13 CHs. There are a few 40-70 CH pairings in weeks 4 and 5 that we were unable to put on lines because there were not enough smaller ones to match with them. We are expecting several Extra RFO pairings to be added. They will be used to augment the IND-CDG and DXB-CDG legs. We held out pairings 105, 149, 166, 2059, and 2060 so they could be fixed or used for fixes. All of these pairings will be available during the secondary process. We would like to see CGN and STN return as pure because we need the smaller pairings to build legal lines. These cities or another sequence that can fill the 17-35 CH range are especially important in a 4 week bid month. The PSIT believes that the pairings that fly to ANC, rest, operate to Asia and then do not get a reset for another 5.5 days are virtually the same as pairings that fly directly to Asia and operate for 5.5 days without a reset. The same thing applies when we fly to Europe and then immediately transition to Asia. We would like to have a reset in the theater of operations on either the first or second layover to help mitigate acute and cumulative fatigue. Please communicate with us regarding bid pack pairings & lines, revisions & extra pairings or any scheduling issue, good, bad, or other. You may have noticed that there are no 19 hour layovers in PVG in this month’s bid pack. Communications from crewmembers helped in solving this difficult sequence. We cannot do our job without knowing the good and the bad.

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Pilot Ops Report (POR) - When submitting Pilot Ops Reports (POR) please submit a separate POR for each issue or vendor and/or city. For example, if you are on a trip and have a catering issue in MEM and a hotel issue in ATL please submit a separate POR for MEM and for ATL. Likewise, if you have a hotel problem and a ground transportation issue in MIA please submit two separate PORs. This is essential for Crew Travel Services to properly maintain reports for review that may have more than one vendor and/or city in a single POR. Also, please ensure the correct flight number, local flight date and city coincide with the city in which your issues occurred. Finally, your timely POR submission (less than 30 days) is critical for Crew Travel Services to investigate your issue. It’s difficult to resolve a vendor issue that is greater than 30 days old. Ground Transportation Meeting Points - Source the electronic Hotel Layover Directory for specific meeting point instructions at passenger terminals in CGN and DUS as well as all other international locations. Reported no shows are often caused by the fact that the crew and the vendor are waiting at different locations. The directory can be found by following these steps:

• From the webpage, select DEPARTMENTS. • From the dropdown, select FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUPPORT. • Then select CREW TRAVEL SERVICES from the left margin. • You will then see HOTEL LAYOVER DIRECTORY and LAYOVER INTERNET

AMENITIES on the left margin. • The layover cities are listed alphabetically by bid month.

Hotel Changes – The Trip Services Committee meets quarterly with Crew Travel Services to discuss hotel, catering and ground transportation vendors. A majority of the meeting involves determining whether or not to renew hotel contracts. The major factor in renewing a hotel contract is POR feedback to Crew Travel Services. If you like a specific hotel submit a positive POR. This will ensure that a vocal minority submitting negative PORs don’t change a hotel you enjoy. Pilot Ops Report (POR) – The most efficient way for management to be made aware of and correct issues pertaining to hotels, catering and ground transportation is via the Pilot Ops Report (POR). This electronic form is accessed via the pilot.fedex.com website home page. If you have a hotel, catering or ground transportation concern/issue, positive or negative, we encourage you to submit the report. These Ops Reports, combined with your correspondence to the Trip Services Committee, are reviewed at our quarterly meetings with the Company and are instrumental in making changes. We encourage input. Please e-mail us at [email protected]. Mark Stafiej, Trip Services Committee Chairman

Mike Pearcy, Trip Services Committee Vice-Chairman

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