SIG PROCESS RECAP: Pairings and line averages continue to ...fdx.alpa.org/Portals/26/docs/March 2015...

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

SIG PROCESS RECAP: Pairings and line averages continue to resemble the previous month. A few exceptions include Hong Kong averages increasing. The MD11 and Airbus fleet targets are moving higher, but we are told to anticipate them reducing as their respective aircraft are retired throughout the coming year. SIG Quarterly Meeting: This month we conducted our SIG Quarterly meeting. The business plan for FY 16 is currently being developed. The perception across all departments is that the previous peak was an overall success. However, the aircraft retirement and acquisition plans formulated last year currently appear adequate. As major maintenance checks become due in both A300 and MD10/11 aircraft, they will be retired. A large number of those aircraft are still scheduled for retirement between now and May. That being said, as the business plan becomes finalized in the next few months, plans may change. The company still has many challenges ahead as they incorporate new 757,767, 777 aircraft and develop/transition the Indianapolis and Hong Kong bases. Summary of the Build: Higher BLG targets are again the norm for the month in the MD11 and A300 MEM. MEM 757, IND 767, CGN 757 have split BLGs. As training continues from the 2014 postings, we expect to see these BLGs even out. An assortment of pairing lengths in each bidpack allow for greater flexibility for a number of reasons:

- Provides a variety of choice in building both regular and secondary lines. - Facilitates trip trading. - Allows for a better balance of bidding options during months that have

vacation, training, carryover, etc. These are important statements related to CBA 25.BB. C.1.a.iii. We are working with the company on addressing this issue in order to find a better balance.

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[SIG Notes Continued] Pairing Assessment Process: The SIG requests help from operating 777 crew-members. The 777 continues to fly pairings never previously seen. Please email the 777 PSIT team with your concerns.

Disputed Pairing Process: The QRO trip in the 757 MEM constitutes two of the pairing disputes. A pair of 777 and a trio of ANC pairings round out the other five pairings disputed. Please see the descriptions below in the respective PSIT Notes. Disputed Pairings: ANC MD11 #14 7 March ANC MD11 #27 13 March ANC MD11 #30 20 March MEM 757 #303 3, 4, 5 March MEM 757 #304 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26 March MEM 777 #138 17 March MEM 777 #171 11 March 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

With most routings and average line guarantees remaining similar to the previous two months there was not much new in March. For March, the PSIT team reviewed nearly 2900 prelim & final

pairings. We requested over 800 pairing changes. After working through numerous issues during build week, the ALPA SIG ended with 7 disputes.

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Disputes: None. PSIT Notes:

March is a 4-week bid month. Daylight Savings Time in the US begins on 8 March. We were able to build 23 lines at an average of 72:38.

There are a number of long night hub turns to/ from ICN and KUL surrounding the min MNL overnight. Your feedback is requested on any issues you experience.

**Heads up** Chinese New Year is Feb 19. The worlds largest human migration, officially known as The Spring Festival travel season/ Chunyun runs from Feb 4 –Mar 16. There will be extremely high traffic loads during this period. Plan ahead, caution while deviating, and book your transportation tickets early.

I would like to thank the pilots that have taken time to file a scheduling PIREP. Log in at fdx.alpa.org, on the first page under the scheduling tab is the PIREP button. Your feedback is paramount to resolving these issues!

Captain First Officer Average CH 72+38 72+38 RLG CH 69+45 69+45 R-‐day value CH 4+39 4+39 # of Regular Lines 23 (49%) 23 (49%) # of Secondary Lines 15 (32%) 14 (30%) # of Reserve Lines 9 (19%) 10 (21%) Total # of Lines 47 47 Total CH Available (no c/o) 1999 1999 Avg CH/R day 14.8 13.3 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 275 275 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 12.1% 12.1%

[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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Disputes: None.

PSIT Notes: March is a 4-week month with no major holidays. Be aware of the start of Daylight Saving Time on Sunday, 8 Mar. The one big change we had this month was the loss of the BNA-IND weeklong pairings to the 767. We will also gain, beginning with the carryout pairing, weekend layovers in ABE. Otherwise, the bidpack remained fairly stable and we expect that it will remain so until the stand-up of the HKG 767/757 domicile. BLG targets, set by the company for our build, remain very high. As a result of this high target, we have 63 of 214 lines, or 29% of the bidpack, with the CBA minimum number of 13 days off. It also results in undesirable build issues as we have to add pairings to lines with the sole intent of increasing the overall credit hour average while, in many cases, degrading the overall quality or purity of some lines.

