spudley007

I'm happy to hear this for the A321 as that's that's the largest single aisle aircraft that doesn't board from the middle door. It seems to be the toughest one to board quickly. Now, none of this matters during quick turns, but it will be good to have a little more time to make an ontime departure.

paterwdb

Lucky reports (not sure the source) that the FAs will receive pay only for the published boarding time (D-40) at the reduced pay rate. So if they start boarding and then delay, they aren't paid for that whole portion of time.

I am much more worried that the "if ready early, leave early" will turn into pressure on the GAs to start removing F passengers running late from their seats and processing upgrades even earlier. I have twice had situations where I've been D-14 or so and showed up and told "if I let you on the plane, you can't have your seat back" because they've processed upgrades and technically, you have to be on board D-15.

Finally, I'll put in my on going pitch that they need to reinstate the Sky Priority boarding lane at all gates and airports. I hate getting to the gate and waiting behind the whole line of Main Cabin people.

Twohitwonder

Unfortunately, our carry on policy says we can ask for small items to go under the seat, but we can’t force it. Most people are happy to move things when we are rearranging to fit more bags.

We are trying to improve plane to gate communication about bag space. It’s difficult to estimate sometimes because we never know how many bags are in the jetbridge waiting to come on.

Twohitwonder

Most cleaning is done by a dedicated cleaning crew who will check seat pockets, cross seatbelts, vacuum, remove trash, and clean lavs.
FAs are responsible during that time before boarding for checking correct catering, briefing with the flight deck, and setting up galley supplies.

Twohitwonder

I’m sure we will be bringing back PDBs in the coming months. I’ve never understood why some of us FAs have such a hard time with jackets and PDBs. Some of us are ready for flying to be back to normal.

mtofell

This sounds an awful lot like the person whose bag is "just a little" over the max and "well, yeah, I have two personal items." I'm not trying to single you out but realize if everyone operated the way you describe, planes would NEVER get out anything close to on time. The problem is everyone thinking they are the exception and the rest of the world should accommodate. I'm the one that gave up my precious time to be on time and board orderly with what I'm supposed to.... yet I'm still stuck at the gate waiting for people that think the rules can be bent/flexed for them.

Twohitwonder

FAs have been asking to do this for a long time at DL. It’s like talking to a brick wall when we bring it up.

mtofell

It would probably take a unified effort across many/all domestic airlines (FAA threatening something?). Just like so many other rules and things in society these days - little or no enforcement or consequences.

A321neo

RJs wouldn't be subject to this, as the flight attendants are not employed by Delta. As for the 717 and A221, agreed that T-40 boarding is a bit extreme. But hey, TeamBoardLast!

A321neo

The FAA is not threatening anything. The historical pay practices are a product of flight crews being subject to employment/labor conditions under the Railway Labor Act, not the Fair Labor Standards Act -- harkening back to the day when both aviation and rail were much more similar. The same is true for train conductors and train operators (or whatever the classification is called). No pay until the "commuter carrier" pushes off towards its journey.

The morality of the RLA (rather than the FLSA) governing working conditions for onboard crew members (both in flight and on trains) is certainly a subject ripe for debate, but these rules have been in place since 1926 (when first enacted for rail) and 1936 when the RLA was amended to encompass air travel as well.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, Delta decided to go above and beyond what's required by the RLA (and as others have mentioned, presumably baked into flight crew pay - albeit skewed to the detriment of those working ultra short flights/turns (e.g., LAX-LAS, where crews literally spend more time on the plane boarding/deplaning than they do in the air or moving on the ground). This is akin to an "ordinary" employer, whose employees and employment relationships are governed by the FLSA, to opt to pay overtime premiums at 1.75 instead of 1.5, or opt to permit 30 minute paid rest (non-meal) breaks (rather than the 10 minute rest breaks as prescribed by the FLSA). It's not just a departure from the ordinary for Delta relative to the RLA -- this is really a departure from the ordinary for any employer relative to the applicable labor and employment laws that govern their employment relationships.

mtofell

I was just talking about a theoretical enforcement of baggage rules with the goal of speeding up boarding/de-boarding. My point was one airline likely couldn't make much of a change but if the FAA helped it might be possible. All the things about railroads in the 1920s and labor conditions are probably good points but have nothing to do with my post that you quoted.

Lux Flyer

Posted this in the AA thread yesterday before that thread was closed

Regarding the pay starting at D-40/D-45., at least for domestic flights, given most narrowbodies start boarding at D-30 and widebodies D-35, and FAs time to be at the gate is 10 minutes prior to that ( I think?). They are actually starting the clock when the FAs report to gate, not necessarily moving the boarding start time up even further.

I suspect this change is partially to help further stave off attempts at FA's unionizing at Delta.

Some other considerations, though that this change can probably benefit them with service
1) This incentivizes FAs to help out another flight to satisfy FAA mins for boarding to start, if one of the FAs scheduled for the flight is a minor delayed but not being replaced. Presumably the "boarding time" is paid to the FAs for the time they are actually on board during boarding process.
2) This also levels the playing field hours-wise for those FAs who fill a 4 day line staffing multiple flights per day (as opposed to a long haul INTL out and back).. Someone who does 3 flights per day for 4 days was missing out on 9 hours of pay due to boarding time, as opposed to someone only doing a long haul INTL during that time frame only lose ~2-3 hours due to boarding (not entirely sure of the report time).

This change also costs Delta a nice chunk of change. I'm assuming this only applies to DL Mainline since the DL Connection FAs are employed by the operating carrier. Conservative estimates:
1) Assuming at 40 minutes of boarding per flight, and an average "in air" time of 2.5 hours, this equates to a 13% increase in pay (for FAs) and labor costs (for DL). (40 mins/150mins) *50% rate.
2) At 3 FAs per flight (I don't think any mainline has less than 3?), and 2000 mainline flights per day, that is an extra 2000 equivalent hours of pay, per day (120 mins * 50% rate) = 1 hr of FA pay per flight.
3) Assuming $25/hr, then thats 50k per day in additional labor with the same staff.

DLASflyer

Delta specifically said it is moving up the boarding time from D-35 to D-40 for domestic narrowbody flights.

jamesteroh

Why would they need to do this? There's been a lot of times in DTW the FA's are coming from another flight and aren't even there at t-35 minutes. Even when they board at t-30 minutes that's plenty of time, why do they want people just sitting on the plane idle for 40 minutes?

If they do board a narrow body at t-40 there is no excuse for the GA not pull people next on the upgrade list that have already boarded and not to do a PDB

Bear96

IIRC, at UA (and other airlines), door closing doesn't have anything to do with flight pay. Flight crew don't start to get paid flight time until the aircraft pushes back and begins moving, when ACARS registers the "departure." (ETA: Or is it brake release? Something like that, but not door closing.)

Frontier tries to address this problem by charging people more to bring a carry-on bag into the cabin (after one free "personal item") than they do to check a bag in the hold.

This is absolutely 100% the only reason it is being done.