Communication from the Company regarding potential Irops due to Hurricane Florence. As always, your AFA leaders will be available to assist you as well as help facilitate communications with the Company. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if there is anything you need.
· Air Operations leadership will be monitoring both the forecasted track and intensity of Hurricane Florence to determine the next steps. As we gain relevant information we will pass it along.
· For those of you who may need to return home to secure life and property please coordinate with your Inflight Supervisors and Chief Pilots. We will be assisting each affected crewmember on a case by case basis to ensure they have the needed time off. Based on the current predictions we plan to begin releasing crewmembers tomorrow morning.
· If you request to be released to secure life and property be prepared to coordinate a return to work with your Inflight Supervisor or Chief Pilot. An agreed upon return to work plan will be required prior to being released.
· Crewmembers who request to be removed from flying to protect life and property will be pay protected for guarantee, NOT for flying lost. We will use a NAVL code to indicate this on your schedule.
· In order to ensure that we can release those crewmembers who may be affected by the storm we will operate with the expectation that all other crewmembers who are scheduled will be in position to operate their assigned trips. Unplanned absences by crewmembers compounded with those who will be absent to protect life and property will stress our ability to operate reliably. Please communicate early with your Inflight Supervisor’s or Chief Pilots so we all can coordinate for the best possible outcome.
· Hotel Accommodations – As the storm moves through the eastern seaboard flights will most likely be at high capacity due to probable cancellations and re-accommodation of revenue passengers. Non-rev travel may be difficult. To ease this, we are approving hotels in base this week for crewmembers who are willing and able to preposition into their base for a trip the next day.
· Additionally, if your trip is broken in your domicile we will attempt to secure a hotel room for you.
· Flight Cancellations – Cancellations will be probable but won’t be known for some time. Again, we anticipate high call volume to Scheduling once again as schedule reassignments are processed. As we have done before, if you are part of a crew please coordinate with the Captain as the single point of contact with Crew Scheduling. This will help our Crew Schedulers operate more efficiently.
· Text Notification System – One great way to stay informed is to opt-in to the text notification system. Doing so helps reduce call volume to Crew Scheduling and allows for efficient and timely reassignments.
· Twitter – Also, if you have Twitter following @psaocc is a great way to receive relevant operational updates from OCC, particularly in dynamic weather conditions.
· Deadhead PNR’s can sometimes be problematic during these events with rapidly changing schedules. Please ensure you have checked for your deadhead at least 30 minutes prior to departure, or as soon as reasonably practical if you are on a delayed inbound flight. This process allows us to capture PNR’s that may not be booked correctly and correct the errors before the flight departs and ensure you are able to get to your destinations. Contact Crew Scheduling as soon as you know of a PNR issue.