QF 107/108 LAX-JFK-LAX Crew
 

QF runs this service once per week how is crew scheduling handled for this flight? Can one cabin/Flight crew do LAX-JFK-LAX, or is it a 7 day layover in NYC?

Does anyone know what the Crew trip looks like for crew that does the LAX-JFK flight

Ummm, last time I looked, this was a daily flight - when did it become once-weekly?

AFAIK, cabin crew can do the round trip - others here will be able to advise further (looks towards the several cabin crew members who post here often).

Tech crew *might* be out of hours, I believe, given that their shift starts well before the SDT from LAX, but I am open to correction on this.

Dave

You're correct Dave, it's a daily service.

When QF107/QF108 started all crew members (cabin and tech) would overnight in New York. However cabin crew gave the company dispensation to allow them to do it as a day trip, and that's the way it is done now.

Tech crew still overnight because of hour limitations. During winter and when the company expects a possible delay a 2nd officer is put on board to prevent diverting. The 2nd officer will also overnight once in JFK.

The pattern as operated by cabin crew is like so:
Sydney - Los Angeles QF11
48 hours rest
Los Angeles - New York - Los Angeles QF107/QF108
48 hours rest
Los Angeles - Sydney QF12

Brisbane based crew regularly operate the QF107/QF108 as well so instead of the QF11 from Sydney, they will come from Brisbane on the QF175

Also at times, several Auckland based crew members may be on board (not a whole crew, but some) and likewise will operate the QF25 up from Auckland and then do the shuttle. When I was based out of Auckland though we always got 72 hours after the shuttle which was great for side trips to Vegas!!!

Is this normally a two-person crew (captain and FO) or a three-person crew (captain, FO and SO)? I would have thought that, given the length of the flight, it would have been a three crew operation. If this is so, is the extra SO really warranted?

Dave

It's normally a two person flight crew since they overnight, so they are only doing a 7 hour day give or take. The third person is added, normally during winter to allow them to circle or even wait at LAX as opposed to having to divert and cause all sorts of problems. The more flight crew you have, the longer they can work. By giving them a 3rd crew member during periods of potential delays, prevents further delays to the already cursed one oh late!

Ok, that makes sense - I knew about the "time on flight-deck" requirement regarding total hours, so adding the SO would prevent unnecessary diversions.

Just wondering how QF plans this - do they have spare SO's just sitting around waiting to be placed onto the 107 if delays are predicted? It would seem to me to be a logistical nightmare (and I have worked in logistics and also rostering, so I know how complicated this sort of thing can be).

Dave

There are probably about 20 second officers (though it can be any pilot that goes along. I've seen two first officers as well as two captains) in LA at any one time, if not more. They would simply change the pattern of one of them to go to New York and back. However when you turn one person around at least one other person also has their trip changed and usually ends up been more because of a snowball effect.

Ok, been there, done that - an SO expecting to go to SYD suddenly has to go to JFK, so another SO who was expecting 48 hours off gets 24 hours off (which is allowable) and is sent on the flight to SYD. Gives alot of incentive to get the extra bar on the shoulder to be a FO....

Dave

just as a total aside, i flew 108 jfk-lax on the 6th. 45 minutes early. i damn near died.

Nah - it crossed the date line and was actually 23 hrs 15 min late :D (just joking)

WOW!!!

I didn't think it was possible.

It happens:

Has The Qclub Lounge Opened In Lax Tbit

I think the JFK turnaround must be an absolute killer. I watched my crabin crew yawn their way through a moderately delayed (3 hours) flight late last year. One of the young FA's was telling me - The flight was schedule on time at 8:50 so cabin crew were picked up from the hotel between 7am and 7:30am. Flight was delayed out of LAX and then left JFK about 2.5 hours late before arriving back in LAX around 1:00am. Crew would have been lucky to have been in bed by 1:45am. Makes for a huge day - worse than SYD-LAX. Can't say I envy them at all....

Well at least they have 2 days to recover in LAX before heading back to SYD. On CX those FA who do they YYZ and JFK non stop only get 1 day restbefore heading back to HKG