APA News Digest

Aug. 25, 2023

Editor’s note: Some links in this message will work best if you log in to AlliedPilots.org before clicking them.

In This Edition ...

We’re Updating Our Library to Reflect New Language

This is a new message from the APA Compass Project Committee.

The Compass Project Committee has an extensive library of documents and guides that are a great resource to all our pilots. Some of the topics covered include reserve, vacation, and schedule changes among many others. A lot of the information in the library is based on the 2015 Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement. Now that the Tentative Agreement has been ratified by the membership, the Compass Project documents will be revised accordingly to reflect the new contract language and references for the 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

This revision process will take some time. Subject matter experts from each committee affected by the new changes will work with the Compass Project documents team to get these revisions completed accurately and expeditiously. This means that the material contained in our current library will be obsolete, so pilots are cautioned that the information in these documents may not necessarily match the new 2023 CBA.

While we complete these changes, the documents that have not been revised in compliance with the 2023 CBA will be easily identified. Each outdated document will have a front cover with a red outline and a warning in red letters advising that the document or guide is in the process of being revised. Additionally, each page of the document will be gray instead of white. As we complete the revisions, the front cover warning and gray pages will be removed, signifying the document or guide is ready to use with the most current 2023 CBA information.

We will do our very best to have this new information available as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

The APA Compass Project is an industry-leading pilot mentoring and support program. Compass offers one-on-one support from experienced line-pilot sponsors, as well as tutorial videos and an extensive database of stage-based documents covering a number of helpful topics that are beneficial to all pilots. Click here for more information.

Join Our *NEW* Contract Compliance Training

This is a new message from the APA Contract Compliance Committee.

Everything you wanted to know about the 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement but were too afraid to ask!

Join us at 0900 Central on Sept. 13 for a full day of training on the new CBA.

Please take a few moments before the training to familiarize yourself with the Electronic Document Index. You must be logged in to AlliedPilots.org for the links to be accessible. This Index connects you to a vast array of APA documents that we will reference. It is equally useful in the daily operation as a line pilot, so we recommend you retain the Index for future reference. During the training, it may be helpful to have two screens; one to run Zoom and one to reference these documents.

A Zoom account (it’s free!) is required to attend the training course. For those who are not familiar with Zoom, APA IT has created a Zoom Quick Reference Guide. (We plan to offer in-person training sessions soon.)

Click here to register for the Sept. 13 training course.

Help us help you! The Contract Compliance Committee’s goal is for you – the membership – to be informed, educated, and knowledgeable. Every single pilot should strive to be a contract expert or, at the very least, strive for continued learning and engagement. Knowledge is power, and it will assist you in employing and being a watchdog of your negotiated work rules.

Reassignment Premium

This is the latest in a series of Q&As from the APA Contract Compliance Committee.

Q: I am operating a sequence and have been reassigned. Do I receive additional pay?

A: Both Lineholders and Reserves are eligible for Reassignment Premium pay via Section 15.N.4. LOA 23-004 partially implements the 15.N.4 language for all sequences with a FOS date of 01AUG23 or later. Until full implementation (no later than DOS plus 6 months), all reassigned segments will pay an additional 50%. After full implementation, reassigned segments in the first duty period will continue to pay an additional 50% and reassigned segments in subsequent duty periods will pay an additional 100%.

Reassignments must be coded as “AF” at the segment level or “RA” at the sequence level. The Reassignment Premium pay will continue until the pilot is returned to their originally scheduled sequence, or when the sequence concludes.

If a Lineholder experiences a Misconnect, Illegality, or Cancellation (MIC), Recovery Flying could be assigned. Recovery Flying is not a Reassignment, is not eligible for Reassignment Premium pay, and will be coded as “RO.” If a Reserve experiences a disruption, a Reschedule (Section 2.A.60) can occur. Reserves who are rescheduled should expect “25” coding with the associated rescheduled segments.

CBA Section 15.N.4
4. In addition to 2. or 3. above, when a pilot is reassigned that pilot shall also receive a premium of:
a. pay, no credit, at a rate of one-half (50 percent) times the pilot’s hourly base pay rate for that the reassigned time flown prior to the first break in duty following the reassignment;
b. pay, no credit, at a rate of one (100 percent) times the pilot’s hourly base pay rate for the reassigned time flown subsequent to the first break in duty.
c. the premium pay in a. and b. above will cease at the earlier of the pilot being returned to their originally scheduled sequence, or the pilot completing the sequence.
d. Any additional flight time pay and credit associated with paragraphs E., F. or G that was generated as a result of the reassignment outside the original sequence footprint does not qualify for the premium described in a. or b. above.

