Quick example of junior guys rosters on the 777........JFK-LHR OFF OFF OFF YUL-LHR OFF OFF OFF OFF JFK-LHR OFF OFF DXB-LHR OFF OFF TA OFF OFF SIM SIM SEP IAD-Carry Out (Thats one month) Another would be DXB-LHR OFF JFK-LHR OFF OFF DXB-LHR OFF OFF CAI-LHR OFF BOS-LHR OFF SIM SIM ABV-LHR OFF OFF OFF . Another one is LAD LHR - OFF OFF TPA-LGW- OFF OFF IAHLGW- OFF OFF DTWLHR- OFF OFF JFK-LHR OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF PHL-carry out. ( All these are from several months ago)

How is that compatibel with being reserve and having to be at LHR in 02 hrs if called?
I am European, please tell me I don't have to go sit out reserve duties at LHR airport:{ :{ :{ .

I read on this failsafe site more people stating averages of 5 - 6 trips a month. As a true optimist and maybe for ever in denial, I will nevertheless believe you!:ok:

And thanks maxy, roster examples like that are highly appreciated!

Cheerful greetz,

going off thread for a moment; TR wrote .........

The first 7 days are a week of FDOs (Fixed Days Off) Think of them as an extra weeks leave! Because even the most junior can bid for (and get) pretty well any stby block, the ability to select these extra weeks 'leave' can be really useful!

I agree - BUT beware . The company don't like this . Combined with their desire to get part timers to do reserve...the intention is to drop this 7 day FDO block. Grrrr!
Balpa have seemingly already rolled over and agreed!

How is that compatibel with being reserve and having to be at LHR in 02 hrs if called?
I am European, please tell me I don't have to go sit out reserve duties at LHR airport.

You can sit out reserve on the dark side of the moon for all the company care. But if the Company call you, and you fail to get to the car park in 2 hours, you may find you have some explaining to do.

Bit of confusion, between Reserve, and Home Standby here.

If you are on reserve, the company will call you in the evening to tell you if you are flying the next day. Alternatively, they may say; "Do a Home Standby tomorrow". If this is the case, then you need to be able to get to the car park in 2 hrs during the Standby period.......

Aha! Most of the time, they will thus give you a duty or the day off, right? Is it common to get a home standby? Any commuters over there with feedback on the problem?
(how long is a reserve period by the way - hope it's not all day)

maxy101,

When I look at these roster examples you posted, I have the feeling that you have at least some Saturdays or Sundays off each month. Maybe it\'s because I don\'t know how much time 1 trip takes, but still...:)
If that would be the case, I really can\'t see anymore what so many people complain about.;)

flya380

A Reserve Period lasts 28 consecutive days. Within that you will get 7 Fixed Days Off (FDO) notified before you start the Reserve Period. They may be a continuous block of 7 days (in LH, I think) or the first 5 days and last 2 days (usually) of the Reserve Period (Shorthaul).

The duties for the other 21 days are notified the evening beforehand and may be:[list=1][*]A trip[*]A Home Standby (HSB) with 2-hour report commitment. The duration of the HSB is wither 8 or 12 hours. Where you do the Standby from is up to you - the golf course works for me, it is the 2-hour to car park that is important.[*]An Airport Standby (ASB). Shorthaul only, usually from 0600-1200 at LHR.[*]Short Break (1 day off) or Long Break (2 days off). In the 21 day span you will get a minimum of 1 short and 1 long break.[*]A miscellaneous day off if they more than enough cover. Unless they tell you it is a Short Break in advance it doesn't count as one[/list=1]

You can express a preference with Ops for work/no work, short/long trips and they will try to help usually. One trick for Reserve Periods is to get your Sim Checks allocated in them, the day before your check cannot have work assigned on it by Ops, and in effect reduces the 21 available days by 3 (or possibly 4 if recurrent SEP training is also required).

Reserve for the "foreign" commuter
 

FlyA380

I fly Long Haul for BA and live on the continent so I have a little experience of the "commuting" problem vs Reserve.

Your 28 days of reserve start with 7 fixed days off, after that you are in the hands of the Company for 21 days. You are now "contactable" by telephone for a couple of hours every evening ( I don't have the rules to hand but 1800 UK time to 2000 UK time rings a bell - pun intended) and you can be assigned a duty the next morning - early, either a trip or Home standby ( the "2 hours to report" sketch).....

