How do the LCCs care for no shows from their crews?

[Marlboro_2002]

Hi..

I work for a spanish airline, on the roster we have some days to cover for crews that didn´t show up because of sickness or anyother reason. In these periods we ca get called and within the hour we have to be at the airport.

Since LCCs normally have a 5 on 4 off roster, how do they cover for these mishaps?


just don´t get it.


cheers,

[kriskross]

We also have a thing called 'standby', the only difference being we have 1 1/2 hours from being called to reporting at base.

[Marlboro_2002]

hum...

ok...but how is that standby inserted on the LCCs rosters and how mny hours does it last for?



Cheers.

[BusBoy]

Standbys with the company I work for last either 8h, 7h, 6h or 2.5h
Start time anywhere from 0300 to 2130
either Home Standby or Airport Standby

if you are called out from Home Standby you are required to check-in within 90 mins
from Airport Standby you are on immediate call out

The standby start time will reflect your current run in the fixed roster pattern, ie early start if on earlies or a later start if on lates

[PENKO]

The SBY is 'inserted' as any other duty, one day you may be flying, the other day you are standby... quite simple. Just the same way probably as they plan it at your company.

easyJet has something called a reserve period where the idea is that for about a month twice or three times a year, the 5/3/5/4 roster is supsended for some crewmembers in the favour of a random roster, just to cover any problems of a fixed roster. At least, that's what they say it is for :)

In practice it means you fly more during your reserve period, and you still get standbys during your normal roster pattern. Confused? Me too.

[Marlboro_2002]

Thanks,


What we have is some days in our roster where we are on standby. But my point is that we don´t have the 5 on 4 off type of thing. We can fly up to 7 days without any days off at all.

What I don´t understand is how do the LCCs do it with their 5 on 4 off rosters. Do they also have on their monthly rosters standbys? or is it just like PENKO said, some crewmembers have a few months in the year where they have no roster and are all the time on standby?

Cheers...

[ReallyAnnoyed]

Marlboro_2002, I will give you the example from easyJet as it the schedule I work under. It is different in other companies.

Our roster (for pilots) is 5 early check ins, 3 days off, 5 late check ins, 4 days off. This pattern is repeated for 17 weeks followed by 4 weeks of random rostering. Then the fixed pattern starts again.

The June roster is published on the 17th of May, and the July roster on the 17th of June and so forth. However, you know your days off a year in advance (except for the 4 weeks of random rostering), but on the 17th of a month the next month's duties are revealed.

An example could be: Day 1: 4 sector day, day 2: 2 sector day, day 3: 4 sector day, day 4: stand by, day 5: 4 sector day. So, a stand by duty is on a working day. The company can NOT change your days off! :ok: When you are off, you are completely off and do not have to think about the company at all.

[Marlboro_2002]

ReallyAnnoyed,

thank you for the imput.

That was exactly what I wanted to know. So Easyjet has its pilots on standby on a normal basis.
It´s the same thing here. They cannot change our days off, although we don not have a fixed 5 on 3 off 5 on 4 off.

I just don´t see why the importance of the 4 weeks of random rostering if you don´t get nightstops. There must be a reson, although I just don´t see it.


And for Ryanair? Does it workout the same way?


Cheers,

[Metro man]

It can also get to the point of phoning people who aren't flying and asking them how quickly they can get to the airport. Crewing get to know who lives close by and these people bear the brunt of the requests.

Can be useful if the company gives an additional payment for working a day off, not always the case with LCCs :(

[ReallyAnnoyed]

Marlboro_2002, once in a while we do get night stops and sometimes we are sent to a different base to operate out of it. Could be positioning out on day 1, work at the "foreign" base on days 2 + 3 + 4 and then position home on day 5, for instance.

I think the 4 weeks of random rostering is to cater for people on leave and such, but I can't really remember what the reasoning behind it is. I tend not to listen to managament too much as no manager is a truthteller :}

Metro man, in my two years in the company, the only call I have ever gotten on a day off from the company was because I had requested to have some travel arrangements changed when going to the sim and the call was just to ask me what I preferred :) When called out of stand by, I have occasionally been asked how fast I can get to the airport, but I don't really mind that as I just do it at my own pace (live ½ hour away - the blessings of a non-London base :} ) and get no grief from the company as long as I am there within 90 minutes. More often than not, I get the call to tell me that I have a duty in more than two hours from the time of the call, which is nice :)

[Metro man]

I remember being called on standby at 2.00am and being asked to get to the airport asap, report straight to the aircraft. Pax boarded crew ready and waiting departure time determined by my arrrival. :O

Two hours notice would have been wonderful.

[richarjm]

For Ryanair on any typical week you tend to actually fly 3-4 of your 5 days on, either one or two days on will be on standby for 12 hours. On a week where you are doing early shift the early standby runs from 5am to 5pm. On lates it goes from 1030 to 2230. This means that you only fly 3-4 days out of the 9 in the pattern.

[Marlboro_2002]

Thank you all for the inputs


cheers,

[ssschmokin1]

...and the early days have got longer since the 5 on 4 off. Not unusual now to have two or three consecutive 11hr 30 min duty days, so they still get their pound of flesh. Of course the 4 off was sold to captains who commute, and paid for by the reduced pay for F/Os, but that's another thread....