Well I guess “a confusing mess” is exactly what the employer wants- that way nobody (employees or pax) really knows who is on what contract, the legacy staff get fewer as time passes and the new staff increase, and the point comes where somebody can pop up and say “Everyone stop being silly, just cut these outdated practices and work to the new rules...”

My (imperfect) understanding is that rostering crews for a combination of short- and longhaul flights is less time effective than just one or the other... At one big European carrier, it was regulated in terms of “nights off” before and after certain categories of flight. I think this means that, for example, a 14 hour working day on A32s is OK, but (even taking report times, hotel transfers etc. into account) doing DUS-FRA on 32s, then, say FRA-BOS on a widebody, is not OK. And I guess some would say this results in lost time which could be used to operate flights.

Whether this is/was due to legal and regulatory constraints, or union agreements, is not something I know. Possibly both?

I’m sure there’s somebody here who knows more than me about it!!