Hi everyone,
I hope this message finds you well, whether you’re soaring through the skies or have your feet firmly planted on the ground.
It’s been an incredible last few months since I joined Team Inflight last December, and what an incredible journey it has been!
Today, I want to take a moment to connect with you heart-to-heart and share some important updates.
From the very beginning, I’ve always believed that to truly understand something, you need to dive in headfirst.
That’s why since I joined our team, I've wanted to experience what it truly meant to be part of team inflight.
I’ve actively participated in recruitment events in Denver, met our exceptional crew during some of my base visits and during our Headstart on Christmas day, and even celebrated the passing of the new year inflight between Las Vegas and Denver with our crew and customers.
But perhaps the absolute most rewarding experience was going back to school – well, sort of. I completed the full 3 and a half week initial flight attendant training in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Yes during winter and several snow storms, No shortcuts, no exceptions.
Why? Because it was crucial for me to walk in your shoes, to witness firsthand the dedication, the challenges, and passion that define our incredible team. And I know most of you won't believe me when I say this, but, the stakes were as high for me as for any other students.
If I failed my exams, I would actually have had to actually go back home.
I really want to recognize our training team, whose dedication is truly unmatched, going above and beyond to introduce our team members to our procedures and culture!
As any of you, I also completed my IOE flights to Orlando, and many of you who have met me, know the passion I have for our Flight Attendant role.
I cannot express the joy and excitement I had to greet every single one of our customers with a smile, proudly offered our onboard retail service and gave so many wings and trading cards I had to beg my fellow crew members for more!
I even bid farewell all our customers seeing them leave with a smile! I truly hope you are having as much fun as I did on my flight every single day! It is truly why we all became flight attendants, let's never forget it! I am so excited to have my wings back and share them with you all!
I also want to continue our dialogue around the changes to our business model and be transparent about the reasons of this change.
But I think it is necessary for us to take a step back and look at this change with both a rational and human perspective.
Let me start by saying this loud and clear: we hear you, we understand your concerns while also acknowledging that these changes are necessary for our business
The past few weeks, the entire leadership team has been on the field, from your supervisors to our senior leadership team.
We have answered your emails, met you in our offices and our crew rooms, and in the galleys of our planes to answer questions you have regarding these changes.
So let me answer some of the questions I get asked most frequently by the broader team.
They might be different from the questions you have as an individual, but I believe this will provide some clarification:
It is clear the vast majority of you do not believe this change will happen or that this new strategy will last. I want to be very clear, that the TURN strategy, is the best path forward for our business model as an ultra low cost airline.
And I understand that for a lot of us, who came with a background or an understanding from the viewpoint of a traditional airline, which again, we are not, it might feel different.
However, our business model is new to this market. We are not a legacy airline. Competitor airlines that were once deemed "Low Cost airlines" have grown to embrace the complexities and costs similar to those of legacy carriers, leaving void in the market for us, an airline that truly responds to the customers need for low fares travel.
Being obsessed about scalable efficiencies across our entire operation is how we truly deliver on our promise to our customers. We are proudly Low Cost in our core.
So you ask, why is the company making this change?
I like to say that we are truly at a pivotal point in our company's history, on the verge of a massive expansion, which forces our business to look at all the steps required for us to succeed in the near and long term.
The main driver for our changes is led by both maintenance requirements and operational integrity.
Let's take a look at the operation prior to making this change and take an example of an aircraft based in Atlanta.
Let's imagine that this aircraft in one particular day, will operate a route such as DEN – ORD, ORD – PHL, PHL – CLT and CLT to PBI, and reverse routing the next day.
Let's imagine a delay, mechanical or weather out of Denver... you now have a complete ripple effect all the way to the final destination in Palm Beach, affecting hundreds of customers, affecting your crew hours, and potentially affecting some planned overnight maintenance.
In some of the worst cases, this would even have an effect the following day due to crew legalities, and maintenance delays.
With the out and back model, you are now able to protect the operation, the customers and you, our crew to the fullest, as let's say your aircraft would operate a DEN – ORD and back, DEN – DFW and back and DEN – LAS and back.
