QF LHR CC Base To Close...Rumour

[Southside747]

Most crew who go to LA do it for the extra money. Lets see, regional trips, less longrange, bugger all allowances due to the short slips, ...., yes I can see an exodus away from LA for these trips.

The simple fact is there will be much less (about 70%) US flying available to current crew in 18 months time. Time for some who just want to believe what suits them to pull their heads out of the sand and look at the real picture.

With the US going into recession, new competitors opening up, and the stated government intention of open skies on the route (therefore allowing SQ and EK to fly the Pacific) by 2010, the chances of QF going to a zillion other US destinations is looking less and less likely.

Looks like most of us will be doing regional flying in 2 years time. No extra flying pay, and few allowances. The future looks bright now.

[roamingwolf]

blackguard I hope your right but my gut tells me different.The ones that will go part time will be the mothers club.and as southside says the ones that go to la do it for the bucks.

remember the joke about a crew asking a local cop how long it takes to walk from the misadventure to the train station.the cop says he doesn't know because no ones ever made it.

crew don't go to la for the great hotel or area we stay in or maybe not since Redondo or pasadena at the most.
the more I think about it southside is right the airbus will take a big slice of the la's and the senior crew who are left on the 400's are not about to do regionals because of the bucks and no decent crew rest.

[surfside6]

Doom and Gloom

Every time there is change at work we have the "doom and Gloom" brigade telling everyone the sky is about to fall.
If you go to LAX for the bucks try going to JNB for the bucks.The difference between a 4 day LAX and a four day JNB is $135.
JNB has always been good for longrange and overtime.The shopping isnt bad either...kids clothes,wine,coffee and mobile phones are all cheap.
Oh and dont forget the Kreepy Krawleys.
But you guys will turn your nose up at JoBurg.

[prunezeuss]

Exaggeration

A "zillion"US destinations.
It was two:Chicago anf Dallas.
Like the guy said "you want money and cant get to LAX?
Go to JNB.
I did it for years and made a motza.
It also gave me control over days off that I needed ...including Christmas

[Bad Hat Harry]

Superannuation Improvements

You can now salary sacrifice your compulsory employee contributions.Thats a saving of 15%.You now also have choice of fund.
Some of you people wouldnt know a good thing if it fell on you.
After waiting for years I have been promoted...an increase in wages,an increase in super contributions plus the 3%.
Over the life of the EBA I am nearly $80K better off.
There are a lot of people suffering financially out there.
This EBA has made sure I am not one of them
Who care about LAX?
It will be years before I see it again and I dont care

[roamingwolf]

Over the life of the EBA I am nearly $80K better off.

There are a lot of people suffering financially out there.

This EBA has made sure I am not one of them

Who care about LAX?

It will be years before I see it again and I dont care

mate thats an intersting post from someone who says their location is sombrero ca.

boys and girls I highlighted the part which shows our biggest problem.thats we don't stick together and the i'm alright fred mentality is everywhere.

surfer just because crew say something that you don't agree with they are not doom and gloom.
Not everyone wants to go to joberg and not everyone wants to go to lhr and this has started more blues than a bus load of footy supporters but let's not go down that path again because all of us have different ideas on what is good.lets see how this pans out and maybe it won't be too bad.theres always good and bad about everything and this eba will not be different.

[Bad Hat Harry]

My Little Joke

Bad Hat Harry..Sombrero...Mexican for hat....get it?
It doesnt matter where I come from ...my observations and statements are still valid...or are you a "hattist"?
You are right there are good and bad in every EBA.
I choose to focus on the positives and what works for me and my family.
I adapt as I have always done.
A self characterized pragmatist.
There are a lot of people who read these forums who would like to be flight attendants or are about to be.
I just try to provide a positive balance to the negativity.
My goal: is to balance my work with my time at home with the kids.
My income continues to grow faster than inflation and I am spending more time at home with my family.
I have never factored in allowances.If I have any left over well then its a little cream.
We have five years of peace and some of the dysfunctional individuals who masquerade as managers have either pulled their heads in or have been moved.eg "the Terminator"is history.
A whole lot of new crew.A whole lot of new enthusiasm.More destinations in the pipeline..Santiago for example.
There are only 20 A380s coming.Spread them over three destinations.
LAX will still be available.
Its the dinosaurs graveyard as far as I am concerned.Sit around the pool,get pissed,smoke,complain and talk about the G.O.Ds.
BTW I hope and pray that all the offshore bases close..not only LHR.
LHR would be a good place to start.I wouldnt have to put up with pax complaing about the LHR crew when I take over an aircraft that has originated there.
Peanut Pusher.... over to you

