Willie...
The issue isn't the 12-14 hour sectors.
The issue is with the way they roster the bloddy schedules. You could be doing a long haul west coast USA trip one week, and after minimal days off at home (3 days), they will send you east bound to say Australia.
Probably sounds good to some. Try it for a few months and see how your body feels going through sometimes 18-20 time zones within a 10 day period. You're body won't know what way is up.
And by doing 2 long haul trips, don't think your month is complete. Because, now is when it gets fun. The rest of your schedule will be comprised of short and maybe the odd medium haul thrown into the mix (if your lucky). They will fly your ass off for the entire month. No such thing as front loading or back loading your schedule. Expect some back side of the clock trips, some east bound trips, and some west bound trips.
It's the mix and the timings of the flights that wear you down. Sounds good on paper to those less experienced or less traveled.... but a few months of those rosters and your brain will feel like mush, your sleep patterens will be screwed and your family life will be short changed.
Oh yea... don't expect any overtime for flying these ridiculous schedules. Why?? Because they changed our overtime threshold from 78 hours to 92 hours. Gotta love a contract that is worthless and changed routinely... or should I say at their leisure.
Unfortunately, this place is getting worse by the day. Management doesn't have a clue and as far as they are concerned, ops normal.
They are in for a rude awakening.... it's just a matter of time.