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#1 Three years, economy, and candidates ask what a month looks like and get told 'it varies'. It does vary. It also has a shape. Here is a real month from this year, route by route, with the sign ons, so you can see the shape.
The month
1: Off
2: Dubai to Karachi turn, sign on 06:45, sign off 15:30
3: Off
4 to 6: Dubai to Manchester, layover 24 hours, back. Sign on 12:30 on the 4th, home 01:00 on the 7th
7: Off
8: Standby, home, 04:00 to 16:00, not called
9: Dubai to Riyadh turn, sign on 23:30, sign off 06:00 on the 10th
10: Off (post night duty)
11 to 14: Dubai to Sydney, layover 48 hours, back. The long one. Sign on 08:00 on the 11th, home 05:30 on the 15th
15 and 16: Off
17: Dubai to Kuwait turn, sign on 15:00, sign off 22:00
18 to 20: Dubai to Johannesburg, layover 24, back. Sign on 01:30 on the 18th, home 06:00 on the 21st
21 and 22: Off
23: Standby, airport, 05:00 to 13:00, called for a Muscat turn at 06:30
24: Off
25 to 27: Dubai to Frankfurt, layover 24, back. Sign on 13:00, home 00:30 on the 28th
28: Off
29: Dubai to Cairo turn, sign on 07:15, sign off 15:45
30: OffThe shape
Three long haul trips (Manchester, Sydney, Frankfurt, Johannesburg is medium long), four turns (Karachi, Riyadh, Kuwait, Cairo, Muscat from standby), two standbys, ten days off. Roughly 90 block hours. Nights away: eight. Sign ons before 06:00: three. Sign offs after midnight: four.
What changes by year
Year one has more turns and more standby and fewer of the good long hauls. Year three has the Sydney. Grade I has more long haul and fewer 3am Riyadhs. Nothing is guaranteed and a bad month has two Sydneys and no days off in a row, and a good month has a Bangkok 48 and a Rome.
The sign on times
That is the thing to look at. A 01:30 sign on for Johannesburg means being awake at 23:30 the night before. A 23:30 sign on for Riyadh means a night duty. The body does not know which time zone it is in for the whole month and that is the job, not a complaint.
Ask anything about any line of it.
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#2 Grade I, three years, and my month has the same shape with the turns swapped for a second long haul. The Sydney 48 is the prize. The 01:30 Johannesburg is the tax. Faisal has it exactly.
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#3 This is the single most useful post for a candidate on the whole forum. A real month with real times. Ten days off, eight nights away, three pre six sign ons. I can picture it now.
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#4 South African, and the Johannesburg with a 24 is the one I bid every month to see my mother for an afternoon, and the 01:30 sign on is worth it. That is how the roster becomes a life.
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#5 @sophiedxb the Johannesburg 24 for the afternoon with your mother is exactly the kind of thing that makes a line on a roster mean something. Good bid.
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#6 Qatar, and I could post the Doha version of this and it would be the same shape with different cities. The 3am regional turns, the two long hauls, the standbys, the ten days off. It is the Gulf roster.
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#7 Applying next year and I have printed this and put it on my wall next to the training thread, because now I know what I am applying for, hour by hour.