Practical problems for the long distance commuter should be obvious - if you are assigned a duty early in the AM ( perhaps being told at 8pm you have an 8 AM report), can you get to LHR in time? Home standbys can run from 6AM - can you be in position to report in 2 hours by that time?

On the subject of the 2 hours to Report sceanario - you can and will get called on the dot of two hours, it's happened to me on several occasions and a lot of the BA guys who commute decent distances by road even have been known to sit in their car, at a motorway services, mobile phone in hand so that they are "legal"...

SO.......somebody asked "please tell me I don't have to sit out reserve duties at LHR" well, if your commuting airline doesn't have any late night flights the answer I'm afraid is, in extremis, "yes".

When I do reserve I usually talk to our ops people and ask to be worked to death, ask to do trips if possible rather than standby, volunteer to do "back to back" trips, so you spend just one night at LHR between trips. I aim to work flat out, as far as legally possible, so that I discharge my obligation to do 80 hours of credit in the 21 days ASAP......

commuting
 

Thanks Wiggy;) .

I will get in touch with you again, when my search for easy lodging close to or at LHR starts in case of standby or back to back trips.

From where I live, there are daily BA flights to LHR. Can one with a BA badge simply hop on (like at Lufthansa/Alitalia/...)? Or is it not that simple:confused: .
I hope to be adopting BA as my commuting airline...

And just a thought: I checked the BA B777 destinations. By the time I will have been at all US and Gulf destinations - where I have NEVER set foor before - we'll be probably more than a year further. And by then, my seniority should be just high enough to get someting else from time to time:D . Who said life is terrible for a fresh B777 FO? I am looking forward to it:cool:

Sadly not. You don't get staff travel for your first six months.

You can "Interline" up to a point, although I'll leave that to a commuter to explain in detail.

and AFTER those six months?

You can buy unlimited ID90 tickets - all handled via the BA intranet. Access from home if you have a PC/laptop. You get all the login details when you join. Some locost airlines fares are about the same price. I recently flew LGW MAN with JET2 for £9 plus tax!

Dont think anyones mentioned seeded blind lines that are juist coming in where One trip is bid for at first roster bidding and then rest of roster allocated around at second stage, Its a great way to get days off because they cant give you trips 2 days before or after. I'm bottom of the 74 list and still get more control over my lifestyle than at any previous airline. It also looks like the 777 work will improve as the euro 76's go longhaul and look likely to go to the Gulf and E coast. And in 5 years (which will whizz by) you can change to something different, not many airlines give you that choice.

to fly or not to fly...
 

HM, the blind lines really do seem interesting. I may want to get me some of those when I actually make it on the line.;)


Something else: I heard somebody say that at BA (the guy did NOT fly there by the way), you cannot handfly unless completely established on final.:uhoh:
I am having a hard time believing that: there must be conditions under which you are allowed to switch AP, AUTO THRUST and FD off early in descent or approach, right?

You will be pleased to hear thats total rubbish. I regularly hand fly the 777 and thoroughly enjoy keeping my handling skills up to date. Visual approaches are allowed and I encourage co-pilots to do the same. The only restriction I place on myself is to maximise use of the autopilot for "busy" departures such as LHR with weather avoidance requirements and approaches under similar conditions (especially if feeling tired).

Flying with a brand new DEP tomorrow - nice to meet some of the new intake....................

The recommendation is to use common sense. i.e. If it's excessively busy, poor weather, etc. maybe best not to. There are some fleet specific restrictions on use of the autothrottle whilst manual handling (not that I necessarily agree with them) but I would advocate handflying at every opportunity.

Believe it or not, it's not permitted to take out the autothrottle on the Airbus or the 777. Mind you, neither have a pitch-power couple (in theory!). :rolleyes:

I will go along (and probably fly along one day too) with ETOPS on this ;) .

I fly the Airbus A320 for 5 years (B737 before that) now, and nearly always - weather and cirmustances permitting - with everything switched off during descent/approach to keep my handling abilities as high as possible. (and for the FUN of course!)

A new company, new rules: that is clear and understood, but I am very glad that at BA, this will still be possible. (Though I understand that after 10hrs flight, I will not always be up for it:\ ) Imagine only flying 5 or 6 times a month, and only from 300ft down to the runway. It wouldn't take long to lose your skills that way I think.

I am more and more looking forward to my 777 course.:cool:

Anything else I should know?

Take the lunchtime management chats with a pinch of salt! :suspect: :suspect: :suspect: :E

Join BALPA or if already a member get the forms to transfer deatils at your induction.

Don't take any **** from CSD's either.