Now Boarding ... Chicken or Beef?

[markis10]

I thought the manifest had the fare class listed against each pax: from which you could tell if you knew the codes which was award or not (The award travel is booked in a separate class.) Maybe not, haven't seen one for a while. Staff are definitely listed, as the crew often need to tell you 'no food sorry'.

Fare classes are not listed, only name and status.

 

[OverrideServlet]

Dress well. This is standard for all airlines. Discretionary upgrades are rarely made to people sloppily dressed. The 'richer' you look (in a discreet way, not that third-worlder bling look) the better.

Ooh. This is interesting to know, particularly with Qantas. I'm usually in some sort of business get up anyway.

 

[richie9x]

Dress well. This is standard for all airlines. Discretionary upgrades are rarely made to people sloppily dressed. The 'richer' you look (in a discreet way, not that third-worlder bling look) the better.

I agree with the other ones. I have heard this one before about dressing well, but it seems a bit hard to believe. In my experience I have only been opuped when dressing casually - jeans and a t-shirt. Never been opuped when wearing a suit. Granted it is only anecdotal.

But if your dressing style does play a factor I wonder how would it work? For Qantas, does the gate agent rank how well each passenger is dressing and reports this back to yield management in Sydney. Or does the gate agent look around for the best dressed person ask them their name, then determines if they are suitable for an upgrade? These days when such decisions mainly seem to be computerised it seems a very unusual thing to do.

 

[serfty]

The "proactive onload list" will generally trump how well one is dressed.

 

[drewbles]

The FA response is correct: QF does not upgrade people randomly. Like everything in life there's a system. In order of priority it is:

1. Pay for a J seat (!)
2. Use FF points and your tier status to upgrade (not guaranteed, higher tier = higher chance, and not all seats available in J are available to FFP upgraders. If they can't assure you a meal (because it's too late), they don't usually allocate the upgrade to commercial people. This can be a bit annoying for some, as many people would happily take the upgrade with a meal-not-assured note on the boarding pass. As staff, your upgrades happen around T-15, so your boarding pass usually has the note 'Meal Not Assured'. This meal thing is also why staff are preferentially seated at the very back of the J cabin (row 5 domestic 767)...gives the cabin crew a chance to meet commercial pax meal needs first, with leftovers for the staffies.
3. Work for the airline (and have a regradeable ticket, which is the norm).
4. Work for another airline (as above).
5. Be a high-tier member on an oversold flight - this might get you to premium economy on long haul. It's less usual to go from Y to J directly though, and there are usually enough platinums to provide this too before gold gets a look in.
6. Dress well. This is standard for all airlines. Discretionary upgrades are rarely made to people sloppily dressed. The 'richer' you look (in a discreet way, not that third-worlder bling look) the better.

This has been discussed at-length. QF process passengers based on PCV as well as what they call 'pro-active onload'. Try a search thru the forums for those two terms and you'll find a good explanation of it (unfortunately 3, 4, 6 and a part of 5 are not really accurate).

*edit*
serfty beat me to it

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I thought the manifest had the fare class listed against each pax: from which you could tell if you knew the codes which was award or not (The award travel is booked in a separate class.) Maybe not, haven't seen one for a while. Staff are definitely listed, as the crew often need to tell you 'no food sorry'.

In Altea you can bring up the entire list of pax travelling in the J cabin which for any pax who were op-upgded, will show the class they were originally booked in eg the first column with have J & the second column N/V/Q etc. Pax who were waitlisted for points upgrades will now be in U class as the waitlist was confirmed in the Amadeus Res System as opposed to DYOM upgd that are actioned in Altea so pax's original class of travel eg V which still show in the pnr as confirmed.

This list could be printed out if requested by the CSM but would be extemely rare for that to happen IMHO.

I agree with the other ones. I have heard this one before about dressing well, but it seems a bit hard to believe. In my experience I have only been opuped when dressing casually - jeans and a t-shirt. Never been opuped when wearing a suit. Granted it is only anecdotal.

But if your dressing style does play a factor I wonder how would it work? For Qantas, does the gate agent rank how well each passenger is dressing and reports this back to yield management in Sydney. Or does the gate agent look around for the best dressed person ask them their name, then determines if they are suitable for an upgrade? These days when such decisions mainly seem to be computerised it seems a very unusual thing to do.