[email protected]

PSIT Mike Pearcy Harry Edwards Curt Henry

Captain First Officer Average CH 76+32 76+32 RLG CH 73+30 73+30 R-‐day value CH 4+54 4+54 # of Regular Lines 214 214 # of Secondary Lines 62 48 # of Reserve Lines 57 47 Total # of Lines 333 309 Total CH Available (no c/o) 16,756 16,756 Avg CH/R day 19.6 23.8 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 1,060 1,060 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 5.9% 5.9%


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Disputes: None

PSIT Notes: March is a 4-week bid month. We begin Daylight Savings Time on 29 March. The US begins DST on 8 March. This month the company asked us to build the CA lines to an average BLG of 72CHs and the FO lines to 74CHs. You will note small differences between seats.

Beginning with week 2, all BUD trips are again paired with BSL.

STN is back as three week-long pairings.

There were 4 FO involuntary RSV conversions in February. If you are near the bottom of the RSV lines, you may consider VOLUNTARY reserve conversion if you need certain days off protected. Contact the PSIT with any questions.

[email protected]

PSIT Andrew Hall Scott Hubin

Captain First Officer Average CH 72+36 73+34 RLG CH 6:45 70:30 R-‐day value CH 4:39 4:42 # of Regular Lines 24 (55%) 24 (59%) # of Secondary Lines 9 (20%) 7 (17%) # of Reserve Lines 11 (25%) 10 (24%) Total # of Lines 44 41 Total CH Available (no c/o) 1798.3 1798.3 Avg CH/R day 10.9 12.0 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 250 250 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 12.2% 12.2%


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Disputes: 303/03MAR, 303/04MAR, 303/05MAR, 304/10MAR, 304/11MAR, 304/12MAR, 304/17MAR, 304/18MAR, 304/19MAR, 304/24MAR, 304/25MAR, 304/26MAR

PSIT Notes: March is a four-week bid month with Daylight Savings Time beginning on 8 March. Once again, the Company has requested a split BLG target between Captains (76.0) and First Officers (70.5). The difference in targets required us to find credit hour combinations to ensure we remained within our parameters. Given that a lot of our Week 1 flying was carry-over from February, we had to find mix alternatives in a few cases for both captains and first officers. Overall we experienced very little change in our pairings, though we did lose the ICT day and night pieces. ICT now operates as a morning and afternoon out-and-back on TUE/WED/THU. This resulted in us having to use another hook-city (TLH) with GJT (only used six TLH occurrences to make this work).

[email protected]

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

Captain First Officer Average CH 76+02 71+15 RLG CH 73+00 68+30 R-‐day value CH 4+52 4+34 # of Regular Lines 141 151 # of Secondary Lines 40 38 # of Reserve Lines 32 64 Total # of Lines 213 253 Total CH Available (no c/o) 11152+29 11152+29 Avg CH/R day 23.2 11.6 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 745+40 745+40 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 6.7% 6.7%

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[B757 Memphis Continued] In addition, we lost the week-four ABE weekend layover to the Airbus, and are not sure if this will continue into APR or not. However, we were able to maintain ABE as week-on/week-off by flying out of the weekend layover in week-two. The week-long tour-America pairings continue. We are asking for feedback on any of these pairings (most transit EWR or AFW) as we attempt to determine if we need to find solutions that increase the quality of these trips. Lastly, we continue to dispute the MEM-BFM-QRO critical duty sequence as the PSIT has a number of concerns on this pairing design. We ask that you take time to complete POR’s, SIG PIREPS, and/or fatigue reports (as applicable) if you experience issues on this or any pairing you operate (you don’t have to make a fatigue call in order to file a fatigue report.)


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Disputes: None

PSIT Notes: March is a 4-week bid month with no major holidays impacting the build. Daylight Savings Time begins on 8 March. Credit hours increased almost 10% from February. Build targets were 76 credit hours for Captain and 72 credit hours for First Officer. Almost 50% of the CA lines are at the minimum days off due to the combination of high BLGs and pairing designs. The BLG split between seats resulted in differences in lines requiring caution when trying to buddy bid. Due to long (11+04) back-to-back SWF duty periods, SWF was mixed with ATL to mitigate cumulative fatigue. Designated 757 flying this month, trip equipment code F22 or F23, includes ABE, SWF, DFW-EWR, EWR DHs, and new to the bid pack this month, MSY-AFW-PDX.

