I am bringing my toaster along so if any one wants to join me in my room or the Hotel crew lounge feel free.:rolleyes:

So is the general vibe that it doesn't pay enough? Even with the overnight / trip allowance what are you expecting to be taking home a fortnight?

I would have to say that they will be lucky to be taking home $1000 a week especially once you average out the flying. The base of $37K works out to be $711 before tax so lets round that down to $500 per week plus trips if you get any. It would be easier to work in a cafe for that sort of money.

Oh really? Because I've worked in plenty of cafes and struggled to bring home $700 a week for a 60hr week in even the best paying establishments. Cafe work is hard! I'm not saying this is a great salary at all, not by far, but don't compare it to that.

Net in the bank for cabin crew is around $1230 per fortnight. So that is $615 per week. Crew will be rostered an average of 3 trips in a 28 day roster cycle. Allowances are US$250 for a 2 night trip, so that is is AU$1140 net per 28 days based on todays exchange rate. More if you get a three night trip.

Ultimately it leaves you with around $900 per week in the bank. How much you spend downroute is up to you! It won't buy you a BMW, but it pays the bills, and gives me pleanty of time off, be it down route or in SYD.

Let's get the airline up and running first!

Happy Flying:)

VAustralia
 

Sounds good to me!

That does sound good but I have heard from V Australia crew that those 3 trips per 28 days are just the LA trips. What about the proposed short haul returns which will undoubtedly take up more of your time for which you get paid nothing extra?

Working 9-12 days a month sounds great but somehow I'm doubtful that will be the way the rostering works out in practice. How many rostered days off per month do you get?

...And is there any information about how they will be rostering standby coverage? How many days a month can you expect of that??

MEL Returns - This is one of the biggest problems facing us at the moment. This is still to be confirmed, and nothing is scheduled at this stage, but yes they will eventually be here. At this stage the contract does not provide any payment for this flight, and it is something we will need to work on when moving into an EBA/SNA.

Standby/Open days - With the guaranteed 9 days off per roster cycle, it is anticipated that the remaining days will be utilised for these. If you are called for a flight however, you wil still not be doing more than 3 trips per month. But if you include your days off down route, it actually increases your guaranteed days off to 15 per 28 days cycle.

Standby Down Route - Alot of crew are unhappy with this, but it is something we will just have to accept. It is the only way the company can ensure that flights do not leave without the full crew compliment of 13. This is another matter though that will no doubt be discussed when negotiations commence for the EBA/SNA.

Is SH in a 777 worth worrying about. You wouldn't want to do to many of those less than about 80% full. Every sector would be shortening the life of a LH aircraft.

777 lh on sh
 

wirgin blew - correct. Look at the problems Qantas have had using a LH aircraft on SH routes.

They are 100% going to be using this a/c for short haul hops, including the V Australia full onboard service. Cabin Crew will also be cleaning the cabin during these turnarounds. Bit harsh I think.

So essentially there'll be Virgin Blue and its pay as you go get nothing for free flying, and then you may also get onboard its 777 and receive an onboard refreshment etc...hmm people wont understand whats going on

Well I wouldn't include a day off downroute as being a day off. I don't truly relax anywhere except in my own bed, in my own apartment. It's the only place I truly feel off duty. There are so many things you can only do in the comfort of your own home. Cook a proper meal, invite family and friends over, grocery shop for the week etc..Sure LA might be exciting for the first two rosters but after that....?

I heard shorthaul patterns may include the longer domestic\regional sectors as well where a return would be possible in a single day.

As for standby downroute, so what will the pattern be? Operate there, extra layover day in which you are on standby then operate back when another crew turn up to replace you?

Cleaning a plane at the end of a 14hr duty? Harsh is one word I can't post the other I have for it...:mad: Also counterproductive. Crew do not clean planes the way a professional cleaning crew do, especially at the end of a 14hr duty and can you blame them? If you're going to compete with the top name legacy carriers you don't call pulling stuff out of seat pockets cleaning. That carpet needs to be vacummed and steam cleaned, the toilets need to be properly cleaned, the aircraft needs to be restocked. You can't tell me QF and SIA have their crew scrubbing the decks while downroute. :=

I think it would be a big mistake to confuse the identity of V Australia with Virgin Blue. They are two completely different products and should remain so. Who wants to buy a business class fare to LA on an airline they associate with budget travel? Will Virgin Blue passengers then be disappointed with the 737s once they have done a Syd-Mel on a more luxuriously equipped plane for the same price? At the moment V Australia is beginning to look like Virgin Blue on a bigger plane. Nothing wrong with that if that's what you're going for.... but I thought that wasn't what they were going for.:confused:

Let's get the facts straight people...
 

Flitegirl - you might perhaps spend a large part of the first 24hrs sleeping, however you then have another 30 hours to spend some of your US$250 (this is a minimum Dixons-son)... and layovers are a minimum of 54 hours...

IF there is a MEL return eventually, crew will be rostered a maximum of 1-2 of these per month...

Days off (9 per 28 day roster period) are all at home base...

There will be NO standby downroute - this is now official...

;)

Thank you dbxgirl. I think my facts were pretty straight there. I was simply talking about a 24 hour period, the allowance paid for that period and then your capacity to spend it in that period

When did "No Standby Downroute" get announced? That's the first I've heard of it. I though it was part of their strategy to avoid flights going crew down.

The Delivery crew leave for Seattle tomorrow. Very jealous, and still bewildered that no announcement was ever made!

I love this company, but there are some strange things that seem to be going on in the upper levels of cabin crew management.

I agree 'IJWF' the communication over the past few weeks has been poor resulting in a lots of upset amongst crew who weren't chosen for the pickup or inaugural. Maybe the 'open lines of communication' are U/S? :=

I haven't heard that hotel standby isn't going to happen but it did always fly in the face of the 'Fatigue risk management program' so maybe they have decided to fly crew down rather than have fatigued crew operating.

For all those current V Australia cabin crew, is it true that all reading lights will be turned off and instead individual reading lights will be given out on request?

Turn the lights off to save fuel. Any one know if E lite is still on.

tyguybye - minimum crew is 10 so with a standard crew compliment of 13 you can have 3 people go sick and the flight would still be able legally operate.

Yes the reading lights will be turned off and a USB reading light handed out that connects to the USB port by the IFE monitor. :=

Economy light is still going ahead but not on sale yet as regular economy is selling well. :ok: