Hi Helm737
Well, Stby is rostered actually sometimes. You don't see it very often, but it happens. You won't be called on your off days, unless you are willing to do so. But there are fellows around who love to fly on their off, it pays off quite well.
Once you get stby duty it comes as a block of I guess 7 days, where you have to show up in 2 hours after the alarm. If you decide to commute and get this, you need to be within reach, but as I said before, it happens not often, from my experience, maybe once in two years.
If you ask how they cope with sick calls etc., I think since we fly longhaul, most guys are on the road anyway, they just shuffle the roster around to crew all the flights. You might get a rosterchange out of LUX or enroute on rather short notice. But with the right attitude it is ok to cope with, iso having the beer in New York you might just have it then in HongKong!
Life is great in Cargolux!!
Good luck again and enjoy it!
Cheers, WOB