Originally Posted by
Underrated and Moderated
HE.....thanks for taking the time and sticking your neck out and saying "Yeah....I quite like it mate!"
I knew a Captain there who was tired of it and went back to Spain to fly for RyanPants. He messaged the other day to say that whilst his wife and family were back, where they came from (he was actually Argentinian himself), he said he missed the money, the decent folk he flew with and the interesting routes. Prior to leaving, he said he was considering a commuting contract to the Far East and is already looking at doing that again, from Spain, because he just doesn't enjoy what he is doing now, as much as FZ.
I'm going for it with eyes open and a long term goal. I have been in the Corporate jet World for years and become disillusioned by it. The corner cutting. The wage cutting. The back stabbing....its all a bit too "personal" for want of a better expression. I'd like to fly the Boeing. I'd like to gain a Command again on one at some point and I'd like the chance to challenge myself in an airline environment. I am under no illusion that FZ will be an easy job/walk in the park....but am expecting it to be pretty tough.
I'm going to risk sounding (more...) like a dunce now....how does the whole "bidding" system work for time off for annual leave etc?? I'm not after any yet...just like to know how it works at an airline...never having dealt with it in the past.
Cheers all.....
I'm LHS and relatively senior so it's not really reflective of how your situation is gonna be. I know the junior guys have it very tough. BUT, the junior FO's have it easier than the junior Captains. There's a really big gradient between LHS and RHS in terms of what you can get bidding wise. Bidding works purely based on seniority. We are tight on Captains and I think are slightly over on the number of FO's requird. Having said that during the winter season we have more nightstops and that's heavy on crew. Basically you tell the system what you want to do. Days off and flights/stby's then get assigned according to your seniority and bid preference. There is a massive rumor that the system get's manipulated manually but I'm not getting mix up in that argument. Getting your days off when you want them is VERY difficult. And it can be very frustrating when the system throws in a stby just before your leave and after a batch of 4 days off. That's a discussion that's been going on for a long time. Hopefully one day we get a solution. Inshallah...
Basically as a junior guy you fly a lot of nights and body clock flips. For an FO that will change after about 1.5 year and you get some nice trips thrown in too. Stuff that you requested. For a new Captain that won't change for at least 3-5 years. (my guess) Hence some junior Captains are leaving early. The expansion with the MAX and associated rumored nightstops might change that a bit. But the nice thing about flydubai is being home every night so how attractive that is is left to be seen.
Leave works on the same seniority system too. Six round of bidding to assign 7 weeks of leave. The 1 golden day off bidding per month works in reverse seniority.