May Bid 333 – Scheduling Notes

May Bid 333- Scheduling Notes 

Hello all and good day.

First, thank you all for your dedication and understanding during these unprecedented circumstances that we currently find ourselves in. We hope that you are doing as well as can be, staying as safe as possible and doing what you can to be healthy both physically and mentally. If you would like any assistance maintaining your wellbeing please reach out to our AFA EAP representatives who are there to assist you during these troubling times.

The overall numbers indicate that we have nearly a 50% reduction in credit from April.

As one can imagine the company is concerned with cost that can be controlled. To impact this, they want to reduce the number of overnights/hotels that we have in the month of May and have capped three and four day trips to 20% over all the bases.  AFA and IBT (pilot union), did not agree that this would be good for the crews and for our quality of life but AS/QX insisted that this is how it would be. We did talk them up to 20% as the company wanted only 10% at the start. The company placed a cap on three and four day trips to reduce hotel costs (the only cost that they can control at this time). Due to this, there were very few quality of life parameters that we could actually apply to the solutions for May. You will find that there are some long days with shorter overnights especially on the E175. For May, there are only 11 cities that the Q400 will be overnighting for the month. The company has told us that our current hotels are in flux as well and its day to day whether our current hotels will remain open. They will try to give us updated information regarding hotels as they happen.

Pairing optimization started on Friday, April 3. Optimization was supposed to start on March 20th but as you can imagine with marketing having to pull down overall flights, there was a delay. We needed to get the most current list of flying that Alaska had for us.  The company wanted AFA to agree to co-pairing with the pilots on both the Q400 and the E175 for this month (this will be the first time we will be co-paired on the E175). This will aide in the event of irregular operations allowing crew scheduling to handle the crew in whole and not separately. There are a few ways this impacts our schedules.

E175: Flying will only be out of PDX, SEA, and PAE. PDX and PAE will have less flying due to the pilots having smaller satellite bases in these locations.

Q400: flying will be in all bases with the exception of PAE. The flying will reflect where the pilots have their staffing so the amount of flying will look a little different as well.

Parameters for the Pairing Solution

The only parameters that are in the pairing solution for the E175 are:  There can be a maximum of 5 working legs per duty day with a possible 6 as a DH.  There is an 11-hour minimum rest in this month. May has 4:59 max sits set to anywhere we fly, so you will see that there are long sits on trips especially in bases. This solution will be co-paired with the pilots so we will have the same crews per trip.

The parameters that are in the pairing solution for the Q400 are:  There is the parameter that the rest cannot be shorter than the duty days either before or after said rest. So, however long your duty hours are for the day, your rest will have to match your duty or exceed it and vice versa. However long your rest is the previous night is how long your scheduled duty is the next day. So, if you work 12 hours during the day you will get at least 12 hours of scheduled rest that night and would not be scheduled for more than 12 hours the next day. There can be a maximum of 5 working legs per duty day with a possible 6 as a DH. 11:00-hour minimum rest. The month of May has 4:59 max sits overall. This solution will have us co-pairing with the pilots to keep crews together.

May:  There are a total of 512 trips on the E175 and 257 on the Q400, 769 between all bases. 

Break down by base E175: 

  • PDX has 149 total trips
  • SEA has 280 total trips
  • PAE has 83 total trips

Total of trips/day: 

Base1-Day2-Day3-Day4-Day5-Day
PDX805964N/A
SEA3919591N/A
PAE3832211 

Credit per base: 

PDX1244:3420.1%
SEA4104:4966.3%
PAE843:4313.6%

Credit Time/Duty: 

PDX:    5:21 

SEA:    4:55 

PAE:    5:33

Break down by base Q400: 

  • BOI has 41 total trips
  • GEG has 61 total trips
  • MFR has 24 total trips
  • PDX has 79 total trips
  • SEA has 65 total trips

Total of trips/day: 

Base1-Day2-Day3-Day4-Day5-Day
BOI92066 
GEG212974 
MFR91122N/A
PDX16391113N/A
SEA261277N/A

Credit per base: 

BOI399:5915.5%
GEG590:2066.3%
MFR244:009.5%
PDX847:0832.9%
SEA495:2319.2%

Credit Time/Duty: 

BOI:     4:23 

GEG:   5:05 

MFR:   5:25 

PDX:    4:43 

SEA:    5:00 

We will continue to advocate for improvements for our members each month during pairing development process. Our schedule makes a huge difference in determining our work-life balance as well as our overall pay. Again, if you have any comments or suggestions, please advise your base scheduling reps.

In solidarity,

Peter Oxentenko 
MEC Crew Scheduling Liaison

Council 17 Scheduling Chair (PDX/MFR)

Jolene Vallelunga-Heller and Sherry Busch
Council 17 Scheduling Reps (PDX)

Jana Gray
Council 17 Scheduling Rep (MFR)

Kenneth Cantu and Nicole Lajuett
Council 16 Scheduling Rep (SEA)

Heather Coleman
Council 16 Scheduling Rep (PAE)

Miria Davis
Council 16 Scheduling Rep (BOI)