And for those of you out there that imagine that we go to all these lovely places and have lots of time off down route then stop, take a deep breath and take off the rose coloured glasses!
We do three man Boston flights on the 777 because its legal ....just - the max FDP = Scheduled flight time plus the report time ie any delay = discretion!! Yes 3 pilots, 13hour 30minute flight Dubai to Boston, 24 hours off and then a 12hour 15 minute return!
Most layovers are 24 hours, usually at an airport hotel.
Between some flights I have done 18 hours in Dubai, so not even 24 hours at home!
Don't expect to get anything you bid for on your rosters, you might be lucky but generally you will not get what you want! It used to be a system where you could bid for a place or country you wanted to go to and you has a good chance of getting it! Since the system changed a couple of years ago, this ability to bid is still there but because of the way EK is using the system, our preferences are the lowest priority so you rarely get what you want!! In the past more priority was given to our preferences, now the system just gives you what it wants!
We have no support from management on our rosters, they can't help even if they wanted to (which they don't!). Flight ops ie the managers in charge of the pilots (Chief pilot , SVP, DSVP), have NO input into rosters, its run by a different department - Network Control and they don't give a damn about flight ops / pilots inputs and Flt ops have no influence or authority on them! So even if you need your flights changed you will get little or no help!
Worry less about if the wife can work, where will I live etc, worry more about can I survive the rosters, flying lots, going to places I don't bid for, getting frustrated at work, spending little time at home and knowing that nothing is going to fundamentally change no matter how long I stay at Emirates!
Happy Christmas one and all