EK Crew Meal Allowance
 

I am quite surprised nobody mentioned yet the low amount of our crew meal allowance given.
With time, they dropped it slowly down.
Have you ever checked that it is getting slowly impossible to pay for a lunch or a dinner at the different EK hotels?
Have you checked the different restaurant menu prices?
Can you afford it with your allowance?

I figured out: we can barely pay for a sandwich and a glass of water in few of our EK hotel! barely a normal dish in others, without any drink (not even a bottle of water)...

Check on your side and tell us!

55 USD in LAX, doesn't cover anything but you still have to add the tip

They haven't changed in the last 16 years bar going down!

From 1st of April...
The ones I have noticed.

CPT -20% with the new hotel, with less discounts...
NCE from 110euros down to 80euros from what I heard..
LYS from 86euros down to 70...

Have the discounts improved in the hotels or are you just getting less money?

If there is a shortfall then an ASR must be filed. Your cabin crew need to eat properly if they are to be fully fit for duty.

Are those figures per day, or do you get a certain amount for breakfast, lunch, dinner etc..?

The only way it'll ever change for the better is if we submit well drafted reports about this on EFA. i have recently done so for KIX, where, because of restaurant opening times it is impossible to eat a balanced meal within the allowance. The only restaurant where you get the full discount is the buffet, where it's the same **** every day. Other restaurants are expensive as is room service, which I hate anyway.

55 bucks? Is it for a meal or a day? How may hrs do EK pilots stay in LA usually?

It is per diem

We stay 48h....

Just for comparison - for 48 hours in the good old USA - thou who shall not be named would provide approx $300. They even give more than $55 for a 24hr Indian trip!

Ouch.

The thing is Moony123 that comparison is not strictly correct.

With the un-mentionable you don't get a per diem in cash when you get to the hotel, the allowance is paid along with your flight pay into your salary.
Depending on the destination you get an hourly allowance from the moment you leave AUH until you get back to AUH.

In EK your per diems are paid in cash at the hotel (in most cases) whilst your flight pay is paid with your salary.

This is the difference is cash that you are quoting.
If you compare the 2 in the way I describe they are pretty similar.
Having said all of that I still think the allowances are way too low!

I don't see a problem with allows going into your salary.
At EK you have to take your own money out to spend on layovers anyway - if you want to eat!
7 GBP for b'fast in MAN, hotel charges 16!:uhoh:

The allowance manual is on the portal. It contains good information as to what we are entitled to. Just came back from a layover where a bottle of sparkling water for my room service burger was about 25 dirhams. That was 25% of the allowance for that meal. Did I have to pay out of my own pocket to have the meals I required, of course...

Unless of course you are the purser or flight crew, in which case the "full" english is complimentary….mmm black pudding:E:E:E

If you've been charged £16 for breakfast in MAN, it was a mistake.

All cabin crew get charged £7 flat rate.

Pilots and purser get it free in the lounge, and can also choose to use the main breakfast area without charge.

And it's actually a good breakfast. As are all Marriott meals in the UK.

:ok:

The real problem is the accountants/managers responsible trying to look good by cutting where ever they can.

They decide on an allowance based on hotel prices less the offered discounts. They once determined these based on the most expensive meal - now - no idea!

They don't include tray fees for room service even when at some hotels this is the only option late at night. They don't include tax. They don't factor in that we need to drink.

Now we have hotels, such as the one in Chicago, where you cannot get ANY food at night! So you wake up for your 3am departure and go to work without a meal.

Other hotels have 'limited' menus at night.

Considering we are flight crew who may be on any number of time zones or have any number of departure times I think it is deplorable.

Now we even have flights with duties of 10 plus hours (not including travel time) with ONE meal.

No idea where this is going to stop!

I agree with all, but .... did you write? File an ASR? File fatigue (iso hunger) report due insufficient catering?

I know from the source that EK does not get sufficient of those to act, they consider the situation adequate, because nobody complains!

Write with all the arguments you gave here, start times, meal count, meal choice, hotel discounts, hotel open times, real prices etc., please!:ok::ok::ok::ok::ok::ok:

Only avalanches of different reports to a lot of places get attention of the ones who do not care, but at a certain point need to act to keep their cosy desk, close to a Costa, 1 hour lunch break with choice of 3 restaurants and nice office times of 9:30 to 3:30.:ugh:

Actually I don't think it is. Using LA for example - EK I'm assuming you get flight pay for your block hours to and from LA - Paid with your salary, yes? Then you get the $55 per day in cash at the hotel. So you end up with $110+Flight Pay.

The unmentionable pays you flight pay the same way, but then you are also paid 23 AED per hour (for Europe/America) whilst off duty on the ground. So for the same 48 hour example you'll end up with an extra 1100AED/$300USD. $300+Flight Pay.

Granted yes it is paid monthly in arrears - but it's still a whole lot more than $110.

I find it very hard to believe that there is SUCH a difference in pricing in LAX as opposed to JFK that the allowance for a 31hr JFK is the same as a 48hr LAX... and there being nothing nearby the hotel after hours except a Chipotle and a 7-11 after a walk through a questionable street after dark...

Do a Brisbane-Auckland trip you'll get around 75 bucks on arriving in Brisbane, as opposed to more than a hundred in Sydney.... both upmarket hotels in the CBD with fairly pricey menus.. I always thought they based the allowances of the menus available but the Brisbane hotel isn't exactly cheap either, yet $30 or so difference...

Call the police - you're being robbed.