QF Commuting

[Soup Dragon]

A question for QF 2/O’s & F/O’s. I have done an extensive search of Pprune looking for info on this and despite having found some interesting stuff I haven’t been able to find a definitive answer.

Is it possible or realistic for a Second or junior First Officer on the 400 to live in Perth and commute to Sydney?

Are you able to bid for say a 10 day block per month to make this possible? Can you bid to do all your trips in a month back to back to minimise ground time in Sydney? How long after joining do ID90’s start to enable you to do the commute? Would you have to find digs in Sydney during a reserve month?

Any information and sensible opinions on the feasibility of doing this would be welcomed.

Regards

[*Lancer*]

Soup Dragon, I'll try and answer your questions first! :)

The short answer is, unfortunately no. It's essentially impossible...

10 Day bloack per month? I don't understand what you're getting at, but the most days off you can bid for is 5 in a row.

Yes you can bid for trips back to back, but there is a minimum time off between trips which totals half the number of days away, rounded down. So, if you do a 7 day trip, you HAVE to have 3 days off...

Staff Travel commences exactly 6 months from the date of joining.

Bid periods go for 2 months rather than one, so any reserve period (blank line) would be that long...

So,

If you were on standby you would have to be in Sydney (or very close to it).

If you were on reserve the minimum amount of notice is 8 hours... If you can get to Sydney in 8 hours from the time you were called you'll be ok. But considering the frequency of flights, and the time it takes, it's a big ask.

Basically it's nigh on impossible until you're senior enough to be a permanent pattern-line holder (about 1 - 2 years), and even then it's all a bit dicey with the contract. If there were more junior flights to Perth on the 400 it would be a different story...

Lancer

[sausageman]

Soup,

Nigh on impossible..?..... Not quite.

Seniority to be on a permanant roster...... more like 6 months from checking to line. (on the 400 anyway).

If you can put up with being around Syd for the first 6-9 months till you get your permanant roster (necessary evil) and then head back to perth, with a little bit of forward planning each bid period... No problems!

We have s/o's who commute from Auckland.

I am a commuter. Admittedly there are more flights to and from my home port than perth. but I started commuting from when I stopped getting blankline rosters (6mths)

In fact... I just operated with a perth commuting s/o.

76 and classic.... another story again. Shorter flights.. more frequency.. Perth could be stretching it. 400,.... No worries.

regards

Susageman

[Soup Dragon]

Thanks for the replies guys. interesting to see two quite differing viewpoints.

Lancer, with regard to the ten day block: In my present company it is possible to bid to block your trips quite close together, taking required days off down route (ie the 7 day trip you qouted above could be backed up against another trip because you would have had "days off" on the 7 day slip). That way it is possible to achieve a 10-12 day block free of duty per month to make long distance commuting very possible. I was just wondering wether that would also be possible with QF.

Thanks again guys, I'll see how it goes with the rest of the selection process.

Regards

[*Lancer*]

sausageman, yeah its about 9 months are the moment, but that's only if you're on the 400, and recruiting continues as it has... It's possible in that sense. One question I have for commuters is how do you deal with late assigned/cancelled sims or flights that happen from time to time?

Soup Dragon, you can't get flights together with RDOs down route thus compressing the whole lot, giving more days off at home. You can get a whole bunch of days off if you're senior enough to get the trips you bid for. So if you just bid for undesirable long trips (London/Frankfurt shuttles) you should get them even being fairly junior. Because there's a lot of flying involved you'd end up with a load of days off in the middle.

Lancer

[Speedbrake UP]

Lancer, I have yet to have any trouble with late or changed sims or sign ons. Once you have done your 15-4 you do not have to have contact with the company before your sign on. Likewise with sims after you are cleared from your last A day or finish of your trip it is up to the company to try and find you. You do not have to keep in touch with them. Hence I usually have a last look the afternoon before a sim. After that I just appear in Qcc an hour before the start time and check in with schedulers. At least then I get paid for turning up to a cancelled sim.