[roamingwolf]

bad hat harry,
what is a hattist?

Mate i can see what your saying and i want to be better off as well.i just a little hot under the collar when someone says you don't need to go to la so lump it pal.
how many pool cleaners and mobile phones does someone need.i don't want a mobile phone because it is one more way for the company to ring. and I don't have a pool so that fixes that reason to do jobergs.
to be honest I like fra's but the last slip is a killer and the regionals don't do much so i do a few of la's and fra's.
the point I don't get is that if there is not a dedicated crew for the flying renault on the lhr base why do we need one in aus.
if we could have a transfer system and spend say a year on it the company would probably have enough experienced crew to fly it with the B scale newbys.

[blackguard]

LHR Base and The Croissant

The LHR base is a dedicated A380 crew
Thats all they will fly on eventually.
Why do we have Bases and QCCA?
Because they are cheaper than we are..pure and simple.
Its all about cost...supposedly

[blackguard]

LHR and the A380

There will obviously be a period of overlap but eventually the A380 will be the only aircraft flying to LHR .
Thats why Qantas bought it.
The A380 is a high volume of traffic aircraft.
Three destinations..LAX LHR JNB.
It will take a few years but thats what I presume will happen.
In 7 0r 8 years time LHR and JNB will be off the network for full time Australian based crew.
It will be serviced by QCCA and (if it still exists) the LHR base.
Once Shanghai gets going as hub to Europe that may change

[roamingwolf]

The LHR base is a dedicated A380 crew

hang on blackguard what are those aircraft that the lhr base fly with boeing written on them.
if they fly 400's then they are not dedicated on the renault are they?
you can't have it both ways because thats what the company tries on us.
plus i didn't ask about costs.i asked why the company insists that we have a dedicated crew but not the lhr base.
if the lhr base can fly both why can't we.
the company still has the cheaper newby's for other aircraft.

[blackguard]

Costs

You didnt ask about costs but costs are pretty much the basis for all decisions made by QF management.
They didnt buy them(A380s) because they liked the shape.
Qantas used to buy the best now it buys the cheapest.
In ten years time there will be very few if any A scale crew left.
That has always been the long term goal.
Thats why we are called "the Last Of The Mohicans"

[Shazz-zaam]

I stand to correct you, "The last of the"

[twiggs]

Originally Posted by blackguard

In 7 0r 8 years time LHR and JNB will be off the network for full time Sydney based crew.

So Melbourne and Brisbane will be doing those trips then or have you forgotten that Sydney is not the only Australian base these days?

[blackguard]

Pedantic..Twiggs

My Apologies..off the network for Australian based A scale Crew

[roamingwolf]

blackguard,mate i know what your saying and we all know how tight the company is but i reckon we're being done over once again.
whatever way you look at it the company still has picked the lotto numbers and all new crew are cheaper than a sale at less than best.
if we are going the way of the dinosaurs and they have got their pound of flesh with all new crew cheap why are we the only ones to have to cop a dedicated crew?

the company still has all new crew on the B scale so does it matter if they fly the a-380,747-400,767,a-300,787,cessna 400 or whatever else they buy.

you could still have a mixed crew on the new ugly sister with the higher hours and the new 'hands free-guess what my roster will be' roster ,the company still saves a bucket load but it gives us a chance to fly to la or lhr or even shock horror jnb or wherever the company will send it.that way you could do a mix of flying and the only difference is that we share the flying just like the lhr base.
At the moment the company is telling us if you want to fly the new renault you have to sign on for 2 years and work the same hours and the new magic fingers roster system.If we mix the flying the company still pays the same money for the a-380 cabin crew wages so nothing changes except everyone is happy.