When DYOM action the op-ups they do it on the PCV which has already been discussed so obviously how one's dressed wouldn't come into it. It may come into play later if a flight was heavily booked & they needed to upgrade someone, you'd want someone who would look like they belong in J. It's not a snobbery thing but obviously you wouldn't want someone who is going to tell their seatmate they were upgraded which would go down like a lead balloon especially if that pax had paid a full J fare. Obviously a WP who has been op-upd irrespective of whether they're wearing jeans, bermuda shorts or a Saville Row suit is not going to announce they've been upgraded.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Obviously a WP who has been op-upd irrespective of whether they're wearing jeans, bermuda shorts or a Saville Row suit is not going to announce they've been upgraded.

This is very much in alignment with my experience.

I very rarely "dress up", but I always look good

 

[but-y?]

What can one do to better one’s chances of gaining employment as an FA?

 

[milehighclub]

What can one do to better one’s chances of gaining employment as an FA?

Previous customer service is a must - it doesn't matter what, but something to show that you have been able to deal with people before. An almost guaranteed question will be a time you've been in a difficult situation with a customer. Although it doesn't matter what your last job was - flight attendants have come from all sorts of interesting career backgrounds, experience in food and beverage is a bonus

Let your personality shine in the interview, and during group exercises, don't dominate (if your a bit bossy), but don't sit back either (if your a bit shy) - find a balance between the two.

Doing a bit of research about the airline before the interview is also a good idea (what is happening at the moment, and where are they headed)

And don't forget - you are always being watched

 

[ash.1111]

What can one do to better one’s chances of gaining employment as an FA?

This is a tough one. I believe that relevant experience helps in the first stage (gaining an interview). The questions listed on the job site are obviously very important because these help you 'prove' yourself. Team work, customer service and adaptability skills are very important to highlight. You need to understand the role and stress that you have what is required.

The interviews are a little different. You need to show that you are friendly, have excellent communication skills and are presentable. Also remember that the job is a lifestyle change, not your typical 9-5 job. You need to interact well with everybody (not just the interviewers) and stay smiling through the whole day. Don't be a fake -- be yourself! Have fun, and let them know why you want the job! Let them know how you can help somebody out who's having a tough time or fix a problem. Have stories to back this up.

A few people in my ground school worked for an airline previously; but many worked in various other customer service fields. Hospitality experience, while helpful, is not required.

My best advice is: be yourself, take charge and actually apply. Don't be one of these people who never gets around to applying because they think it's too hard to get the job. If you want it -- go for it! And don't be put off if you need to reapply!

Good luck!

 

[but-y?]

Thanks for the answers.
One other thing: do crew with language badges get tied to routes suitable for that language? For example, would Japanese speakers only work to/from NRT?

 

[milehighclub]

Thanks for the answers.
One other thing: do crew with language badges get tied to routes suitable for that language? For example, would Japanese speakers only work to/from NRT?

Language speakers can be rostered up to 110 hours of language trips per roster out of 199 hours. This leaves 80 hours for other trips. Qantas can override any bids that a language speaker bids for to ensure language requirements are met.

Unlike normal bidding, which is in seniority, language trips are given in reverse seniority, so the most junior crew will get language trip first.

Language speakers who speak a priority 1 or 2 language receive extra pay ($15 a week for 1 and $10 a week for 2)

Some employees hired around 2004, were hired specifically as language speakers. These employees can be allocated a complete roster with flights appropriate to their language. However as we have so many language speakers, this would rarely happen.

 

[sr81]

Well we have heard from QF management, we have heard from the unions, gov, etc.

What about those employees that are not part of the union and hence have not much to do with the dispute? What's the mood like?

Are people keen to get flying again?

I have sympathy for you and hope that work can continue as normally as possible so that mortgages can be paid, bets placed on the Melb Cup, etc.

 

[under the radar]

Well we have heard from QF management, we have heard from the unions, gov, etc.

What about those employees that are not part of the union and hence have not much to do with the dispute? What's the mood like?

Are people keen to get flying again?

