So now we've moved on from the headline "HOW CAN ANY AIRLINE ALLOW THIS COMPLETE LACK OF SAFETY ONBOARD????", to" Qatar Airways are being hugely negligent and misleading to the public regarding its safety standards and training"…..
Seeing as you've completely ignored the thrust of my argument in a previous post, and seeing that Homesick has already corrected you on what you've "assured was not a rumor", if as your username suggests you are an Irish person in the United Kingdom let me put this in your own backyard for you and deal in some facts. As an aviation professional Paddy (I assume you call yourself one) lets just deal with the facts.
Last year Ryanair the Irish low-cost airline carried 27 million passengers in its 737 aircraft all over Europe. All of these flights departed with the minimum number of SEP trained cabin crew on board, 4 per 737-800, 3 per 737-200. Ryanair HAS to comply with JAA regulations Qatar Airways has CHOOSEN to comply with JAA regulations (and I'll say it again for you) JAR OPS 1.990 requires "One cabin crew member for every 50 or fraction of 50, passenger seats installed on the same deck of the aeroplane".
These are EUROPEAN regulations drawn up by EUROPEAN governments after one would assume extensive research had been conducted on what exactly is required for passenger safety. If you have a problem with these contact the JAA in Holland maybe the IAA in Dublin or the CAA in the UK and voice your concern about their regulations to them. I don't see Ryanair advertising the fact that they carry minimum crew on every flight and why not?, because simply they don’t have to!
I'm also an A330 Captain with Qatar Airways so let me give you some FACTS from the "horses mouth". I've always had a minimum of 10 cabin crew on my aircraft, these days I have 1 minimum, 2 maximum, service crew, so we go with a minimum of 8 (not 6) fully SEP trained colleagues in the cabin to operate the 8 doors on the aircraft. Service crew DO NOT sit at doors and this is briefed when I meet them in ops prior to the flight. This has also been the experience of my colleagues. Let me repeat to you again we're not happy with the service crew situation here, we're told its temporary and yes if Al Baker treated people like human beings we wouldn’t be in this situation now, there is NO argument there!
Qatar Airways is very good with written rules. In fact as an employee they have a comply or die attitude to the rules, you follow them or your out. There is no negligence or misleading of the public in this regard.
The rules that Al Baker and his nodding dog managers over in the tower don’t comply with are the unwritten rules, the rules that treat people with dignity, fairness and respect and yes the cabin crew in particular here get very little if any of that.
Regarding the unusual and ignorant looks from potential passengers then you'd never know it by the passenger loads, the aircraft are by and large full and passengers are usually very happy with both the levels of safety and service they receive on board from our hardworking and mistreated cabin staff. In fact QR can't get enough aircraft or crew the demand is so high. Don’t take my word for that, go on the airlinequality.com website and read reviews from our passengers. If you don’t want to pax with QR Paddy then don’t simple as that, plenty of choices out there.
If you feel as strongly as you do and have facts of noncompliance with regulations, then contact the relevant authorities and have them investigated. Don’t come on here and run down the hard work and reputation of the thousands of honest professionals employed at Qatar Airways who operate in a difficult environment legally and safely every hour of every day and who are tarnished by your foolish postings.
Finally as a Captain I am ultimately legally responsible for the safe operation of the aircraft. To call yourself "real crew", to call hardworking service crew "spare tools", to suggest that I and my colleagues sign for and accept aircraft that are operated negligently, with no regard for safety, that we mislead the public about the level of our training is grossly unprofessional and frankly very unrepresentative of the BA professionals I have met.
You really SHOULD know better.
Last edited by cavelino rampante; 24th May 2005 at 11:08.