Aer Lingus Transatlantic crew

yew_tree

I was wondering, for example EI-105 is due to land in JFK in the next hour or so that took off from Dublin this morning. Are the crew but up in a hotel in the city and then operate tomorrow evenings flight out of JFK?

Seems like a cool enough job to be able to spend a few hours in Manhattan each week or are them days for transatlantic crew gone?

kona

They have some perks alright! Fly out the next day!? If aer lingus asked them to do that there would be a full on meltdown! And rightly so! They get 2 r 3 days then do the return leg I think.

ballooba

AFAIK Etihad crew get 3 days rest after an 8 hour flight. An 8 hour flights is probably a 10-12 hour shift in reality and under very tough conditions. 3 days rest seems reasonable. You're right though, it seems like a sweet setup if you're looking to do a bit of travel and you don't have muh commitments at home.

donvito99

The EI 330 crews are rotated through short haul flights as well though AFAIK, or perhaps this is just a Shannon setup?

orionm_73

Yes they fly out the next day. The only time a layover would be longer would be if the flight wasn't daily, eg Orlando, or if it was to the west coast where a 48hr layover was negotiated as minimum.

Dacian

kona wrote: »

They have some perks alright! Fly out the next day!? If aer lingus asked them to do that there would be a full on meltdown! And rightly so! They get 2 r 3 days then do the return leg I think.

:eek:
Err no.

....as mentioned above EI crews get 22-26 hour turn rounds unless the flight is not daily. So operate a 8-9 hour duty on day 1, land at 1pm local (EI-105 for example) travel to hotel, pick up approx 24 hour after landing, then operate home through the night to land in Dublin on day 3. If the outbound flight is delayed (by up to 5/6 hours) then the stopover is reduced.
(European flight crew have a max duty of approx 14 hours)

EI crew operate both shorthaul and longhaul flights. Not many European airlines operate in this way. (This is a benefit of having only 2 aircraft types) EI aim to have their crew hitting their max legal safety limit every month.
In addition EI aircraft do not have crew rest areas as they do not operate flights more than 10 hours. (fingers crossed Wst Coast will return for us pax though)
So crew may be doing 1-3 days of European flights then operate a flight to the US. This can cause issues overtime with body clock and cumulative fatigue. Not quite the glamour of "Pan Am". EI crew get 2 days off after all longhaul flights. Crew usually return to work on a pre-0900 start.

kona

Dacian wrote: »

:eek:
Err no.

....as mentioned above EI crews get 22-26 hour turn rounds unless the flight is not daily. So operate a 8-9 hour duty on day 1, land at 1pm local (EI-105 for example) travel to hotel, pick up approx 24 hour after landing, then operate home through the night to land in Dublin on day 3. If the outbound flight is delayed (by up to 5/6 hours) then the stopover is reduced.
(European flight crew have a max duty of approx 14 hours)

EI crew operate both shorthaul and longhaul flights. Not many European airlines operate in this way. (This is a benefit of having only 2 aircraft types) EI aim to have their crew hitting their max legal safety limit every month.
In addition EI aircraft do not have crew rest areas as they do not operate flights more than 10 hours. (fingers crossed Wst Coast will return for us pax though)
So crew may be doing 1-3 days of European flights then operate a flight to the US. This can cause issues overtime with body clock and cumulative fatigue. Not quite the glamour of "Pan Am". EI crew get 2 days off after all longhaul flights. Crew usually return to work on a pre-0900 start.

2 on 2 off, not too bad

Dacian

kona wrote: »

2 on 2 off, not too bad

Day 1: Ireland-USA
Day 2: Departs USA
Day 3: Land Ireland
Day 4: Off
Day 5: Off

So more like 3 on, 2 off. As I pointed out above,that doesn't count the 1-3 days of shorthaul duties operated before Day 1. Usually it is more like 5-6 on,2 off. EI plan their crew 8 days off in a 4 week (28 day) period.

