I agree, although those duties on the classic sound like a "mission" there's little point in comparing apples to oranges. If I understand correctly, those where the days of the 7 day long haul patterns, and lower monthly hours. i.e. far more sleep opportunities down route. As opposed to around 24hrs or less off down route. Added to this the loss of 5,4,3 protection and ( in busy times) 3 days off between long hauls became the norm.
Having been RQ on the 400 for 5 years it gets to the point of how many nights sleep can I 'lose' in a month and still function!
Yeah I know ..... " harden the F**k up "
The upside being I've only got 8 or so more years of RQ to look forward to before a command comes up
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I also agree that some European skippers seem to be the least cognitive of the body clock time of the relief crew. I wish I had a euro for every time I have been working through my circadian low while the skipper is in the back having " dinner and a movie ", on what for him is mostly a daytime flight. It's not everyone, some guys are outstanding at arranging rest, others, not so much.
What would be nice is if CX could add another page to crew direct, where the skipper/crew could input the rest they would like/expect. So that you at least know before hand that you're in for the short straw! This could perhaps 'stick' to the flight, so that if a crew member is changed they can still see what the plan is?