Turkish Airlines wide body year four: the New York, Tokyo and Johannesburg layovers
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#1 THY wide body, Istanbul, four years, and the wide body threads on here are the layover ranking and the course. This is year four on the wide body as a whole: the roster shape, the per diems in hard currency, and the agreement's rest rules that make the long haul survivable.
The roster
A month on the THY wide body: three or four long haul trips (New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Seoul, Johannesburg, São Paulo, Bangkok, Singapore, the Gulf and Europe long sectors), with the 24 to 48 hour layovers, and a few medium haul fills (the Gulf, Central Asia, the longer Europe). Around 85 to 95 block hours. The Anatolia turnarounds that Skyhigh described for the narrow body are gone from my life except as a fill in the thin months.
The per diems
The thing Aylin's agreement thread explained: the layover allowances in the destination currency or a hard currency equivalent, paid per night away. A month with New York, Tokyo and Johannesburg pays a month of rent in Istanbul from the per diems alone and the lira basic is the second income. The wide body crew live on the per diems and the narrow body crew live on the basic, which is the whole reason for the wide body course.
The rest rules
The Hava-İş agreement sets the rest beyond the regulator and the THY long haul rotations are built on it: the crew rest on the 777 and the A350, the minimum layover, the days off after the ultra long haul. The agreement is the reason the Johannesburg and the São Paulo are survivable and the union knows it.
The layovers
New York (the crew hotel in Manhattan, the 48 hours, the Turkish crew's second home with the Turkish restaurants in Brooklyn), Tokyo (Hiroshi's thread applies), Johannesburg (Sandton with the briefing), São Paulo (the Turkish community there is larger than people think), Bangkok (the crew favourite for the food and the price). The wide body crew have the layover life the narrow body crew envy and the body clock the narrow body crew do not want.
Year four honestly
The per diems make the lira work. The agreement makes the long haul work. The layovers make the job the one I applied for. And the body at year four is the body James described at eight with half the mileage, which is the honest cost. The Istanbul life between trips is the rest.
For the narrow body crew waiting for the course
The course is the pay rise, as Skyhigh said, and it is also the body clock and the layovers. Both come together. The per diems in the first wide body month will show you why everyone wanted it.
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#2 THY wide body, and 'the wide body crew live on the per diems and the narrow body crew live on the basic' is the whole THY pay structure in one sentence and Nur has said it better than my agreement thread did. The New York per diem is the Istanbul rent.
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#3 THY narrow body, and reading year four on the wide body from the Anatolia turnarounds is the thing that keeps me at the base: the course is coming and the per diems are the reason. The Brooklyn Turkish restaurants are already on my list.
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#4 British at THY, wide body, and the Hava-İş rest rules making the Johannesburg survivable is the thing the foreign crew notice compared to their home airlines: the agreement is real and the long haul is built on it. Nur has the year four right.
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#5 THY, and the São Paulo Turkish community being larger than people think is true and the crew hotel there has a Turkish restaurant within a block that the wide body crew consider a national asset.
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#6 THY, and the body at year four with half the mileage of James at eight is the honest cost the wide body applicants should hear next to the per diems. Both are true. The per diems are why we accept the body.
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#7 @skyhigh94 the Brooklyn list is the first thing the wide body course gives you after the wine. The course is coming. The Anatolia turnarounds made you fast and the New York per diem will make you solvent.