Section 2.A.60. Reschedule
A pilot shall be deemed rescheduled when assigned flying that is contained within the original sequence footprint or within the pilot’s Recovery Flying Window, as applicable, following a disruption to the pilot’s scheduled sequence. The original sequence footprint or Recovery Flying Window may be extended if the pilot flies or is deadheaded on the first available flight(s) to base. The “first available flight to base” is the flight(s) that arrives at the base the earliest. The flight(s) may be direct or indirect.

Tell Us About Your Experiences in China

This is a new message from the APA Military Affairs Subcommittee.

Attention, all current and former military pilots required to get a Chinese visa by American Airlines: We are looking for any anecdotal stories or evidence regarding denied visa applications, requests for additional information about your military background, any additional questioning on arrival in China, or anything else having to do with China’s visa program. As APA President CA Ed Sicher said in his membership message earlier this week, we are continuing to engage with AA management, as well as the U.S. State and Defense departments, on this issue; your stories or evidence will help provide the data we need. Please email us via militaryaffairs@alliedpilots.org. Thank you for your assistance.

Other Work Groups Need Our Support Next Week

This is an updated message from the APA Strike and Tactical Operations Planning Committee.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants plans to conduct informational picketing at our 10 base airports, plus MCO, on Aug. 30, when they will announce the results of their strike authorization vote. The picket times will be either from 1000 to 1200 or from 1100 to 1300. If you can stand with your fellow crewmembers that day, click here to RSVP.

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association plans to conduct informational picketing at five airports (ATL, BWI, HOU, LAX, and MDW) on Aug. 31. If you can stand with your fellow pilots that day, click here to RSVP.

Pigs of the Week

APA commends American Airlines’ hardworking aircraft maintenance technicians for their outstanding work. We believe they are the best in the business. When repetitive problems do arise, they’re often due to managerial decisions that fail to properly prioritize tasks and to management’s decision to outsource a significant portion of the airline’s maintenance to offshore, third-party repair stations.

  • Since July 10, B777 aircraft 7BG has been written up 15 times for APU bleed air. It has been on MEL five times, and in the last week has been out of service five times. At the time of this writing, it remained out of service and restricted from revenue ETOPS.
  • The left engine EGT on A321 aircraft 856 has been written up 24 times since May. It was most recently signed off on Aug. 22, but it was out of service at the time of this writing.
  • In the last month, the flight deck door on A319 aircraft 753 has been written up 21 times and been out of service five times; several of those were for opening during revenue operations. It was most recently signed off on Aug. 24.
  • UPDATE 1: Since May 26, A319 aircraft 757 has been written up 23 times for right engine bleed air and been out of service 15 times. At the time of this writing, it was restricted to AA maintenance stations.
  • UPDATE 2: Since Aug. 6, B737 aircraft 3AA has been written up six times and has been out of service five times because all the lavatories are inoperative. It most recently returned to service on Aug. 24.

APA Welcomes New Pilots

This is a new message from the APA Membership Committee.

Click the image for a closer look.

The APA Membership Committee welcomed the following pilots during a casual dinner on Aug. 22: Luz Agudelo, Mohammed Ahmed, Heather Atkinson, Marvin Borda, Patrick Bynum, Freddy Cabrera, William Cardona, Brian Cleys, Timothy Corimbelly, Carder Ehlert, James Fennell, Casey Ferris, Aaron Finke, Conor Fox, Miller Franklin, John Gelinne, Jamison Giles, Tyler Goodwin, Kathryn Guello, Justin Hackett, Peter Hathaway, Nicolas Hauzeur, Sloan Hollis, Jesper Jensen, William Joachim, Joshua Johnson, Logan Johnston, Jeong Kim, Adam King, Andrew Klosterman, Stefano Kolyouthapong, Cody Kontny, Kasiri Landon, Paul Latina, Semi Lemafa, Johannes Lombard, Eric Lourenco De Souza, Chad Manske, Glenn Matheny II, Cole Moore, Kyle Oser, Evan Pappas, Evander Pinder, Jon Pounds, Nicholas Ramirez, Amber Ranski, Andrew Repper, Steven Riddle, Alberto Salamanca Alvarez, Omer Sinayis, Alexander Smith, Joseph Stepp, Colton Thomas, Tandy Whitehead, and Benjamin Wiscomb.

APA Welcomes Captains’ Leadership Class

This is a new message from the APA Membership Committee.

On Aug. 23, the APA Membership Committee hosted a casual dinner for the following pilots who were in Fort Worth for American Airlines’ Professionalism, Leadership, and Mentoring class: Keene Cameron, William Foulk III, Milton Gandhi, Walter Hohmann, Jeffrey Kerr, James Kochenower, Ricardo Mata, Austin Norton, and Andrew Ohara.

