LHR-TIP
 

During the last 12months I have been travelling on BA LHR-TIP relatively regularly, nearing an average of once a fortnight. On the flight back to the UK last night it occured to me that each time I have flown there has been a senior first officer on the flight deck. I am just intrigued as to the reason, if indeed there is one?

It is not down to required experiance levels, but due to the complexities of the work allocation system we use.

It is a high credit trip. On a Tripoli you get the over 7 hours towards your monthly target whereas a shorter trip (i.e Frankfurt return) gets only 4 1/2 hours credit. This means that doing 2 TIP trips gets you the same value & an extra day off compared to 3 FRA trips.

The way the bidding system goes is that senior chaps generally get first pick and they choose high value trips because that gives them more days off.