If I may reply to the desire for pay and rostering to improve:-
Pay: there was no payrise in 2009 (understandable) and the overtime threshold was increased to a level that ensured that it would very rarely be paid. There was a payrise in 2010, well below inflation rate (real, not the govenment published one) as well as there being no "notch increase", so basically everyone's salaries have stood still for two years, and in real terms we are worse off. Combine that with the Education Support Allowance not being increased last year, and the very real possiblity of that happening again this year as well as the implementation of a cap on the previously (contractually) free utilities, and it is fairly obvious that the management have used the economic crisis to trim back the flight crew package to what many now believe to be below the level required for a Middle East ex-pat level.
Rostering: Along with the increase in the point at which overtime kicks in, there has been insufficient recruitment over the last year to cope with the number of planes arriving and new routes opening up. Just about everyone you fly with states in the briefing that they are tired, and we have to watch each other. Captains seem to be rostered 94-98 hours per month, F/Os a bit easier at 82-88 hours. Combine that with "factoring" which does not count time in the bunk as flight time and you can fairly easily log well over your 100 hour limit that your home country licence (the basis for your UAE validation) requires. Add to this little mix a rostering system that is incapable of "understanding" that eastbound flights (+5 hours to local time) followed by a ULR westbound to LAX or SFO are not only tiring, but that combined with as much back of the clock flying that is done is fatiguing. The company has a Fatigue Management programme, I will leave others to share their opinions of it's effectiveness.
I hope clears up some of the issues around pay and rostering.
See you on the line
