According to ALL fatigue/safety surveys and studies i have encountered or read in 30 years of aviation/space flight, this pattern simply cannot be safe.
I've yet to do an IAH, and won't be unless rostered for one against my bidding prefrences.
I have done a 24 hour Sao Paulo, which is about on a par, if slightly shorter in flying time, and that was enough for me. I was a shattered wreck for 48 hours after getting home, and I thank God I didn't have to deal with any problem on the trip back, because I'd had little of no meaningful sleep on the turnarou... sorry, layover.
(Looking for some silver lining - I actually managed to sleep in the forrard tube of the aft torpedo compartment on the return sector, which was almost a first for me.)
If the people coming up with these ridiculous patterns can't be made to see how bloody dangerous they are, maybe we can appeal to their commercial instincts? Can someone can get the message across to them that the cabin crew simply can't deliver "the product" the company imagines they're selling to the travelling public if they're dragging themselves aroud the cabin in a state of near exhaustion.
Not that it will make much difference, but I've put AVOID IAH into my standing bid with a very high loading. Perhaps if everyone else did the same some inkling of pilot dissatisfaction with this patently silly pattern might begin to seep across the chasm that has replaced an interface between the workforce and management in EK.
How in the world are they going to handle the lawsuits if there is an incident that can be attributed to crew fatigue with all the information just on this thread alone - and now a matter of public record - available for any lawyer to investigate further?.