EK Rosters are out

[aeropix]

Let the flames ignite!

Top bid in vacation month....

10 days leave, 50 hours of flying (got only 1 trip I wanted), plus 4 turnarounds and PPC RTGS and Handling sim. Great use of top bid...

[pylet]

Pretty standard these days to not get any bids if you've got leave. System gets as much mileage out of you in the days it can.

[777-200LR]

Aeropix, no disrespect your way but unless you joined here within the last 3 months, pylet said it pretty much as is.

I would say 50 hrs is pretty low for only 10 days of leave and unless this was forced leave, you didn't know you were top bid in June for the past year?

[TangoUniform]

Lovely, second top bid, two crap layovers and six all night turnarounds.

[Payscale]

Another great roster. Very pleased.

[luvly jubbly]

Another great roster. Very pleased.

And you were soooo chuffed, you just couldn't hold your excitement in?

When I get a good roster, I'm just quietly smug. I don't feel the need to brag online about such a thing.

[anson harris]

Do you think EK monthly rosters deserve their own forum? Or possibly their own website?

[CaptainChipotle]

Another great roster. Very pleased.

Payscale is management or a troll.

[YYZ]

Troll or not, he cannot brag, but everyone else is ok to complain?
A well thought out post Luvly.

YYZ

[felixthecat]

YYZ, nooooo these forums are just for moaning and bitching....didnt you read the T&C's when you signed up ? ;)

[luvly jubbly]

Troll or not, he cannot brag, but everyone else is ok to complain?
A well thought out post Luvly.

YYZ

It's not that I don't like positive comments.
I find it distasteful when people brag about their luck to those less fortunate.

DS called it Troll. I'm inclined to agree.

[Eau de Boeing]

I don't think YYZ learned to read, he's from ooop north.

[harry the cod]

It's not rocket science. Work out in advance where your top bid months are and then decide whether you want the leave in those months. It may not always work but at least you can have some control in the matter. Same for RTGS. Unless you're a complete dumb whit, you've probably already figured it's every 6 months. It's also 4 consecutive days now with no credit which will impact on bid satisfaction. We have a rotating 5 month bid system. Some years it works in your favour, some it doesn't. Accept it. Some individuals also need to re read the roster guidelines about requests and preferences. They might then stop complaining about only getting one of their choices in lower bid months!

As for Payscale, hardly a troll, more likely on the 380. Unless you're a trainer, the two fleets generate 2 very different roster lifestyles. 14-15 days off most months are the norm on the whale. 8-11 for the triple.

Harry

To add, from a 'strategy' perspective, it's probably better to bid for leave in a specific calendar month rather than straddle two. At least this way you shouldn't screwed in two months working harder than normal without productivity pay. Just a thought! And I agree with Don, wine does help!

[Enos]

777
Top bid, nothing I bid for but got given six days off in a row, which is nice but PPC brought one month forward out of reserve.

74hrs flying.

[halas]

Bid for Khaboom 3 days after my leave in bottom bid to extend my leave.

Didn't get it!?!?

halas

[Payscale]

Troll is a matter of opinion. Who cares. Prune can also be used to say something positive. Focusing on the negatives will just get you an ulcer.

[5star]

for once, Harry is spot on, however the bidding is still 1 big lottery and it feels like there really are hidden rules in the system to scrxw you around. I never ever witnissed that in the old system. so job well done...
huge difference in lifestyle between the 2 fleets. I got another roster with 8 days off, max 2 in a row plus recurrent, 80plus hours. bid for 3 days off, got 2 exactly before the dates i wanted them :ugh:

payscale, either you are on the whale, else i suggest you google 'stockholm syndrome' to get a refresh. There is nothing positive on the Boeing except we seem to be getting some of the nicer trips back.

On the positive side, I keep myself motivated with the nice pay increase....(sarcasm intended).

[Payscale]

I'm a whaler....but I do t care much for the prune mall security guards that attack anyone who is not anti everything EK. I do my job and go home to the family. What else is important?

[White Knight]

Too right Payscale. Anything these lot don't like you're immediately management or a troll. I've had this nonsense thrown my way for years now and I'm just a simple line pilot:hmm:

[A6EchoEchoUniform]

Too right Payscale. Anything these lot don't like you're immediately management or a troll. I've had this nonsense thrown my way for years now and I'm just a simple line pilot:hmm:


Bottom line .. EK is far from the best, but even farther from the worst. Me, I do my job, and go home to enjoy my family time. This job works out extremely well for me, and I'm happy I came here. The tax free income, schools, housing, and medical care is what keeps me here. My kids are happy, and therefore my wife and I are as well.

