EK cutting block times?

[White Sausage]

Am I the only one who thinks that they are cutting block times to squeeze us even more? Most of my flights are close (20 minutes or so) within the block time, so virtually impossible to finish on time. So they make us fly more for less money again? Or am I missing something here? Happy to be corrected...

[Monarch Man]

Can't say Ive seen it, but if it looks a little tight the CI is adjusted accordingly or the departure is moved forward, particularly at outstations. I've even managed to find a way to get around the sneaky so and so's in load control who hold back the loadsheet to try and delay your early departure.
The other possibility is that CI's are generally below 50 these days.

[donpizmeov]

I agree with Monach. It is our job to fix the cost index error when they occur . Problem is then sorted .

[Eau de Boeing]

I normally find adding a zero at the end or a four at the start resolves most block time issues!

[Denzeldude]

I'm only new here so not following. Can you explain what they are doing to the block times and how that plays with actual times and flow on effect.

Thanks

[in freedom]

Flight Duty & Flight time limitations reflected in the rosters are based on planned block time. Squeezing planned block time may generate significant savings by avoiding crew augmentation, layovers etc. when building the rosters.

[gardenshed]

Two ways to play this, either fly the CI given on the flight plan and arrive on stand late, then the punctuality stats take a hit, and to be honest I think passengers care more about arriving on time, than the actual departure time, and a late arrival will play havoc with some of the tighter connections. Or to quote TCAS " Protect the Hub" take a couple of extra tonnes of gas, wind up the speed and fly low & fast to try and achieve an on time arrival, and increase the fuel bill.

[The Outlaw]

Two ways to play this, either fly the CI given on the flight plan and arrive on stand late, then the punctuality stats take a hit, and to be honest I think passengers care more about arriving on time, than the actual departure time, and a late arrival will play havoc with some of the tighter connections. Or to quote TCAS " Protect the Hub" take a couple of extra tonnes of gas, wind up the speed and fly low & fast to try and achieve an on time arrival, and increase the fuel bill.

TCAS is gone. I don't think anyone could give 2 ****es about anything he said, past or present.

Nothing wrong with MMO tho !

[Macrohard]

Arrive when the cost index says you will. If you’re late, you will get a good gate.
If Ops want you to fly faster, then let them make the call.
Let others who have the higher responsibility worry about issues like this.
As pilot we can only make a limited difference in arrival time.
A couple of minutes here or there make very little difference in the grand scheme of things.

[donpizmeov]

Macro, if they wanted you to fly more than the block time they would pay you for the extra time. They don't want you working for free . That would just be silly . It's a business not a charity. Sometimes they just make an honest mistake and use the wrong CI. By fixing this, no charity work is required.

[White Sausage]

Thanks for your replies, gents. I know how to correct the obvious CI errors. However I hate the fact that obviously they are trying to sneak time=money away from us, as usual. Nobody wants to work for free, especially after all the bs they came up with the last few years...
As Don said, this ain’t no charity!

[777-200LR]

You guys really think they reduce the CI so you get paid less??! (let’s not forget what your hourly flight pay is). A CI of 250 down to 37 on a 6 hour leg is barely 15 min changed; you do the math. But a late arrival and pax having to be re-booked to later flights, is a little more costly than the dhs 8-10 they ‘stole’ off you.

[Kennytheking]

Planned block times are wrong anyway. Rostered 95 hours in July, by the end of the month my rostered detailed report is 91 hours. 4 hours of "productivity" lost because the block times were all wrong to start with.

Actually, you get paid the credit for each trip, so you will still see you full productivity. If they started paying for what we actually flew, we wouldn't be having this discussion, which is moot anyway. I doubt the company is fudging CI to screw the pilots. Anyway, company policy is OTP......and I'm a company man so I do my utmost to arrive on time :-)