Originally Posted by
Justanothervoice
Hi everyone. Managed to work my way through the last two years of this thread and got a lot of answers but if someone could help me out with just a couple of questions I would be very grateful.....
Commuter Specific:
- Do people literally set up shop in London for 21 days of reserve?
- Any hope of getting home between trips while on reserve if on LH?
- Given the apparent crack down, are commuters still finding they can commute and still maintain a sustainable lifestyle?
- Is there a minimum number of days off between trips?
- In terms of practicality, can staff travel be used for commuting?
New rostering system:
- Is it still possible to swap duties to get some sort of favourable roster?
- As a commuter would you stand any chance of binning your standbys for a flying duty to save a possible wasted trip?
Scatter gun reply whilst you wait for a junior pilot to reply:
Firstly for those that are wondering about the specifics - Reserve period (Long Haul) is a 28 day block, first 7 days clear of work then 21 available days during which you can be assigned a duty, either flying or a "Home Standby" (HSB). You normally get notified of a trip or HSB the evening before the duty and when on HSB the requirement is to be able to get to the Crew car Park at LHR in two hours or less. You can be assigned HSB's on multiple consecutive days...FWIW first 6 days of the period HSB on the trot for me last time around, then, finally, some trips...
Whether you have to live at LHR for the reserve block depends on timings and frequency of commuting flights. The reason for the "depends" is that on Longhaul reserve the general rule is (with the exception of the day of return from a trip) you are "contactable" in an evening for duties the next day ( e.g. flights or a stand-by block)...So
you can get a phone call as late as 2000 UK LT informing you of a trip/ standby period the next AM and because of that many Longhaul commuters I know of plan on living around LHR/LGW for the 21 days and grab days off at home as a bonus.
Getting home after a trip on reserve? You are free on the day of arrival back into London (day 1) so you could nip home, but (FTLs allowing) you are then "contactable" the next evening (of day 2) for a duty AM next day (day 3).....it's a personal preference thing.
Plenty still commuting, but the company will still audit. Lifetsyle probably depends on number of trips per-month, gap between trips.
Min time between trips? Driven by bidding and FTLs now, whether you are willing to waive Industrial agreements to pack the work in/get enough work on your line to reach the hours target...You could probably plan on 2 days (3 local nights, longer for some trips with big time zone change elements) but it might suit you to reduce when bidding...
Can staff travel be used for commuting? ATM yes, but watch out trying to commute from somewhere with lots of more senior commuters and not many flights. Other option is slightly (and I means slightly) discounted commercial tickets ("hotlines").
Swapping trips in the general scheme of things when not on reserve is still possible when legal.
Swapping standbys ( when on reserve) with a trip is v tricky...You can tell "crewing" perhaps at the start of the Reserve period that you would prefer trips to standby's, but they are meant to equalise trips and standbys across all those on reserve. Once you actually get nobbled (the evening before) with a standby period for the next day crewing will have run their plan and are unlikely to want to change it...and they do like to keep their standby's intact "just in case".
General Lifestyle on LH fleet:
- Do BA have a sensible approach to 3 and 4 person crews on long sectors to at least mitigate some fatigue?
Examples - East coast states and a bit further ( up to and including ORD, sometimes even MIA) 2 pilot, the Gulf, Central Africa (LOS, ABV) 2 pilot...other extreme such as SIN/EZE is 4 pilot, stuff in between generally 3 pilot.
HTH