Teobull,
There is no such thing as a typical roster really, Carmen rosters duties to get you as close as it can to the maximum to cover all duties because we don't have enough pilots in either rank, this means that your Carmen bids (trying to get days off) generally get ignored in the summer because its priority is to crew all flights. Your only guarantee is to have 10 days off per month.
One roster could see you with 7 days on, one off, 5 on,two off etc etc with a combination of early starts, night duties, afternoon duties etc, or it could be all mornings, all nights, all afternoons, put in a bid for preferences (early, lates, nights etc) generally gets ignored for reason as stated above.
Asking anyone who has come to the airline on a previous pattern of 5 on 4 off will tell you the flying is much more fatiguing due to the rostering and doing deep nights and because we don't get days off in blocks your off time is of little value apart from trying to recover (in the summer). As nice as it would be to have days off in blocks our rostering department have decided to penalise the system for doing this so you get occasional single days off and sometimes a pair together, rarely more, unless using leave or guaranteed days off that have to be booked a year to six months in advance.
If you plan on not being able to make any plans in the summer you won't be disappointed, short term time off is a problem for line pilots, and don't underestimate the impact this will have on your lifestyle, family and friends.
lifestyle and rostering is and has been voted as the number one gripe by Thomson pilots for the last few years, yet nothing changes, there was supposed to be something introduced this year as part of last years pay deal that would improve it but seems it was another empty promise.
Can't wait for new EASA FTL's to make all the above worse !
