Bad Adventures

Str

You are correct. Was just stirring the pot!!

Slip times for LHR base from 25 March 06 as follows:

QF2/QF1 slip time 31.20 hours. Min requirement 12 hours.

QF30/QF29 slip time 41.25 hours. Min requirement 17 hours.

QF32/QF31 slip time 44 hours. Min requirement 17 hours.

leftoneprimary

AO are currently recruiting- from the 10 month LH contractors who were not renewed or made permanent in May. If sufficient numbers are not reached from this group we will be looking at language priority, in particular Japanese.

So contrary to popular belief our next recruitment is from Australia and to be based in Australia.

Hmmm `Jetstar Heavy'...an interesting concept...wonder if this is where we'll end up?!

Cheers,
L1P

wan2fly

I thought my last post would of got this response lol lol !!!

You obviously have a chip on your shoulders guys - never mind eh !

I think QF are a fantastic ( GLOBAL ) airline - wherever you fly from....

Cant understand your - comment re changing my forum name to noonewantsmeto fly - I AM flying at the mo - loving it too.. Thanks for the suggestion tho....

Good luck guys and happy flying...

Bad Adventures

Hey Qcc2


Interested on your thoughts about this A330 op to Bombay with regards to crewing.

This refuelling stop which is needed in Darwin on the way up. Will passengers be able to join the flight at this point (DRW/BOM) or will it be a simple juice up and go? Current tour of duty for a direct Mumbai northbound is 14.10 min. This stopover would add at the bare minimum an hour to the tour of duty thus becoming a multi sector duty of over 15 hours. So would envisage 3 options for the company regarding this situation.


1) They ask the FAAA for dispensation for a multi sector trip of over 15 hours (horrendous!!)

2) They combine it into a Short Haul Darwin pattern and give it to them to fly.

3) They slip Long Haul crews in Darwin for 48 and 72 hours respectively.

jettlager

My bet is that it'll go to the domestics.

Perfectly "legal" under the conditions they have agreed to do our traditional flying .

Also language skills not required any more when flying internationally under geoff's "Sustainable Bonus Program."

Jettlager

RaverFlaver

Re the question of "how many AO crew are there?" There are 320.

So if 235 voted then there were 85 who did not vote.

Theeya,

RaverFlaver

lowerlobe

If that figure is correct then it is amazing that 26.5% of AO crew did not vote,when their future is at stake.

especially if the YES/NO vote difference was around 50 votes

The figure is much the same at Longhaul and I imagine at shorthaul as well,I suppose a lot of crew do not think past their next latte...sad..no wonder management get away with so much

travel thickness

This month`s BRW has an interesting piece on Dixon,Gregg and Qantas.It appears that Gregg is the chosen one to replace "Il Duce".He has also been charged with determining the viability of establishing a low cost longhaul carrier.The article also indicates that it is likely that Australian Airlines is to be folded into Jetstar which is likely to grow into the low cost longhaul carrier Gregg is contemplating.This carrier would likely fly into leisure destinations where yields are too low for QF....HNL ‚`‚s‚g?@‚x‚u‚q TPE are a few that come to mind.
Never a dull moment in this neck of the woods!!

RaverFlaver

From what I heard in regards to voting for the EBA, was that a lot of the native language speakers didn't actually vote as they didn't fully understand the EBA and found it too "difficult" to read through to make an informed decision. This is evident from a native Japanese language speaker saying to an Australian Japanese speaker that they don't understand the EBA and it is too difficult to read, and that they won't be voting.....

However having said that I am not implying that all the people who did not vote were language speakers, just that there was some cases I am aware of people not voting who were in fact native language speakers.

Received a memo today from Andrea Staines, commenting on the report about AO becoming Jetstar, and she said Geoff Dixon's developing vision of the qantas group internationally is that it will have both full service and low frills flying. Referencing Jetstar doing trans tasman flying, and us to source new profitable routes.

I don't believe we will become part of Jetstar in any way as we are two completely different business models, and given our new EBA, this highlights just how different we are in terms of flying that can be done and the direction each subsidary is going.

Just my spin on things.

RaverFlaver

Don Esson

Mr Flaver,

You quote the Australian CEO as saying ' Geoff Dixon's developing vision of the qantas group internationally is that it will have both full service and low frills flying."

Doesn't that mean Qantas will provide the full service while JetStar will be the el cheapo. Where does that put Ms Staines' mob?