[nolimitholdem]

hahahah! Now why would anyone EVER think White Knight a troll?!

Of course everyone knows you're a line pilot. But that only makes it worse...at least the management trolls are just following orders.

[donpizmeov]

Wrong target Limit. The muppets running Flight Ops/NCC are the ones screwing up your roster etc with stupid and vindictive rules.
Quality of Life in EK has always been fleet dependent. Check past posts to see for your self. The 330/340 had a crap time of it while the 777 fleet was the place to be. Now the 777 is having a crap time while the 380 has an alright time. It will change again, it always does. So WK stating how it is for him is not trolling, nor is it any different to what 777 fellas were saying a few years ago.

[I like cheesy snacks]

Tax free salary! Haha that made me laugh. Thanks A6-echo. Guess you haven't had to renew your car insurance recently to the new highly inflated 'government minimum'.
There is plenty of tax here which is unwritten and even the written one of the incoming Vat too. Is it a coincidence that the take home pay is less than other normal carriers before tax pay. But yeah tax free salary is great.....

[Panther 88]

Difference Don, is the 777 chaps are the majority of the pilots here. Thus a majority of the pilots have little or no roster satisfaction as a general rule. In my time here, I can't remember when or if the 'bus pilots were ever a majority. Really doesn't matter though, there will be no improvement in the3 future for the majority of the pilots, with regards to roster satisfaction. Fact of life here.

[donpizmeov]

Interesting logic panther. So the opinions of the crews of 95 aircraft mean nothing?
I agree roster satisfaction for all pilots here is ****e. The 777 fellas are doing the harder yards.
The true target is not WK, but rather the Gumbies and muppets in the office.

[Sheikh Your Bootie]

I bid like you should in preferences, for days off block, as recommended. Got 5 in a row, shame it was a week early and basically sweet FA use. Anyhow, better than it was a few months back.

My hours are also way down, maybe more than ULR to the US chopped. I did get 2 decent ULRs, one nice indian layover and a couple of easy turns up the Gulf.

Strange 2nd bottom bid..

SyB :zzz:

[MosEisley]

Wow...so its ok to s#it on another group because you are in the majority? I always wondered why some 777 guys thought they were so special, thanks for clearing that up Panther. I naively spent 8 years on the 330/340 thinking i was just an EK pilot like everyone else wearing the same uniform. I never realized i was a "minoirity." I've got a lot of buddies on the 777, and I can empathize with their frustration but for guys with your attitude, karma is a bitch, so enjoy India.

[Monarch Man]

Panther, not something I think is particularly helpful or fair, we are all colleagues at the end of the day.
FWIW on the 777 I've seen a reduction in my hours consistently over the past 5 months now, perhaps the message is slowly filtering through but I suspect it's more likely that we are in survival/crisis mode, also the introduction of layovers in India has made the experience of flying east at 2am far less fatiguing and a little less soul destroying.
As for special individuals, well they exists across the fleets but do seem to confine themselves a little more these days to line flying rather than encouraging "techniques"

[Panther 88]

Ladies, relax. What I was trying to say was this was the first time in my history here that the majority of pilots are dissatisfied with their lot. Not pitching one group against another. But when the majority is unhappy this has ramifications throughout flight ops from retention to doing nothing but the minimum. Every airline in existence has dissatisfied pilots, but not usually the majority. This has a trickle down affect on the entire operation.

[ruserious]

As for special individuals, well they exists across the fleets but do seem to confine themselves a little more these days to line flying rather than encouraging "techniques"
Ahhh techniques, airmanship for dummies, by dummies

[Mach.888]

Wow...so its ok to s#it on another group because you are in the majority? I always wondered why some 777 guys thought they were so special, thanks for clearing that up Panther. I naively spent 8 years on the 330/340 thinking i was just an EK pilot like everyone else wearing the same uniform. I never realized i was a "minoirity." I've got a lot of buddies on the 777, and I can empathize with their frustration but for guys with your attitude, karma is a bitch, so enjoy India.
A Big bloody LIKE 👍 For this one. Could not agree more.

[ClearanceClarence1]

Did the 330 guys do 95 hours every month? Mixture of ULR and night turns?

[777-200LR]

Yes the ones who were MFF A330/340. You're forgetting the A340-500 did most of the ULRs when it arrived; JFK, MEL, SYD

[sluggums]

A lot of us were hitting 900hrs back in 2005/6 on the 330/343/345 rosters.