Your first flight DEN - ORD gets cancelled due to maintenance or weather, we are still able to operate the other 4 flights on time, with absolutely no impact to our hundreds of customers and crew.
Every single time I have taken the time to explain to you individually when we meet, why this change in business model makes sense, you all tell me that it does make sense, that you understand.
And I understand that while you understand the business side of things, you also react as an individual, and I want to let you know that I understand.
In my career, I can guarantee you that I also had to navigate changing circumstances due to business models that evolved outside of my control. But I made the right choices for me, aligned with what would be in my best interest while keeping my motivation to do a job I truly love.
You have told me that you are loosing your per diems, and that you now need to go to the airport more often to make up for your hours.
I want to make it clear that the more we stabilize our operation with our turn model, the more productivity we will be able to add for each aircraft in our fleet, providing you with more productive days, with more flight hours.
Our Onboard retail and Barclay's Credit Card programs provide you with tangible and realistic earning potentials. Not doing services onboard your flights, is a missed opportunity to earn money you deserve!
Trust me when I say, that I absolutely want you to get that money! And will continue working to make both of these programs even more beneficial to you!
Are all overnights gone?
No, across the network, we believe at this time that we will need to keep about 10 to 15% multi days trips. Again this is an average across the network, which means some bases will see more or less in comparison to one another.
This will fluctuate based on opportunities, and our requirement to remain agile to respond to market demands.
I truly hope that this provide you with some clarity and guidance. I know it gets lonely up there in our galleys, and that we can feel disconnected from our leadership if we do not have answers or real facts to hold onto.
I have promised to you that I will always give you the information when I have them, and will continue to do so in the near future. I know this was a long explanation, but I owe it to you to take the time to answer the questions you have.
Now in other news, I would like to report on the positive and very constructive progress regarding your contract negotiations with AFA. I am pleased to announce that we have already signed tentative agreements on 9 following articles which are:
- Recognition and Scope
- Seniority
- Vacancies
- Furlough and Displacement
- Moving Expenses
- System Board of Adjustment
- Missing, Internment, Hostage
- Drug and Alcohol
- Management Rights
We appreciate the open dialogue and collaboration with AFA working together on this important topic.
I would like to thank you for your feedback regarding our Catering Town Hall and the various messages you have sent following the new guidance on our seal procedure and emptying of our carts in our back galleys.
We are fully committed to providing you a stable catering operation, and are increasing our audits with our supplier to ensure we regain control over the shrinkage we have observed over the last few months.
By sticking to our procedures, we will be able to stabilize our operation, grow our revenue, and will be able to invest in better products and equipment that you can be proud of.
Speaking of equipment: we have launched a full evaluation to determine the best device strategy for our flight attendant community, not just as a point of sale, but truly as an enabler to your entire employee experience.
We want to give you the tools to succeed, and I believe there is room for improvement when it comes to what your devise device can do for you!
We are looking at new ways to communicate and work more effectively and in a way that make sense to you. I will keep you posted in the next coming months and provide you with some updates on our progress.
The launch of the ELP platform is also a welcomed addition to provide you with more self notification capabilities regarding your schedule, empowering you to a more seamless journey! Don't forget to register and download the app now so you can make your life easier!
On April 12th, we will also welcome our first Upfront Plus seats for customers, which will enjoy extra space by keeping our first two rows' middle seats free!
More instructions will be given to you through a memo, but this will truly be a game change for our customers who want to guarantee even more comfort for their flights with us.
And finally, I kept the best for last, we are gearing up to the celebration of our 30th anniversary... and our animals are coming out of the den!
I am so excited introduce you to our 30th anniversary exclusive uniform accessories which proudly celebrate our animals, and our Frontier Colors.
I hope just like me, you are excited about the perfect mix of our iconic Green and Cyan, and the gorgeous 30th anniversary logo with Griz coming out of the Den, on accessories that I hope you will feel proud to wear!
And of course these accessories always look best on a full compliant uniform and with crews with a positive attitude! Stay tuned for even more surprises as we gear up to our big celebration!
I want you to thank you for all the work you do, and truly look forward to seeing you on the line, or during our next events! Be kind and I wish you all safe and happy flights!
