Flybymerchant,
I was with Continental as a French speaker where one exclusively did CDG and BRU only. We would do 4, 3 day trips a month. Flying from EWR, it is not a there and back, but a 3 day trip as it was long haul. How allowances are paid in North America on the hourly system is this, you get your $2 an hour from check in until check out. That is how it works. One would check in for CDG at EWR on a Friday lets say at 1700, then clear back at base at 1530, just as an example. So from 1700 on the Friday until 1530 on the Sunday, you would be earning $2 an hour in allowances and that was it.All flying in the States is paid allowances this way..from check in until check out. I think you may want to familiarize yourself with this wretched system they are under in the States, because that is the model Mr Walsh is trying to emulate as it is the one that is the cheapest and worst.
Cityflyer is at 2 quid an hour; where do you think they are getting this per diem template from? They got this whole hourly per diem idea from the States where they cheaped out on their crews years ago. Wake up.