This is a better example:
Mon: DUB-NCE-DUB
Tue: Ireland-USA
Wed: Departs USA
Thu: Land Ireland
Fri: Off
Sat: Off
Sun: DUB-FCO-DUB
Mon: DUB-LHR-DUB-LHR-DUB
Tue: DUB-MAN-DUB-PRG-DUB
Wed: Ireland-USA
Thu: Departs USA
Fri: Land Ireland
Sat: Off
Sun: Off

kona

There's a day off in manhattan in there what time does the 104 go at? 4pm ny time?

amen

Maybe not flight crew but would the cabin crew to Boston not be legal for a direct turn around and fly straight back to Dublin ?

Danbo!

I knew someone who worked long haul exclusively, with no short haul, though this was a few years back when DUB LAX was alive.

She harped on about how amazing it was, a day or 1.5 days in NYC or LA with a bit of walkaround money too. Go shopping, see a show, etc.. That lasted about a month. As sweet as is sounds, I'd say it would get boring as hell, although the new mix of long and short haul seems to have a bit more variety.

Anyone who has travelled for work will know that staying in a hotel alone is great craic for about 35 seconds, even with colleagues it can lose it's charm as you are in work-mode rather than holiday-mode.

Preset No.3

Oh the glamorous lifestyle of the EI cabin crew. Fly the 105 to JFK, report time 0930, depart 1045, work a 7 hour day, land in JFK at 1300 local time, get to the hotel which is about an hour away in good traffic. So lets say you get to the hotel at 1400, which is about 1900 Irish time.

You have about 24 hours in New York, before transport picks you up at about 1500 to bring you back to JFK to operate the 104 home.

This is all assuming that there are no delays on the way out which will reduce your time in New York or delays in JFK which might have you sitting on the runway for an hour or so. Come home, body clock screwed, off for 2 days. Fun times!

basill

And for flight crew it is a similar setup. During summer the A330 operates to Malaga and occasionally fills in on routes like Nice and Faro. So before the 105 the crew would have operated 1 or possibly even 2 European flights on day 1 and 2.

yew_tree

Interesting. My post was not meant to suggest that Aer Lingus crew have a soft job or anything, I am just interested in the turn around's. Is there a certain hotel(s) the airline use for their staff?

Aer Lingus head office is based out in Long Island I think?

smurfjed

AFAIK Etihad crew get 3 days rest after an 8 hour flight.

I doubt that, unfortunately those days are gone, the only time that layovers are nice are when the schedule forces the airline to leave the crew stay at the destination for a few days.

Is there a certain hotel(s) the airline use for their staff?

Yes, but in this security conscious world, do you think that anyone is going to tell you which hotel it is?

smurfjed.

bkehoe

ballooba wrote: »

AFAIK Etihad crew get 3 days rest after an 8 hour flight.

Etihad often have 18 hour layovers for their crew in LHR. The days of their 2 or 3 days off in Dublin ended many years ago when the flight went daily.

ballooba

bkehoe wrote: »

Etihad often have 18 hour layovers for their crew in LHR. The days of their 2 or 3 days off in Dublin ended many years ago when the flight went daily.

I'm working off my hazy recollection of a conversation with an Etihad hostie when we arrived in Singapore en route to Brisbane last April. The crew changeover in SIN for EY470/473.

EDIT:

The roster does really vary. I was always really lucky with the bidding system and got most things I asked for. An average layover would be 24 hours but there many that are more than that and a couple that are very short (16 hours) The longest trip is the singapore/Brisbane pairing which is 9 days. I usually got far east routes/Aus flights on my roster. I got an average of 10 days off a month. I took home an average of 9,000 dirhams a month.

http://www.cabincrew.com/forums/etihad-whats-it-really-like/175586/1

eatmyshorts

EK crew operate to GRU, GIG, SYD, MEL, JFK and IAD with a 22-24 hour layover. That's a 14-15 hour flight and a 17+ hour duty day.