[email protected]


Captain First Officer Average CH 76+03 72+00 RLG CH 73+00 69+15 R-‐day value CH 4+52 4+37 # of Regular Lines 13 (68%) 14 (61%) # of Secondary Lines 3 (16%) 4 (17%) # of Reserve Lines 3 (16%) 5 (22%) Total # of Lines 19 23 Total CH Available (no c/o) 988 988 Avg CH/R day 22 13.2 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 35 35 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 3.5% 3.5%


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Disputes: None

PSIT Notes: March is a 4-week month. No holidays impacted this month’s build. Daylight Savings Time begins on 8 March. We still have a high number of unturnable West coast pairings that require mixing. We mixed BFM on both the day and night side to create sequences that minimized the number of departures on those lines. We have requested an additional short leg city in future months to improve this situation even further. Your feedback is always appreciated. Fly safe.

[email protected]


Captain First Officer Average CH 75+05 75+05 RLG CH 72+00 72+00 R-‐day value CH 4:48 4:48 # of Regular Lines 45(80%) 45(67%) # of Secondary Lines 5(9%) 13(19%) # of Reserve Lines 6(11%) 9(14%) Total # of Lines 56 67 Total CH Available (no c/o) 3378+39 3378+39 Avg CH/R day 37.5 25.0 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 160+56 160+56 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 4.8% 4.8%


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Disputes: 14/07MAR, 27/13MAR, 30/20MAR

PSIT Notes: We have three (3) disputed pairings this month. Each of the three operates one time. The three pairings, while not identical, are disputed for the same reasons. 14/07MAR is disputed for having only a single reset to mitigate the initial circadian disruption from the ANC- ICN leg and work-rest shifts while in Asia around the MNL reset that occurs nearly 7 days into the pairing. 27/13MAR is disputed for having a single reset in NRT to mitigate the initial circadian disruption from the ANC-KIX leg and work-rest shifts on either side of the NRT reset 5 days into the pairing. 30/20MAR is disputed for having a single reset in KIX to mitigate the initial circadian disruption from the ANC-KIX leg and the work-rest shifts on either side of the KIX reset 5 day into the pairing.

[email protected]

PSIT Brian Lessin Jeff Sparks

Captain First Officer Average CH 76:46 76:47 RLG CH 73:45 73:45 R-‐day value CH 4:55 4:55 # of Regular Lines 64(59%) 74(62%) # of Secondary Lines 23(21%) 23(19%) # of Reserve Lines 22(20%) 22(19%) Total # of Lines 107 119 Total CH Available (no c/o) 5333 6180 Avg CH/R day 16.16 18.72 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 495 575 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 9.3% 9.3%

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[Anchorage MD-11 Continued] There was not much change this month in the ANC bidpack and pairing design. We asked for some fixes in the prelim stage of pairing review and most requests were accommodated. The few requests that were not fixed ended up being the above pairings. This was a relatively benign month for the build. Remember, Daylight Savings Time begins on 8 March.


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Disputes: None

PSIT Notes: March is a 4-week month with no major holidays that affected the build design. Daylight Savings Time in begins on 8 March. The company requested a target Bid Line Guarantee of 77:00 for both Captains and First Officers. CRP has designed a new iteration of the domestic MEM day turn pairing (pairings 4, 5, 6 and 7 in the bidpack). The new design, created to increase efficiency in our domicile, turns to cities such as ELP, SEA and GSO. We agree with the company that pairing efficiency is important for the long-term viability of our domicile. Therefore, we are working to find a more operationally successful solution that will work to maintain both LAX and MEM MD11 bidpack quality. Be advised that the back end DHs on pairings 28 and 67 are being revised in order to keep the crew on partner (code share) airlines for the two-leg DH between PEN and ICN. These trips will vary from their bidpack form.

