Emirates - Wannabes & Recruitment VIII

[Mari]

perkin1

What are your favourite layovers and why?
-I'm on the A380.
-New York: good flying hours, good shoping, good breakfast.
-Bangkok: easy flight, love the food, love the spa, I buy my DVDs. However, there is no direct BKK any more on the A380, we do a 4-day trip as we do a HongKong turnaround from Bangkok.

Are the hotels normally located in the city?
Some in the city, some at the airport.

Which destinations do we have to stay at the airport hotels... i heard LHR is? what are the others?
-I will not check all the hotels for you, sorry. London, Paris, Rome are at the airports.
-We stay on Time Square if we are in New York.
-It takes 60-90 minutes to get to the hotel in Soul. It could take 2-3 hours to get there if it's winter.
-Same thing with Moscow, tiring bus drive. You stay near the Red Square.
-They recently changed hotel in Mauritius. No beach access any more, such a pity!

I understand most of the layovers are around 24hrs.. Though which locations are longer? I heard some of the US destinations are 50hrs, as well as Sydney is sometimes 48hrs, not sure if this is still the case though..
Yes, that's correct. Toronto, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco are around 50 hours. New York is only 24 or 30.

As for the probation period, are we able to use ANY form of staff travel during this time? I'd imagine not, but worth a try.. haha
-I think yes, you can use id50 and id90 (maybe not unlimited but I'm not sure) because my flatmate went home twice during her probation on her off days.
-I think you can only use flyzed tickets (other airlines) after 1 year of service.
-The new ones must know it better.

In theory, just say i had 4-5 rostered days off in a row, what would my chances be of flying home to Sydney for a weekend?
-I doubt you will get 5 days off in a row. It doesn't happen nowadays.
-However, you can swap your flights for off days after probation. You might have to spend hours on the computer to find someone to swap with. That's the reason why you need patience!
-Schedueling loves giving duties like: 3 off, rest day, night turnaround, 3 off, layover. Annoying, isn't it?!
-Unfortunately, you might have to pay to be able to get rid of this little turnaround: getting one off for a Doha or Bahrain costs you 500-1000 dhs. You go to the Headquarters, give the money to your colleague, do the swap on the computer.
-It shocked me when my pilot friend told me that even pilots do this! An off day cost him 2000 dirham in January but he managed to have 10 off days in a row.
-Going home on a weekend to SYD? I think your chances are bad but you should ask the Australian crew. They should know.


I do understand most EK flights to Sydney are full, so if this was the case we do have eligibility to use ZED fares right? So would this mean i would be able to take an Etihad or V-Aus flight from Syd to Abu Dhabi (not ideal i know haha) or a QF flight to singapore and then connect from there for a similar id90 price?
-You can buy flyzed tickets unlimited after completing a year. However, you cannot see the exact loads. It's also risky but what to do.

Also how are the load factors normally for EK LHR flights?
Full, full, full. However, there are many LHR-flights a day so it's not mission impossible. I checked tomorrow's date for you as an example:
There are 5 flights tomorrow. Two of them are overbooked, two of them are half empty, one of them is almost full. On 25th all the flights seem to be full but if you are lucky you can make it. Most of the return flights are OK this week.
Again: talk to the British crew, they know the best.

Do you get much use out of staff travel/zeds? How do you find them?
-On the Cabin Crew Portal under Trips.
-After 3 years you can change your Annual Leave Destination each year. So, if you plan to go far, it's better to use the free, confirmed Annual Leave Ticket.
-You will get a Service Related Ticket every year after finishing your first contract. It's free, you only pay the taxes.
-Some crew don't know that you get a free ticket if you go home for compassionate leave (5 days). You either need to ask your manager to organize your trip or do it yourself. The cost of tickets will be given back to you with your salary but you need to keep the boarding pass and bring the birth certificate to your manager.

As far as the FACE card goes, what kind of places in Dubai can you use it at? Are they worthwhile?
Yes, it's great! Check out the homepage, no password required.
www.facecard.org