Can I help you

When things get back to normal TLV will go back to a night stop, the longest there and backs will be to The Canary Islands and places like Dalaman.

BWBriscoe

So do BA flight crew do LCA as there and back but Cabin Crew change downroute? I assume there are only two flight crew?

Can I help you

Pre Covid most LCA trips were there and back for 2 Flight Crew and MF Cabin Crew, before MF got the route EF cabin crew got off in LCA.

DYKWIA

SSH must have been grim as it was an overnight flight from LGW. ISTR it landed at around 4am at SSH.

RR18wheeler

No, we couldn’t do that as a nightflight, too long. That may have been the old short-lived 777 operation before, the A320 was a 7AM check in (or slightly after) Something like a 14 hr day, the only time I got Breakfast, lunch and dinner at work on short-haul!

RR18wheeler

It was known as the daylight maniac and indeed a very senior trip. 6.55 report at Heathrow for the first New York, get to the hotel around 11.30 New York time, afternoon in New York, then picked up from the hotel at 6AM New York time to fly home, back in the house for dinner. Most civilised. Incidentally the only 2 day trip on the Jumbo. Sometimes the daylight was combined with the 183, giving 1.5 nights snd a clear day off in New York. This was also a nice trip, but not as senior as we all hated the 183!

VSLover

why did you hate the 183?

as a pax, that was my regular when i had to go back and forth for the year before i moved to the uk.

RR18wheeler

It got into New York too late. You had to land at 0330 body clock time, you would likely get into the hotel around 0030 (0530 body clock time) then you often flew back home that night on one of the later flights. Two deep night flights with a day trying to sleep in a very noisy hotel. You felt horrendous getting home!

Oh and if you were late, T7 immigration closed at 1130 so you would have to bus passengers (then crew) to T4 to clear the US border there. Que even later hotel arrival time.

VSLover

i did wonder this based on responses upthread just thinking about how yes, i would be exhausted getting home/to hotel that night late --and didnt realize crew would just have to return the following evening on a redeye! i previously would have thought crew would not return the next day at all given the expected exhaustion but was i wrong! that really mustve been brutal.

DYKWIA

Yes - it was the B777 flight that I took. A horrible flight for a passenger, never mind the crew

Skimo

On the new HCC agreement LCA is a cat. 2 route which means a minimum single night rest down route OR 18 hours off back at base.

BWBriscoe

So cabin crew only operate the LHR to LCA sector but flight crew have to do LHR-LCA-LHR?

Door1Left

when things resume to “business as usual” there will be some Cyprus rotations (PFO and LCA) which operate as a there and back and some that will night stop, which is dictated by the schedule. There and backs are indeed long days, but fall within allowable FDP both industrially and according to legislation. Unlike back in charter days, BA crew are limited as to what they can operate the next day (this is an industrial agreement).

TLV will resume as a night stop when permitted, currently operated as a there and back but this is due to COVID restrictions - ops management are asking crew to achieve bunk rest which under normal service times is not ideal. The evening departure to TLV would not be possible as a there and back given report time, flight durations and turnarounds.

BA flight crew operate to different rules to those of cabin crew, so their rotations can be different. Indeed both cabin and flight crew get 1 night in JFK, but could end up operating back on different services and in some destinations cabin crew will stay in different hotels to flight crew.

Some flights undertaken during COVID such as repats to India, Guyana etc have been allowed due to dispensation from the CAA and include specific criteria, such as onboard rest facilities, length of rest, days off before and after the trips.

Rgds
D1L

jwhite9185

I seem to recall this happening with the LAX rotation a few years back, and causing a bit of tension. The flight crew got their usual place in Long Beach. Where as the cabin crew were dumped out in Anaheim.

Unsurprisingly, it was the cabin crew that were the ones left feeling hard done by.

SW7London

I think there was something similar with crew meals too - flight crew get better(?) meals compared to cabin crew as part of industrial agreements negotiated a few years back.

Can any crew clarify if the meals are substantively different quality on long haul?