[donpizmeov]

In 2005 the bus MFF crews were given a company excel program to monitor hours as all were doing 900 factored hours per year.
Big rosters have been around for a long time.

History here proves the good fleet today is the ****e one tomorrow. Can't see that stopping.

[luvly jubbly]

History here proves the good fleet today is the ****e one tomorrow. Can't see that stopping.

I guess you're safe enough on the big bus as destinations are so limited

[glofish]

In 2005 the bus MFF crews were given a company excel program to monitor hours as all were doing 900 factored hours per year

Factored? In 2005??

A part from that i agree that it has always been a lottery with fleets and rosters. But bragging about good rosters on here while knowingly being on the lucky fleet is quite new .....
Pretending to be the good guy to promote some 'good news' on here, to balance and counter the whining lot, is somewhat cheap.

[fatbus]

Newbies thinking they are so hard done by! What a laugh.

[donpizmeov]

Gloie we were bouncing off the limit back then. Check past posts.

[jack schidt]

As is the case here for so many posters on Prune, it's all about the following 3 things...

Me


Myself. and


I


Those who have not been here more than a decade have no idea about how the Airbus guys suffered in the 2000 - 2010 period before the A380 arrived. The mixed Airbus Fleet was short, medium, long and ultra long haul which meant that the Bus drivers were extremely well utilised and equally exhausted.

We understand your pain 777 drivers and you need not waste time here comparing as you really should be sleeping if it's anything as bad as it is being made out to be, which the older Bus drivers completely appreciate.

The A380 is slowly getting more of the 777 routes or flights so take it easy as we don't want you to feel you have to keep coming here to tell us.

You don't like it, chose your 2nd option and I don't mean dialling 2.

J

[InnocentBystander]

In 2005 the bus MFF crews were given a company excel program to monitor hours as all were doing 900 factored hours per year. Big rosters have been around for a long time

Only that back then nobody on the Bus was complaining, but rather loudly bragging about their fat overtime checks compared to 777 pilots. How times change...

[JAARule]

The true target is not WK, but rather the Gumbies and muppets in the office.

Come on, WK makes a great target! And a great troll, the consummate "wounded innocent" - Whitey you almost sound convincing!
Keep it coming, some of us sincerely enjoy your posts especially when you're proclaiming from your death bed how amazingly restful and refreshing your rosters are EVERY MONTH. Some of the new lads probably fall for it. :ok:

[glofish]

Gloie we were bouncing off the limit back then. Check past posts.

No doubt about that! But the horrible 'factoring' came into effect after you had already lost almost all ULRs.

I don't want to start comparing as to what was more inhumane, so let's agree that there will be good and bad times for each fleet and pilot.

[donpizmeov]

You are wrong Gloie. Factoring was happening back then.
Do a search of posts from back then.

Nothing has changed. Only the fleet that is being shafted.

[MR8]

Glo, I call BS on that. Factoring has been here for a long time, if I remember well, it came into effect shortly after we started more ULR flying, guess around 2005/2006??
Also, we were flying to an overtime threshold of 92 hours since 2008, not 88. (both thanks to TCAS/talking horse duo)
Also, India night turns were never 3 man ops or layover. Just 2 boys in the middle of the night, there and back.
Anyway, I can't be bothered with whining about how bad it is on one fleet and how good it is on the other. Apart from the new boys on the A380, we all did our fair share of horrible hours. For those who do like to whine, please use facts and not made up alternative stats.

[goatherd]

We had factoring in the mid 2000's, then they dropped it for a year or two as they were concerned with the legalities. 2006 I was grounded for a month as I was on max hours. Those days the 777 boys were doing 75 every month, regular as clockwork... And by the way until 2005 when the ER's started arriving we had 49 Busses and 20 777's and we didn't think we were special because of those numbers...

I have sympathy for everybody working way to hard (been over 100 in 28 a few times this year) but stop pretending that your are now the victims and the Bus guys are the gloating bastards... get off pprune and go shag the wife or have a beer.... unless you're to tired!

[Mgggpilot]

This is crap now. So when my roster is out I start a thread?
Non sense

[jack schidt]

Seniority in EK is almost worthless, there isn't even a seniority list that is accessible by the workforce.

New hires would never come if last on the list of roster requests month after month.

Other than Staff travel, seniority is hidden and worthless at EK.

