AJ's pessimism about QFi

[A330 driver]

When does 'duty' start and end? Takeoff/landing? Gate to Gate? other?

Duty starts 1 hour prior to pushback and stops 30 minutes after the door opens at destination. In the hour prior we are doing flight planning, fuel ordering, reviewing every aspect of the flight as a team (reality is we all get to work early to go through in fine detail rather than start "on time" and run the risk of being late, so effectively we start early unpaid...not that's we begrudge doing so). In the 30 minutes after shutdown we have various items to record, checklists to run, technical logs that belong to the aircraft to fill out, systems to power down or set to an idle state etc, and of course we aren't supposed to disembark before passengers (unless you have a flight to catch).

 

[N860CR]

Duty is sign on to sign off. Varies from operation to operation, but I believe the standard for short haul is 1 hour prior to departure to 15 mins after arriving at the gate

 

[TomVexille]

Great to have you aboard A330 driver. Good to see some real insight to QF and the industry.

 

[Kangol]

I should also point out that every Qantas pilot I have ever come across, myself included, LOVE Qantas and would like nothing more than for it to succeed. When I hear/read people talking about Qantas and deciding not to fly with us or about how the service/product is bad I take it personally and I hate it. If I was the man in charge I would absolutely change a few things here and there (okay maybe not just a few), but OVERALL I think Qantas does a very good job. This is someone who in a past life used to frequently travel J and P class on a multitude of airlines, so I'm speaking from experience. If I can answer some questions on this forum and change even one persons mind about staying with Qantas or changing to Qantas then I would be happy. The staff would love nothing more than your support for this airline that we love. I know a lot are fed up or have "lost faith" but don't think for one second that we don't love the fact that you fly with us and support us.

One thing to remember is that a lot of the "complaints" (certainly on here) are due to silly management "enhancements". ie the removal of benefits which not only reduce operating costs, but make the product significantly worse. Food for example, look at the threads on "cafe breakfast" for premium cabins (J) as well as the introduction of "small plates/large plates" in long haul J. Who would've thought that it would be possible to have not enough food on a 20+ hour business class flight?

Great to have you here though; I look forward to your contributions.

 

[JohnK]

Change at the top and along with it a huge reduction in executive salaries. Cut out some middle management as well.

Also I would like to see Qantas without Jetstar and in 5 years time it would be a profitable airline.