[email protected]

PSIT Chip Brown

Cody Chenoweth

Captain First Officer Average CH 76:33 77:00 RLG CH 73:30 74:00 R-‐day value CH 4:54 4:56 # of Regular Lines 38(64%) 47(60%) # of Secondary Lines 11(18%) 14(18%) # of Reserve Lines 11(18%) 17(22%) Total # of Lines 60 78 Total CH Available (no c/o) 3029 3697 Avg CH/R day 18.4 14.5 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 866 906 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 22% 20%

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Disputes: None

PSIT Notes: March is a 4-week bid month with no holidays. Daylight Savings Time begins on 8 March. The company requested a target Bid Line Guarantee of 77:00 hours for Captains and First Officers. ELP, GSO and some SEA day flights were moved to the LAX bid pack to create more efficient flying for the LAX domicile. We have requested those flights be returned to the MEM bid pack next month. We lost ROC this month but picked up ATL days and nights. Each month cities swap between the MD11/10, Airbus and 767. This will continue, as markets are targeted month-to-month placing the correct gage aircraft to these markets. We continue to see the shrinking layovers before back end deadheads. There are 20 pairings this month with back end layovers under 8:10. Please be aware of CBA 12.C.6.a, which states, “A domestic rest period shall be scheduled for not less than 9 hours (8 hours when the following duty period consists entirely of deadhead to base), and shall operationally be not less than 8 hours.” Several of these pairings are scheduled with 8:00 layover prior to the back end deadhead.

[email protected]

PSIT Charlie Sutton Rich Coombs Dan Opp Pat Rink

Joe Brewster Harley Troyer

Captain First Officer Average CH 76:46 76:45 RLG CH 73:45 73:45 R-‐day value CH 4:55 4:55 # of Regular Lines 295 (64%) 339 (66%) # of Secondary Lines 93(20%) 89(17%) # of Reserve Lines 75(16%) 83(16%) Total # of Lines 463 511 Total CH Available (no c/o) 24376 27798 Avg CH/R day 21.7 22.3 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 1413 1905 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 5.5% 6.4%

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[Memphis MD-11 Continued] Check your times after block-in. If you have less than the CBA required layover of 8:00, please contact the Duty Officer and have your pairing rebuilt to show a legal rest. See pairing 15 as an example. We addressed flight 0693 (FLL-MEM) with the company during the SIG Quarterly Meeting and they are looking into this situation. Currently, flight 0693 (FLL-MEM) is being held on the ground until MIA-MEM is airborne.


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Disputes: 138/17, 171/11 Pairing 138/17: This crew does 4 live legs and 2 Pacific Ocean crossings before the only reset in this 11-day pairing. We requested an additional reset early in the pairing, to fight this cumulative fatigue. Again, this pairing has large circadian shifts, and has an un-augmented NRT-ANC flight prior to the first reset. Pairing 171/11: This pairing has 4 live legs with 3 Pacific Ocean crossings before the only reset in this pairing. We requested an additional reset early in this pairing. There are over 41 Block hours prior to the first reset. PSIT Notes: March is a 4-week month. The USA will Spring forward to DST March 8th. Pairings 38 and 48 were held out by the company to be rebuilt. Pairings 20/05 March and 117/17 March were held out of the FO bid pack. These pairings were above the contractual 13-hour split between high and low paying lines and will be available during the conflict and secondary line process. We were able to have a few more Europe or Asia only pairings built. However, we also have many trips that “sling shot” back to Memphis from their farthest layover.

[email protected]

PSIT Gregg Hall Pat Hagerty Amadee Pepper Jon Casello

Captain First Officer Average CH 76+35 76+28 RLG CH 73+30 73+30 R-‐day value CH 4+54 4+54 # of Regular Lines 127 (61%) 265 (67%) # of Secondary Lines 41 (20%) 77 (19%) # of Reserve Lines 39 (19%) 55 (14%) Total # of Lines 207 397 Total CH Available (no c/o) 10914 22094 Avg CH/R day 18.7 26.8 Carry-‐in CH from previous month 1978 3517 Credit hours carry-‐in to Total CHs 16.9% 14.8%

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[777 Memphis Continued] Please note CAN-CGN and NRT-MEM will transition back to 3 pilot crews in April as the scheduled block for these 2 segments changes to exactly 12:00. Unfortunately, this is the contractual cut off from 4 to 3 pilots, and another pilot will not be scheduled on these legs.