J

[fatbus]

Does anyone think it will ever improve? Seriously just leave if you can't deal with it. There are many options , the grass is so much greener

[Mgggpilot]

Yes. Thanks for your input
You are welcome

[nolimitholdem]

lol

This thread is a perfect reflection of the incoherent sh$tshow EK has become.

All fleets, enjoy! :ok:

[Modesh]

Some of the 345,343,330 boys did boast about the overtime the were getting in 05/06
They we're getting phoned up and accepting extra flights for overtime cash, not complaining about the hours.
They didn't do 90 hours every month. We still had a credit system then. (Leave ,sim etc)
They were all senior and jumped to 380 as soon as it appeared, so didn't do it for long.
The 330 guys didn't have it easy by any means but the hours were down at the end of that fleet.
But the real big difference is that 330 boys had hope.
They knew it was only a few more years then "I'll be on the 380"
The 777 boys have no hope insight.
Not judging, not blaming, not saying it's right or wrong.
Just my opinion and my memory may be wrong.

M

[ruserious]

Nothing to see here, move along

[The Outlaw]

[QUOTE=Modesh;9780181]Some of the 345,343,330 boys did boast about the overtime the were getting in 05/06
They we're getting phoned up and accepting extra flights for overtime cash, not complaining about the hours.
They didn't do 90 hours every month. We still had a credit system then. (Leave ,sim etc)
They were all senior and jumped to 380 as soon as it appeared, so didn't do it for long.
The 330 guys didn't have it easy by any means but the hours were down at the end of that fleet.
But the real big difference is that 330 boys had hope.
They knew it was only a few more years then "I'll be on the 380"
The 777 boys have no hope insight.
Not judging, not blaming, not saying it's right or wrong.
Just my opinion and my memory may be wrong.



Modesh,

Let me be clear. There is NO hope anywhere in EK except for when you resign.

[gardenshed]

No better on the A380 trust me.
Couple of months ago on top bid was awarded Mel-Akl-Mel, through preference I never bid to go East at all, so go figure.
This month which was second bottom was sort of ok, next month( middle bid) absolutely nothing that I bid for was awarded.
I only bid for destinations, not dates, nor flight numbers or days of the week, recent advice was to make my bidding more generic !!!
As you say the continued crap rosters, followed by days of trying to e-swap with others who have the flights you'd like but don't want either, makes the whole thing a complete joke.

[BigGeordie]

This would be the office "workers" enjoying their peak summer leave. As they do every year.

[Twiglet1]

So are the roster out at EK or what i miss #rosterbanter

[Schnowzer]

So are the roster out at EK or what i miss #rosterbanter

Just got back to Dubai for the first time this month at 104 hours so didn't have the chance to check my email.😉

[Monarch Man]

Mid bid B777 LHS.

68hrs 14 days off, got a UK trip that was bid for, a couple of day turns, farest east and an interesting freighter trip, if this keeps up I'm going to have to come off my medication, lulled into a false sense of security perhaps, not high on hours either.

[TOGA!]

I finally just gave up and did not bid. September was bottom bid month (777 Ca) and figured it could not be that bad. I ended up with a better schedule than second top bid in July and as a bonus training is scheduled during a sane time. Sounds like the "whatever" bid works the best.

[natops]

Lhs777, 2 weeks vacation, max 2 days off again, 65 hrs. 💩

[fatbus]

LHS 380 9 days off + 9 vacation days + 60 hrs

[glofish]

October roster.

To be fair, i have to say that my oct roster is good. About what i bid for.
Is this a good trend, or am i just lucky?

[GillEx737]

Mine too - pretty good (in comparison to previous)

[natops]

72 hrs
11 days leave
7 days off
Lhs 777

[Divertnow]

72 hrs
11 days leave
7 days off
Lhs 777
That's insane!

[givemewings]

you think that's nuts I once had 11 days of LV and 80 hours.... and 'rosters are not compressed for leave' :ugh::ouch::ouch::{

[TurningFinalRWY36]

Thought you guys would have figured out by now the reason why you don't get your first requests (which I assume are the longer flights to the US and AUS?) It is because they give them to the guys with leave that month to get their hours up to 70 in less than half a month. Cant get as many hours out of them doing short turn flights and some europes

[ekpilot]

16th of December and the rosters are out. Big improvement on publishing earlier. Bravo EK!

[145qrh]

Great , almost like a real airline ..

[thatwasclose]

The time of arrival of roster is good ....the content is another story

[ekpilot]

Agree... now let’s hope they fix the content.

