411A:
There once used to be a surplus of pilots; true. There once used to be a rush for cabin staff jobs. Not anymore. The words out, and recruiting suitable cabin staff in some companies is proving difficult. The applicants are not there.
In time I would not be surprised if the same becomes true of pilots. What is true, that in a pilot shortage period, and the crews have a choice, they will opt for the best life style and not the highest paycheck.
In your answer you seem to think that rest/sleep is what you do in the time between work. What about all the other things in life??
Mr. A
I'm glad you are asking questions, but remember this. CAP 371 is a list of limits, not norms. They are they to help keep the show on the road when sh*+ happens. The CAA says that it expects the airlines to device a roster scheme that works inside 371 with buffers and ensures quality time off at home. They have also stated, as has Chirps, that CAP371 by itself will not protect against fatigue. That is a fact and was stated to BALPA in 1998. Sadly, they've never policed it. If they had done then you would not be making you comments about working patterns of 6/2 days/nights etc. because you would not have been allowed to do it on a regular basis.
It is still a fact that the EU commission excempted public transport from the Health and Safety act because it could not be implemented without major redesign of the equipment. However, compensation schemes were supposed to have been introduced until the whole mattwer of FTL's was revamped and standardised. That compensation scheme has not happened either, and the whole matter started 10 years ago.
There was an extremely rude comment made some years ago by the chairman of the Association of Eurpean Airlines. As a/c were flying longer he wanted FTL's to be stretched. Pilots opposed this and he accused them of hijacking the whole matter to squeeze more money out of the airlines. He believed pilots would prostitute themselves on this issue.
From the posts here I believe he is wrong. There is little point in earning all this extra cash with no time to spend it.
I had it agreed by the COO in one airline that the necessary productivity could be achieved with efficient rostering during 14-16 days per month. That is what South West do, they make a handsom profit with good salaries, and are regularly voted one of the best companies to work for. There is a model. The LCA's took the commercial part of it and ignored the rest
Shame! But it can be done if there is a will. What's more it will save the airlines money. Happy crews will not leave and so not incur extra training costs, and they will not go sick, so you need less SBY's, and they will go the extra mile, so no cancellations or sub-charters. It needs the financial directors to look beyond the end of their noses. Sadly, they will not until a/c start eating concrete.
One F.D. admitted that he was undercrewed (not enough SBY cover) because he expected crews to work on their day off out of loyalty. If he had to cancel or sub-charter, it was cheaper than employing more crews. Thus, not only were rosters to the limits, but time off was often changed at the last minute. He said that until captains started leaving he would not change his policy. Easy to say when there are no alternative jobs. But what an attitude!!!