If you don't want to fly the renault and you only want to do regionals or whatever thats what you do but if you want to fly to lhr or la you can fly on the a 380.

like someone else said i don't know about the last of the mohicans because this is more like custers last stand but we're not the indians cause they won.we're the ones standing around about the be creamed.

[blackguard]

I Agree

Thats why the EBA is for 5 years.It will take 5 years for the croissant to reach critical mass and then its....bye bye time for A scalers.
Five years will see a lot of people out.
Peg or Guardian may have a different take on this

[surfside6]

Reality Check

We are talking about three destinations and 20 aircraft.
The growth vehicle for QF longhaul is the 787....115 of them.
Three Destinations and 20 aircraft.There is still SFO on the west coast and new destinations to follow.(Santiago for example)
The three destinations with the greatest traffic flow will also need to attract a lot of punters at a reasonable price...hence 'B'scale..to lower costs.
In the interim there will be cross crewing..some B scalers will operate on other aircraft.They are allocated a roster AFTER the A scalers have had their rosters generated.
There is still the opportunity to earn good bucks,be professional and have fun.
The LHR base will,in the interim operate two aircraft types..the 744s and the A380.As more A380s arrive and the 744s are redeployed the LHR base will eventually become a one type base..the A380..
There will eventually be more destinations in Europe...some mainline and some Jet*(if it still exists)
Expansion,growth,money and fun will still be in the mix.
It will eventually become a well paid part time job for many.Which is the way it was 25 years ago.
Its a win win situation

[roamingwolf]

surfer,
i dunno about a reality check cause i reckon this is more like a what if check.
what if the 787 is a lemon
what if the company gets a deal with honest pierre the airbus sales guy and buys another 30 or more?
to break even airbus has to sell more than double what they have now just to break even.
what if the renault becomes the new 400 and is doing the fra,sfo and all the rest and we are not on them?
this is all crystal ball stuff but you and the rest of us are guessing

It will eventually become a well paid part time job for many.Which is the way it was 25 years ago.

how do you work that one out?
75% standown rounded up
more destinations than you could poke a stick at
no neil bloody perrywinkle food
the list goes on and if you think they're gonna come back I think your kidding yourself.

[surfside6]

The GODs are Now

Look,there are a lot of people who get 30 days off a BP now.
Partime means even more time off and you can still clear $40K.
Worry about what you have control over and disregard the rest.
You'll sleep better.
Its been said...the A380 is a high volume of traffic aircraft..you wouldnt send it to MNL 2/3 empty.You send it to destinations where you can fill it.This is why you have aircraft of different size and capacity for thin routes,thick routes and everything in between.
The Qantas network does not have enough high volume routes to buy or fill more than 20 A380s.QF is an end of line carrier with a relatively small domestic population.It will grow but never to the extent of Cathay or China Air or a number of other Asian Carriers.Thats the reason QF bought into Vietnam Air.It has enormous growth potential because of where Vietnam is geographically and economically.
Unless Qantas merges with another carrier it will be a regional carrier that has a couple of european destinations and the states.The Jet* Asia business model is doomed to fail.LCC carriers cannot do longhaul and succeed.The infrastructure cost and the lack of high yield customers mean that only legacy carriers will succeed in longhaul.Virgin Blue started off as a LCC but has repositioned itself to attract high yield travellers.Tiger and JetStar will go head to head while Virgin and Qantas mainline compete.Branson has spent years building the Virgin international network and its all about to dovetail nicely.
The next few years in aviation in Australasia will be interesting.There will be successes and failures...Jet* Asia will probably be one.Qantas mainline cant prop them up forever.
My prediction...once Dixon goes...Jet*Asia goes.The LHR base will eventually become unviable..if its not already with this new EBA