Ramadan on the roster: how Qatar Airways handles fasting crew, the swaps, the iftar in the galley and what non Muslim crew should know
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#1 Moroccan, three years, and Ramadan is starting soon and every year the new joiners, Muslim and not, ask how it works on a flying roster. Here is how it actually goes at Qatar, from the fasting side.
The roster
The operation does not stop and fasting crew fly. The company allows requests for shorter duties and fewer of the long ultra long hauls during the month, and honours some of them. There is a religious exemption in Islam for travellers, which some crew use on the long sectors and make up the days later, and some do not, and that is a personal decision that nobody on the crew questions.
The duty
Fasting from dawn to sunset on the ground is one thing. On a westbound long haul the sunset moves and the crew use the departure city's time or the current position depending on their own scholar's guidance, and the crew who fast agree between themselves before the flight. The purser is told. The service continues. A fasting crew member on a 14 hour sector is tired in a specific way and the crew cover for each other in the quiet hours.
The iftar in the galley
At sunset, wherever the aircraft is, the fasting crew break the fast together in the galley with dates and water from the galley stock, quietly, for two minutes, and then the service resumes. It is one of the most beautiful small things I have seen in this job, and on a good crew the non Muslim colleagues bring the dates.
The swaps
The swap culture around religious holidays that Omar described: Muslim crew take the Christmas duties, Christian crew take the Eid duties, and the roster works because the crew make it work. The Eid at the end of Ramadan is the day every fasting crew member wants off and the swap market is generous.
What non Muslim crew should know
That a fasting colleague is not weak, they are fasting, and they will fly as well as you and eat later. That eating in front of them in the galley is fine and being discreet about it is kind. That the iftar in the galley takes two minutes and you are welcome to stand there. And that in Doha during the month, public eating in daylight is not done, the city changes its rhythm, and the nights are lovely.
Questions welcome from both sides.
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#2 Jordanian, purser, and the iftar in the galley over the Atlantic with the crew standing around with dates is the image I would show anyone who asks what a mixed crew is. Aisha has it exactly. And the swap culture is real and it is generous.
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#3 Australian, not Muslim, and my first Ramadan I did not know about the galley iftar and walked in on it and stood there awkwardly and the Moroccan purser handed me a date. Now I bring the dates. It is the best two minutes of the flight.
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#4 Sudanese, and the westbound sunset question is the one that every fasting crew member has thought about and every crew agrees between themselves before the flight. The purser being told is the key. Nobody is left to fast alone at the wrong sunset.
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#6 Arriving in Doha five weeks from now, so my first Ramadan will be in training, and this thread has told me more than any handbook. The exemption for travellers and the make up days is the part I did not know applied.
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#7 Tunis, business class, and the fasting crew on a business sector during Ramadan are, in my experience, the calmest crew of the year. Something about the discipline. The passengers notice too.