[CaptainChipotle]

Agree... now let’s hope they fix the content.

Been hoping for that for years.

[BigGeordie]

Apart from the rostering, when can we expect to find out about our leave for 2018/2019?

[SOPS]

Apart from the rostering, when can we expect to find out about our leave for 2018/2019?

Mate..you can always arrange your own, permanent leave. It is not so bad on the outside.:E

[donpizmeov]

I would like to apologise for the delay in Fleet management apologising for the error in the previous apology Re leave 2018/19. Unfortunately fleet chiefs, deputy chiefs, deputy to the deputy chief, and of course the deputy to the chief's deputy deputy have all been actively involved in warning letter and termination letter writing and are far too important to waste their time on trivial matters during this festive season. To those that have not yet received a warning letter or a termination letter (please collect these promptly from the crew mail counter, closed during festive season) your leave allocation will be assigned some time in the new year. Fleet would like to thank you for your patience.

[gearlever]

I would like to apologise for the delay in Fleet management apologising for the error in the previous apology Re leave 2018/19. Unfortunately fleet chiefs, deputy chiefs, deputy to the deputy chief, and of course the deputy to the chief's deputy deputy have all been actively involved in warning letter and termination letter writing and are far too important to waste their time on trivial matters during this festive season. To those that have not yet received a warning letter or a termination letter (please collect these promptly from the crew mail counter, closed during festive season) your leave allocation will be assigned some time in the new year. Fleet would like to thank you for your patience.

ROFL :D:E:D:E

[GMC1500]

I got an awesome roster for Jan (top bid). No, not a mgmt troll, just a line capt who happens to know how to bid.

[dubaigong]

GMC1500 don't be so arrogant by suggesting that if so many pilots at EK have a bad roster is due to the fact that they don't have your superior skill to bid...

[GMC1500]

Guys, if you've been here for years and haven't figured out how to bid yet, that's your problem. PM me, and you can come over to my apartment at bidding time and I'd be glad to show you.

[sluggums]

What a load...

[halas]

Light weight.

In GMC speak, 1500 is light duty.

Explains as such.

halas

[GMC1500]

What you do is to essentially repeat your list in requests in your preferences, as your list of requests is thrown out once one is granted.
Also helps to be realistic.
That being said, 6 of my 7 trips in Jan are flights that I asked for. One turnaround.
Why do some people feel the need to get nasty on here so quickly?

[RK Blue sky]

Maybe because we are like the battered dog. If everyone is nasty to the dog the dog becomes nasty.
Just like Emirates. Since they are so nasty to us and have beaten us down for so long we have become nasty and mean.
It really is ashame. I really didn't think it would come to this but sadly it has. We have to get out to save ourselves.

[GMC1500]

Sorry to hear that, Seaman, but I've always gotten pretty decent rosters using this system, particularly in top and second top, obviously if leave or training coincide, that changes things.
In lower bid months, I try to bid for things I think other guys wouldn't want, but I wouldn't mind doing, like Acccra/Abidjan.

[Schnowzer]

Spot on. With any decent system you can discriminate between duties on trips and flight numbers to destinations. With 10 bids it is impossible.

This is actually a worse system than SBS which was replaced by the previous system 15 years ago. Every new system has been a step back due to meaningless constraints added to the system. A bid should be your dream month and reflect what you actually want in its entirety and then you get what is available; not the opportunity to bid for 3 Days a month.

Being happy with trips to W Africa because it isn’t actually the worst that can happen is a pretty low bar to aspire to��

[3Greens]

What you do is to essentially repeat your list in requests in your preferences, as your list of requests is thrown out once one is granted.
Also helps to be realistic.
That being said, 6 of my 7 trips in Jan are flights that I asked for. One turnaround.
Why do some people feel the need to get nasty on here so quickly?

I can’t believe that you’re happy doing 7 trips

[JAARule]

Yes Schnowzer the SBS was actually pretty good and the rosters came out much earlier. The good old days.

[White Knight]

Yes Schnowzer the SBS was actually pretty good and the rosters came out much earlier. The good old days.

I found SBS to be the best bidding system we've had... Indeed, bring back TCK as well... Ok, maybe not:}:eek:

[JAARule]

Hello Mr. Knight, HNY to you!
Funny you say that; while he was full of bluster and bad news, TCK was also an unimaginative simpleton and the shaftings back then were of amateur status compared to that they dream up these days. We had the devil we knew.

What was the one before SBS?