747_not_777

Sitting around waiting to board and seeing airline crews coming and going, it got me thinking - what's a typical day / week's work for a short-haul cabin crew member?

I mean, do full-time cabin crew typically fly a set number of hours / routes per week?

I'm often on the first shuttle of the morning to MAN / GLA - I presume the same team then crew the plane back to LHR. And then what? Go home? Take an hours rest in the crew rest area and then a another return to somwhere in Europe?

Guess I'm just interested to know how many legs they typically fly a day.

And do cabin crew get any choice on routes they like?

Please share... BBB?

cornishsimon

i think that theres a lot of nightstops involved downroute as well, even on short haul

cs

BA1321

I think this is the case, from talking to a crew member on a recent NCL-LHR. They had come up on the first flight from LHR and were please because they were done after the return when they would normally have another leg somewhere else afterwards. I didn't want to appear (too) nosey so I didn't ask if it was a maximum three legs in one day on shorter sectors like this. Bearing in mind the report time for them had been about 6am, it would make for a long day if they had a full EU return after this, not getting them into LHR until 16:00 or later...

stevie-d

I know that the BA Cityflyer crews can operate 4 sectors per day on a regular basis. It's not unusual to see the same crew who operated an early flight out of EDI to LCY on an evening return from LCY to EDI and they have been off somewhere in Europe in between.

K&C

Travelled on the 1st flight GLA-LGW the other morning, parked at stance 104 and then connected LGW- SZG (gate 104) same crew welcomed me back on board with a smile and double take into the same seat 4C.

BingBongBoy

Hello...

There is a of of waiting around. We work hard, but apparently, at LHR HM Revenue and Customs want us to land and clear customs every time we arrive back at LHR, so if we are doing multi sector days, then we have to change aircraft, go land side, clear customs then go back through security and to a new aircraft and flight crew etc... I will copy and post a bit of an old old roster to show what our roster can look like.

Some times we have a long time down route, other times very short, it just depends on the schedule and what other duties we have done. There are rules, both imposed by the CAA, the company and industrial agreements that determine how long we have off when we are in-between duties, be they at base or away from base. We operate a mixture of "trips" that constitute differing amounts of sectors, which can be:

1 day 4 sectors
1 day 2 sectors
2 day 2 sectors
2 day 4 sectors
2 day 6 sectors
3 day 2 sectors
3 day 4 sectors
3 day 6 sectors
3 day 8 sectors

On some trips, we can jump from one crew to another, often filling a gap on a crew for something like an A321 where the required crew is 5 and an existing crew who have been working together for say 2 days need an extra crew member, so you have to fit in with a new crew. We have "Billy No-Mate" trips where you may spend a whole 3 days doing 8 sectors with completely different crew, gap filling for aircraft types.

So, here are a couple of snippets from old rosters:

TH 20 MAR REPORT AT 1130 LOCAL TIME LON
1245 BA1332 LHR NCL 1400 32A
1505 BA1333 NCL LHR 1620 32A CAT
1840 BA706 LHR VIE 2055 32A 955
FR 21 MAR 1405 BA701 VIE LHR 1630 32A CAT
1900 BA720 LHR ZRH 2100 319 830
SA 22 MAR 1220 BA713 ZRH LHR 1415 319
1715 BA322 LHR CDG 1835 32A
1920 BA327 CDG LHR 2045 32A 1015
CLEAR TIME 2130 LOCAL TIME LON
------------------- TOTAL DUTY HOURS 2840
SU 23 OCT REPORT AT 1020 LOCAL TIME LON
1035 BA1332 LHR NCL 1150 320 300
MO 24 OCT 0735 BA1323 NCL LHR 0900 321
1140 BA434 LHR AMS 1300 319 655
TU 25 OCT 0625 BA423 AMS LHR 0745 32A CAT
1015 BA1326 LHR NCL 1125 320
1215 BA1327 NCL LHR 1335 320 900
CLEAR TIME 1420 LOCAL TIME LON
------------------- TOTAL DUTY HOURS 1855

Any specifics, feel free to ask.

And before anyone asks, "CAT" on the roster does not mean we get a free kitten with each sector... It is an old term for "Central Area Turnaround" which refers to when we were based at the Compass Centre and used to remain air side at the Queens Building instead of going back to the Compass Centre on a short turn around. Now, it just means a short turn around.

Regards,

LaydeeSarah

Thats really interesting, thanks for sharing BBB. I have friends working as long-haul crew so interesting to see the variation. It must be quite a job for crewing to get all the slots right for the crew! Glad to see you get variation too rather than doing the same shuttle back and forth every day.

BingBongBoy

Indeed... I don't even know where my colleagues in Scheduling even start with the whole thing!

Thankfully, because we use a bidding system, we can very the work we do a lot. Of course, some people prefer to do the same flight all the time, such as the domestic routes, and that is fine if they want to do that because that is the whole point of the system we have. I am not particularly bothered about where I go, with a few exceptions, so happy to do nearly all trips.

BingBongBoy

We do have trips like that. We call them "Dirty Doubles" and they are actually very good day trips. Long hours, which takes up a reasonable chunk of your legal hours to fly, plus a long day also pays well too.

We have things like:

LHR-NCL
NCL-LHR
LHR-BRU
BRU-LHR

Which adds up to just over an 11 hour work day when you include the check in time and clearing time at start and finish of a trip.

Genius1

Which are your favourite and least favourite destinations, BBB (and why, if you care to elaborate )?

BingBongBoy

^
Berlin
Zurich
Geneva
Munich

I like German and Swiss way of life. I live efficiency and clean streets etc...
Food is nice, people are nice. I speak German and French (although do not wear the language flags on my name badge) so find it nice to stop there.


Larnaca
Malaga
Madrid
Nice

Larnaca, I don't really do the whole holiday destination thing in both terms of crew and passenger behavior, so LCA is a big no no. Nice, I have just never warmed to the place. Malaga, again, never warmed to it. As for Madrid, I hate that airport with a passion... Awful awful awful place...

747_not_777

Thanks BBB. Really interesting insight - mucho aprreciato.

Now - who can we ask to give us a similar insight on long haul??? Do we need to start a new thread, or can we bring 'em along here?

Lobengula

Thank you BBB, I love this insider information ^

Looking at the above roster, you land at VIE 20.55. Your next flight is 14.05 the day after. Does that mean you can relax at the hotel until noon before reporting in at VIE? Or maybe sightseeing in VIE.

In short, is it time off?

BingBongBoy

Yes. Essentially, the time down route is my own to do with what I wish.

But do remember, that I have a duty to make sure I am appropriately rested to start my next duty. And also, those times are "chock to chock", so by the time we get from the airport to the hotel and get picked up, usually around an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half before departure depending on the city, takes a couple of hours off that.

I also need to sleep...

Some places we get a lot of time, others we don't. Just think of it as the same as you going home from the office and doing stuff at home... Apart from I am in a hotel.

Jamjaw

Thanks for sharing all of this genuinely one of the most interesting things I have read in my (short) time here!

Considering applying for a job at BA (not crew though) so any insight into the lifestyle is great, even if not overly relevant!