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Hotel Notes: General Info:

1. Crewmember Bag Security – As a security precaution, do not leave you bags unattended when checking-in or checking-out from the hotel. There have been more than one report of unattended crewmember bags being stolen from hotel lobbies

2. Non-Smoking Guest Rooms – When guest rooms are designated as “non-smoking” that also includes the use of E-CIGS. If you violate the hotel’s policy, the hotel cleaning fee charged is the same as if you were smoking cigarettes.

BMI Update – The Company recently issued FCIF 15-0045 (Hotel) and as of January 30th the PIA FedEx operation moved to BMI (Bloomington, IN). Until both the Company and the committee can complete their respective inspections, The Chateau Hotel will be used as a non-contract hotel. Please provide POR feedback on this hotel as it is one of the hotels under consideration for contract. BUR Update - The Company recently issued FCIF 14-0419 (Hotel) announcing The Holiday Inn Burbank as our temporary non-contract hotel. Once the Company and committee complete their respective inspections, an FCIF will be issued announcing the new contract hotel. In the meantime, please provide POR feedback on The Holiday Inn Burbank, one of the hotels under contract consideration. CDG Update – As of February 1st, FedEx Corporate Security has determined there is no longer a Paris security threat and all layovers scheduled for our three downtown hotels will be moved back downtown. IND Update – The 2015 NCAA Men’s Final Four Basketball Tournament will be held in Indianapolis on April 4 & 6. Due to the limited number of IND airport and downtown hotel rooms, the Company has asked you to cancel your hotel room on those dates if you do not intend to use your room. JFK Update – Our current downtown hotel, The Sheraton Hotel & Towers New York, decided not to renew their contract. As of April 1st, rooms that had been downtown will be moved to our other JFK contract hotels. LGB Update – Due to consistent LGB layovers a decision has been made to contract a hotel. The Company and committee will conduct their inspections in

Trip Services Solutions

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March. Once a decision has been made on a contract hotel the Company will issue an FCIF. LHR Update – Due to an increased number of layovers, a contract hotel is required. The Sheraton Skyline Hotel London Heathrow has been used on a non-contract basis. Please provide POR feedback on this hotel as it is one of the hotels under contract consideration. MIA Update – Our downtown hotel, The Courtyard by Marriott Coconut Grove, decided not to renew their contract. The Company is using on a non-contract basis The Hotel Indigo Miami Lakes until both the Company and committee can complete their respective inspections. Please provide POR feedback on this hotel as it is one of the two hotels under consideration for contract. ORD Update – For the past several months, our downtown layovers have been at The Intercontinental Chicago Magnificent Mile on a non-contract basis. The Company recently issued FCIF 15-0051 (Hotel) and direct billing has been established. QRO Update – Due to consistent QRO layovers a decision has been made to contract a hotel. The Company and committee will conduct their inspections in March. Once a decision has been made on a contract hotel the Company will issue an FCIF. Catering Notes: International Jumpseat Meals – There is no provision for caterers to provide a jumpseat “default” meal for crewmembers jumpseating on international flights. Please submit your on-line meal request if you want to be guaranteed a meal on your flight. New Spring/Summer Menus – The new menus will begin on April 1st. Due to POR feedback, the Company has decided to “go back to the basics” in their new menu items. Please provide POR feedback starting in April on the new menu items. TPE Update – If you operate the TPE-KIX flight, you will be catered with a Deli Plate regardless of your duty time due to your late KIX arrival and lack of restaurant options. Please submit a POR if you do not receive a Deli Plate on that flight leg sequence. Vegetarian Meals – Based on POR feedback the Company has added a vegetarian meal option for most of the Asian cities providing catering. Ground Transportation Notes:

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HNL Update – Due to numerous service failures over the past few years, our contract with VIP Transportation will not be renewed. Our new vendor starting March 1st will be Roberts Hawaii. Roberts vehicles will have the same ramp access to pick up crews at the aircraft as VIP. 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. Please submit a separate POR for each issue (For example, please submit one POR for a hotel issue and if there was also a ground transportation issue please submit a second POR.). 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. Mark Stafiej, Trip Services Committee Chairman Mike Pearcy, Trip Services Committee Vice-Chairman

Disputed PairingsA300 HKGA300 MEMB757 EURB757 MEMB767 INDB767 MEMMD11 ANCMD11 LAXMD11 MEM777 MEMTrip Services Solutions

SIG PROCESS RECAP: Pairings and line averages continue to ...fdx.alpa.org/Portals/26/docs/March 2015...

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