MOST QF S/Os had to have the requisites for command just to get through the door (cadets and some G/A backgrounds excluded).... not gloating, just the facts about company criteria.
In augmented crew operations most airlines use up to 2 Captains and 2 F/Os. QF has used S/Os for 30+ years and saved a mozza compared to other airlines, some of which have in the last 10 years caught onto the idea, yet folks here still seem to delight in inane comparions of pay vs job description.
S/O's pay is pegged to a sub-50% fraction of the Captains on the aircraft they crew. In most other longhaul airlines they would be pulling F/O pay of around 65% of Captain's pay.
In the Qantas pilot structure S/Os make up the largest single rank-group by a substantial margin due to the nature of its large long-haul network.
So can someone explain to me again how a QF crew of 1 Captain, 1 F/O and 2 S/Os is SO expensive?
Yes, it's a crying shame that QF has some of the most highly-qualified 'radio operators' and 'flight log fillers' in the world on so little pay already. It's also a shame that such efficient and cost-effective 'experience' is apparently so easily overlooked by management when comparison stats are selected at contract renewal time.
ps Johnny, just because some 'can' (744, seniority & overtime) doesn't mean that most 'do'. Don't believe eveything you read.
pps Reddo, 'good coin' is a relative thing and compared to the F/O pay-rates at many other long-haul airlines, S/O pay just does
not win. A tinge of envy there? But Johnny is right; 'pandering to the eccentricities of some on the flight deck' can be an effort at times!