I have sympathy for you and hope that work can continue as normally as possible so that mortgages can be paid, bets placed on the Melb Cup, etc.

you may not get many responses to your question... 'the walls have ears'!!!!! ;-) :-(

 

[milehighclub]

The support from cabin crew for Qantas to get back up and running has been huge. Thousands of crew have been asking how they can help and the phone lines for crew scheduling are jammed from crew wanting to help, myself included.

Not because they agree or disagree with what was done, but because they generally want to help you - our customers - that's the true spirit of Australia.

I found out via a text message from Qantas, and coincided when it hit the news.

Personally, this has upset my roster (and it just started!), and will reduce my pay as I won't get any allowances or overtime I was due to get on a trip that I was supposed to leave on yesterday. I'll still be able to place a bet tomorrow though!!!

I'm happy to share my personal opinion on the matter if you were ever to meet me in person, but I won't be sharing online.

Crew are absolutely keen to back up in the air, and thank you for remembering that our union was not involved in this.

The longhaul flight attendant agreement is valid until the end of next year and we start negotiations at the end of next month. A year in advance to prevent something like this happening again.

 

[harvyk]

What are the maximum number of hours a crew could work, is it the same as pilots?

And second question, would a crew work QF581 and then come back straight away on QF582 (the same schedule as the plane given it's the one B747 service to \ from PER) or would a crew have a rest in PER before working a different flight coming back? (My wife and I where having a discussion about such things on QF582 yesterday)

 

[anat0l]

And second question, would a crew work QF581 and then come back straight away on QF582 (the same schedule as the plane given it's the one B747 service to \ from PER) or would a crew have a rest in PER before working a different flight coming back? (My wife and I where having a discussion about such things on QF582 yesterday)

For the second question, I can offer not an answer but a data point (albeit a tentative one).

I flew on VA transcon recently, East to West back to East on consecutive days (i.e. morning flight of the first one, midday-ish flight on the second). The crew who serviced my flight Westbound rested in PER before returning on my Eastbound the next day. They said that was how the schedule was constructed. YMMV, so would be good to hear from the resident crew members here....

 

[Stephen65]

How are FA's allocated to the F/J/Y (or J/Y) cabins on a particular flight? Do you have to do extra training to be in the F/J cabins?

 

[ash.1111]

I'd imagine QF crew would operate one sector over (or maybe a shorter flight beforehand, too) and then have a layover in PER. At my airline, we normally operate a short flight and then go over to PER. However, sometimes you'll just do the one sector.

For example: BNE-SYD-PER and then PER-MEL-BNE the following day.

For the second question, I can offer not an answer but a data point (albeit a tentative one).

I flew on VA transcon recently, East to West back to East on consecutive days (i.e. morning flight of the first one, midday-ish flight on the second). The crew who serviced my flight Westbound rested in PER before returning on my Eastbound the next day. They said that was how the schedule was constructed. YMMV, so would be good to hear from the resident crew members here....

 

[milehighclub]

What are the maximum number of hours a crew could work, is it the same as pilots?

And second question, would a crew work QF581 and then come back straight away on QF582 (the same schedule as the plane given it's the one B747 service to \ from PER) or would a crew have a rest in PER before working a different flight coming back? (My wife and I where having a discussion about such things on QF582 yesterday)

It varies between shorthaul and longhaul crew, so this is from a longhaul perspective.

Flight attendants are not currently governed by any law for maximum hours. The pilots are.

To keep the answer simple - 20 hours is basically the planned maximum we can work too, which is the same as the pilots. Should a duty time be any longer, then it is voluntary to work past that point. Sector that long are the result of a delay or diversion. 99.9% would elect to work to get you to where you were supposed to go.

The longest duties are DFW and LAX/MEL sitting at just over 17 hours duty time.


Crew who work QF581 may work back the QF582. Although a domestic flight, only longhaul crew are trained on the 747. They could operate that as part of a bigger trip. So for example SYD-PER-SIN-BOM-SIN-PER-SYD. Patterns are created to be most cost effective, although they might not look like they make any sense. It would also vary depending on the day. Today the crew could just do a return. Tomorrow it could be part of a longer trip.

So you don't necessarily operate the return flight number. There are 100's of different flight combinations and how they work it out is simply incredible.