RaverFlaver

It puts us in the postion that we are currently in, providing a service that is in between the both of them.

travel thickness

Read the BRW article and you will see that you are perhaps a little naive in believing anything that Andrea Staines proclaims.It is well known that if the EBA didn`t get up AO was to be shut down....reason?Its not making enough money...and still isn`t.
QF mainline makes more money out of its outsourced duty free sales than AO`s total profit ..period

lowerlobe

Has anyone noticed how many positions there are in open time for FRA trips.

Apparently,there is a shortage of Thai crew as they are being used in LHR!!!!!

Don Esson

A couple more points for Mr Flaver:

One. Ms Staines has been yacking about 'new profitable routes' for quite some time. What has happened? Apart fromn the cherry picking seasonal charters, nothing. Every route Australian now flies was handed over to them by Qantas. The route that they did pioneer, although with a significant subsidy from its government, was Sabah. Where did it go? Down the tube with the handouts. They also managed to stuff up Taipei but blamed the Asian flu crisis to spin themselves off the hook. AOs continued refusal of more aircraft from Qantas speaks volumes for its intention to start new routes.

Two. On the question of denials etc., it's time to start to worry when media speculation that is close to the money is formally denied as it's been in this case.

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm and optimism but both are regretably misplaced.

qcc2

the word is it is going to domestic crew. their union officials are stupied enough to let it happen.(extended tour of duty) all i would suggest to our domestic collegues is write a letter to CASA, attach ALL bad patterns and ask what kind of fatigue management is attached to those patterns. also i would in writting advise CASA,the flying roo and yes your union officials that the have a duty of care and what they are going to do about it? unless you put it in writing i wont get changed.

AO, i agree with don that AO will be a thing of the past. jetstar international doesn't sound too bad either. andrea staines is just another number who gets told what to do.

just because the AO eba got up doesnt mean if it wouldn\'t have got up they would have shut down the airline. because of cabin crew. guys dont kid yourself, to shut down an airline isnt that easy.

lowerlobe

My question is why do they need all those Thai based crew in LHR?

Is it because they are trying to keep the hours down for LHR based crew because of hour limitations or

Is it because there are a lot of crew in LHR going sick? and if that is the case why is there high sick leave when everything is supposed to be bright and rosy in the old dart.

Peanut Pusher has so far refused to confirm or deny that there is a lower hour limitation than the company originally used.

Something is not quite right about the base and it will be interesting to see if GD has something to say about it when the yearly profit announcement is made

Bad Adventures

Another interesting point is how the company is not allowing any cross crewing to occur between the 2 bases (LHR & SYD). With the current long slips in SIN and HKG for the London base crew it is easily avoided as they can utilise the crew on long slips and turn them around. However next year with the termination of the QF15/QF16 out of SIN and the QF29/QF30 going daily out of HKG, London base crew will all be on minimum slip times. So I ask, how will they cover sickness in these ports (SIN/HKG) by the London base crew if they are not going to use Sydney based crew??

Any thoughts?

lowerlobe

I think that the Thai based crew have to do airport standby's in BKK so you can bet that there will be a few paxing Thai crew flying around Asia to replace LHR based crew,if there are any spare Thai crew in BKK that is.

If there is large sick leave now,imagaine how many will be pulling the plug when the slips are reduced.

However,with the LHR base a pet project with both LG and GD they will not be quick to admit anything is wrong.Ceryainly , no one so far has said anything about an hour cap issue but I think it will have to be raised at the next shareholders meeting as well as the imminent failure of Jetstar Asia which will cost the sharholders a packet.Let's see GD talk himself out of that

Mr Seatback 2

Qantas are reportedly offering to pay $40m to ensure a merger with Valuair goes through.

So...the crew are expected to fund their own futures by opening up offshore bases (to save $16m)...yet when an overseas venture fails appalingly, $40m isn't something to be concerned about as a shareholder???

The savings created by LHR seem to pale in comparison, don't they? Nothing like foolish pride to dampen your spirits!

jettlager

There is no transparency when it comes to cost apportionment at QF so my bet is that financial failure that IS QFUK, will remain well hidden.

An ex SYD based longhauler now working for QFUK was bragging to me last week that a major f@ck up with the wording of their contract was the reason for the extra long slips they are now enjoying.

Some mix up between "days off" and "local nights" was what he was trying to explain???

Perhaps Peanut Pusher will clarify??

"THE WORD UPLINE" SUGGESTS THAT QF SECURITY ARE ABOUT TO START A SERIES OF INSPECTIONS ON CREW BAGGAGE IN SIN AND BKK.

LET EVERYONE KNOW.