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#1 Lufthansa Frankfurt, six years, long haul purser since last year, and the Lufthansa purser thread on here is from five years ago. The purser path has been described for BA, Qatar and Emirates on this forum and the Lufthansa version is the Tarifvertrag one. Here it is.
The path
The cabin crew grade, then the long haul qualification (Niklas's year three thread), then the purser assessment after a minimum period and with the record: an application, the appraisals, a scenario interview, a briefing exercise, a role play with a difficult crew situation, and the works council's involvement in the process in the way Felix described. The purser course of a few weeks: the responsibilities, the paperwork, the crew management, the liaison with the flight deck, the service oversight. Then the line check as purser.
The purser grade under the Tarifvertrag
A defined grade with its own pay scale, allowances and seniority within the purser list. The step up is meaningful in euros and the responsibility is defined in the agreement, which is the Lufthansa way: the purser's duties are in a document and the works council has agreed them. The purser cannot be asked to do things outside the document, which the pursers at the non union carriers read with interest.
The role on the A350 and the 747
The A350: the modern galleys, the crew rest, a crew of around twelve, the purser running the whole cabin crew with the cabin seniors in each class. The 747-8: the upper deck business, the big economy, a larger crew, the stairs (as every A380 and 747 thread says), and the aircraft the senior crew love and the junior crew find a workout. The purser on the 747 is running two decks and the paperwork for both.
The Frankfurt long haul from the front
The briefing in German with the English for the foreign crew, the crew allocation by the Tarifvertrag's rules on positions, the boarding count, the service oversight in First and Business and Premium Economy and Economy (Lufthansa has four cabins on the long haul and the purser walks all of them), the medical if one happens, the paperwork, the rest rotation (Chris's fairness over the month), the liaison with the flight deck, the appraisals of the new joiners. The German purser's night is Gavin's purser's night with the works council's rules behind it.
The honest view
The Lufthansa purser is a defined role with defined pay in a defined agreement and the path to it is slow (six years for me, which is normal) and fair (the list). The role is the service oversight and the crew management, and the crew who want the aircraft more than the paperwork stay as cabin crew and are respected for it. The Frankfurt long haul from the front is the airline at its best and the paperwork at its worst, in the same night.
For the Lufthansa crew looking at the purser path
The record, the long haul years, the application when the list allows, and the knowledge that the purser's duties are in the Tarifvertrag and the works council will defend them. It is the Lufthansa version of every purser thread on this forum and it has a document behind it.
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#2 Frankfurt, year three, and the purser path from the year three bids landing to the six year purser is the Lufthansa career laid out between my thread and Daniel's. The purser's duties being in the Tarifvertrag is the thing the Gulf pursers on this forum will read twice.
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#3 Munich, and the works council in the purser assessment process is the Lufthansa specific and Daniel has it. The purser cannot be asked to do things outside the document. The non union pursers will envy that sentence.
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#4 BA purser, and the German purser's night with the works council's rules behind it is my night with Unite's agreement behind it and the Qatar purser's night with nothing behind it. The three pursers on this forum should compare documents. Daniel's is the thickest.
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#5 Qatar economy purser, and 'the purser cannot be asked to do things outside the document' is a sentence I read twice, as Niklas predicted. The Gulf purser's duties are whatever the night requires. The Lufthansa purser's are written down. Different jobs with the same title.
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#6 Frankfurt, year four, and the 747-8 purser running two decks is the thing the junior crew watch with awe and the senior crew do with a spreadsheet. Daniel on the 747 is the airline at its best. The paperwork is the price.