Domicile Events

Get more details about these upcoming events at AlliedPilots.org/Calendar:

  • BOS: Concourse Conversations on Sept. 21
  • CLT: Retirement Dinner on Sept. 17; Runway 5K on Oct. 21
  • DCA: Flying Circus Aerodrome on Sept. 17; Memorial Golf Tournament on Sept. 28
  • LAX: Reno Air Races on Sept. 13-17; Fleet Week lunch aboard the San Francisco Belle Sun on Oct. 8; San Diego Yacht Club party on Nov. 2; Dave & Buster’s event at LAS on Dec. 5
  • LGA: New York Mets game on Sept. 2

Domicile Elections

CA Brian Sweep and FO Jim Varden have withdrawn their candidacies for PHL Chair and PHX Chair, respectively.

Election Round ballots listing the following candidates will be mailed on Sept. 7 and tallied on Sept. 28.

PHL Chair
FO Michael Drost
CA Francis Heid

PHL Vice Chair
FO Jordan Glasner
CA Brian Sweep

PHX Chair
CA Herschel Beard IV
CA Michael Saracino

PHX Vice Chair
FO Jeremy Ryder
FO Jim Varden

Candidates’ resumes were mailed to PHL and PHX pilots on Aug. 9, when they were also posted on the APA Elections webpage.

If you have any questions, call 817-302-2175.

Week in Review

The following messages were sent since last week’s News Digest was published.

Are You Willing to Serve?

Each of these national committees or subcommittees has the indicated number of vacancies:

  • Aeromedical Committee (1)
    • Critical Incident Response Program (1)
    • Disabled Pilot Awareness Subcommittee (3)
    • Human Intervention Motivation Study Subcommittee (3)
    • Pilot Occupational Health Subcommittee (2)
    • Project Wingman Subcommittee (3)
  • Captain’s Authority Committee (4)
  • Communications Committee (0)
    • National Communications Network (6)
  • Compass Project (5)
  • Grey Eagles Liaison Committee (1)
  • Jumpseat/Non-Rev Committee (2)
  • Professional Standards Committee (1)
  • Retirement & Benefits Committee (2)
  • Safety Committee (0)
    • Environmental Sustainability in Aviation Subcommittee (2)
  • Scheduling Committee (7)
  • Training Committee (3)
    • Checkmate (1 on 777 and 1 on 320)

If you would like to serve on one or more of these committees, visit the Member Engagement Portal.

Professional Standards FAQs

Do committee volunteers receive any kind of training?
New committee volunteers receive an extensive two-day training course that includes more than 16 hours of classroom instruction. The training includes modules such as Conflict Resolution, Mediation, Mentoring, Pilot Personality, Generational Issues Affecting Cockpit Performance, Resources, and Communication Skills. Committee members also receive instruction on the Professional Standards process, the APA Policy Manual, and the importance of confidentiality. These concepts are reinforced through multiple role-play scenarios.

To read all of the FAQs, click here.

Professional Standards’ 24/7 hotline: 817-402-2181

Honoring and Supporting Veterans

100 Vets Who Give A Damn DFW is a group of like-minded veterans who want to make an impact on military charities. Technically, the group does not exist; it has no directors, officers, or treasurers. Its core group of organizers are simply volunteers generously donating their time to try and make a difference.

Three organizations are randomly chosen from a list of member-nominated charities. Representatives for those organizations are asked to make five-minute presentations about why they deserve the group’s support. After the presentations, the charity that receives the most votes from the vets in the room will be the suggested recipient. Each veteran then writes a check to the suggested charity and/or the ones that moved them the most.

The next meeting at the C.R. Smith Museum in Fort Worth is scheduled for Sept. 21, when the vets will hear from Brother’s Keeper, Hero Lab, and Project Sanctuary. Click here for more information.

If You’re 50, Join The Grey Eagles

Are you a pilot for American Airlines, at least age 50, active or retired? Please join The Grey Eagles for food, fun, and fellowship. We offer cruises, conventions, monthly luncheons, retirement dinners, professional mentoring, and assistance to surviving spouses – all for a one-time lifetime fee.

Pilot Job Fairs and Future Pilot Seminars

Future & Active Pilot Advisors’ next Pilot Job Fair and Future Pilot Seminar are scheduled for Sept. 30 at TPA followed by Oct. 14 at DFW. Click here for more information.

Industry News

For more about what’s happening in the industry, be sure to visit the Industry News page on AlliedPilots.org.

Connect with Us: Facebook | Instagram| Twitter| TikTok| YouTube
Contact Us: Phone - 817.302.2272 | Website - AlliedPilots.org