CREWING CRISIS MANIFESTS ITSELF
 

Heard from a reliable source that the company is cancelling the newly inaugurated 4th LAX flight, for at least two months if not more, starting in Oct or Nov. Reason, 'lack of crew'. Don't believe it when the company tries to tell you that they have adequate crew numbers. They don't, and the problem is rapidly getting worse. The number of long hauls with either two Captains or two SO's is also plainly indicative of a system that is breaking down. CC will bury them.

No worries, just another "missed opportunity" as NR likes to say.

Perhaps NR will be held accountable as People Director.

Find a decent rostering system that the pilots like and can control some aspect of their lives, drop sickness rates to normal airline rates and suddenly there are 100's of pilots to do the job.

Simple really?

Plenty of crew, just too many planes/pax/flights

...but think of all the fuel they're saving.

Hugo is spot on. Buy a decent rostering system with pilot choice and watch the sickness rate go down significantly. You might even get to sack some of the hand schedulers in ICM as the computer would do most of the work.

Problem is that no currently available system will even draft a skeleton schedule with the number of pilots available. There have been several attempts with various companies. Not a secret - visit the Rostering crowd and they'll tell you. They have 100% job security right now and for the foreseeable future because CX will never have the number of crews it should. Why would they - people volunteer to work on their days off.

I don't agree. If they are short of crew an automated rostering system would still work it would just mean there are more reserve blocks and minimum Gs for the junior guys and more overtime payments. It does not work ONLY because CX want to avoid overtime so use goodwill that can't be put on the published roster to keep the show on the road.

Nothing available?
 

Delta use Navtech, Delta Completes Transition To New Crew Rostering Software - Navtech

This company is just waiting for the freeware version.

To ask rostering if there is anything out there that will replace them, any wonder they are unable to find anything? :hmm:

Sadly there might be a downturn soon - who knows...they Chinese tanks might roll in on Monday; problem solved...CX always gets lucky!!!

But how can anymore than half the pilots get the roster they want?

The junior Capt/Fo's/SO's will still get their sh!t roster.

2 NA FO just resigned, another one will shortly follow........

Ok, Will IB Fayed, you might actually be Chr!s H*yl@nd, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and tell you about him.

For years, that has been his response to any talk of a system with pilot choice, be it automated, or bid line. And the response back to him has always been "But Chris, not everyone want the same thing. What's a sh!t trip for one pilot is a good trip for another. Yes there's a few trips that most people don't want, but for most flights you'll find someone happy to do it. By letting everyone have a say, most people will get at least something they want. It's a win-win".

Yet, he still can't understand that everyone wants something different. This is the guy who's in charge of our rostering. Is it any wonder it's a disaster....

My rosters are **** and will continue to be ****. With a PBS at least I know that in a couple of years they will get better. That is huge for morale. If they stopped upgrading guys who have been here for 3 years onto the 777 and took more senior FOs across that would also reduce the sickness rate in my opinion.

That's right - every upgrade on the 330...

No wonder about the sickness rate - last month I requested a trip as priority 2 and didn't get it; but 12 pilots got it without request...what a ****** up system we have!!!

The Christmas rostering fiasco is a good example
From 15 Nov until 15 Jan no one is allowed to place any roster requests
Why the hell not ? It's a request system, you may not get the requested trip but the same criteria applies every month .
There are some crew who would happily work to their home base over Christmas or New Year, for others they want to be in HK
But with the stupid system we have now you can guarantee that no one gets what they want during that period

Embargo dates are

2014-12-18 to 2015-01-08

Getting a laugh (cynical ) out of this. I left CX in 96 and there had been a number of attempts to use a computerised rostering system. Every one reported can not. Not enough crews. I think the crew controllers at the time were brilliant for the company, they would get your monthly roster right to the overtime threshold but not over. As ever the company wanted to do it cheaper.

Yep, 80-84 hours every time. The problem is that a 20 of those credit hours are PTing around NAM to the tune of $4000US. After calling in sick for one of those trips, 84 just went down to 65. Of those 65, maybe 48 are actual block hours. Yep, they are really saving a lot of money. No doubt about it.

I swear everyone is retarded!

"A computerized rostering system won't work because we don't have enough pilots!"

A computerized rostering system CAN do anything a human roster destroyer can. In fact, it can even do it better. It's just a matter of programming. You can write whatever code you want into the program. Heck, you could even program it to make your life miserable and wait until 11pm on the 15th before it releases the results. You wouldn't even be able to tell that it wasn't done by the current schedulers.

"I don't want a PBS because all the senior guys will get the good trips! Whaaaaaaa!"

You don't get what you want now, so how can it be worse. If you are, then it's just pure dumb luck. Eventually, you'll be senior too. That's how seniority works. I'd rather have a system where I have some control, and my roster will get better with time. Now, we have no control, and it's not getting better ever unless we change it.