jamake1 From United States of America, joined May 2004, 895 posts, RR: 2 Reply 1, posted (1 year 8 months 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 3973 times:
UA hubs with multiple daily flights to LHR are crewed by both LHR-based crews and US-based crews. For example, SFO-LHR has two flights. One flight is operated with SFO-based F/A's and the second flight is operated with LHR-based F/A's.
The same goes for FRA. FRA-based crews operate some flights from FRA to certain hubs, while US-based F/A's operate other flights to/from FRA.
For the most part, it just depends on monthly manpower needs at each crew base. LHR and FRA-based crews would never operate flights within the U.S., however schedule planning may schedule a LHR-based crew for example, to operate a pairing similar to the one below:
LHR-IAD
layover
IAD-BRU
layover
BRU-IAD
layover
IAD-LHR
Typically, an IAD-based crew would operate the IAD-BRU flight, but on occasion the company will crew it with a foreign based crew. There are also many Americans that are based at UA's overseas bases, including LHR, FRA, NRT, and HKG.
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6088 posts, RR: 56 Reply 3, posted (1 year 8 months 6 days 21 hours ago) and read 3876 times:
Quoting Jackbr (Reply 2): Also, are there certain flights/aircraft that UK crew tend to operate more often than others?
LAX-LHR on UA 934 is always a UK crew now. It used to be a UK crew in the winter and a LAX crew in the summer when the UK crew flew to DEN. But this summer, there was no DEN-LHR so the UK crew continued to fly LHR-LAX-LHR and they still do.
I guess it's possible to have a mixed crew but I have never seen that. Lots of US domestic flights have crew from different bases but I have never seen international flights with mixed crew.
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
Can crews from 2 (or more) bases fly together at United?
Yes. Crew scheduling at United may need to fill two open positions on a LHR-SFO flight, but there are no reserve F/A's available in LHR, so they will create a trip pairing for another base that will involve filling in the open positions for that LHR-SFO flight (as an example). The trip will be crewed with a LHR-based crew, but the two positions may be filled with SFO-based F/A's.
There was a time when UA was operating non-stops between SFO and Nagoya (NGO). The pairing was a 5-6 day pairing that included layovers in NGO and TPE. The trips were often staffed with a mixed crew comprised of SFO and NRT-based F/A's.
I haven't flown for UA for the past 3 years, but as someone who was based at SFO, I have flown trips with HKG, NRT, HNL, FRA, LHR, and CDG-based F/A's. I loved flying with the foreign crews. They really help to elevate the United product and are very professional.
working2gether From United States of America, joined Jan 2010, 83 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (1 year 8 months 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 3202 times:
I recently just flew IAD-LHR and I swore during the announcements they said it was a mixed crew of both IAD and LHR F/A. I didn't know that it occurred before but since reading this I guess it's possible
Sulley From United States of America, joined Jan 2010, 502 posts, RR: 3 Reply 10, posted (1 year 8 months 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 2584 times:
Quoting TOMMY767 (Reply 9): Out of curiousity, do European crews operate the new EWR-ZRH and soon EWR-BRU flights? How do these routings work. They are UA, not CO crews.
The routing goes IAD-ZRH-EWR-ZRH-IAD, I believe. Same goes for BRU.
AirNovaBAe146 From Canada, joined Jun 2008, 350 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (1 year 8 months 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 2492 times:
Do UA FAs who are based internationally get any sort of premium for being in LHR, FRA, etc...
Reason I ask is because while the above are fantastic places to live, on what UA pays it, especially in $US (vs Euros), the money probably does not go to far.
jamake1 From United States of America, joined May 2004, 895 posts, RR: 2 Reply 13, posted (1 year 8 months 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 2393 times:
Quoting washingtonian (Reply 11): Very interesting. For those Americans based there, are they ex-pats living abroad or do they commute to LHR?
Some of the Americans commute, but many live in the UK and throughout the EU. I personally know one American who commutes to Rome. I know two others, one who lives in London and the other who splits her time between the UK and Washington, DC where she was based previously.
Quoting washingtonian (Reply 11):
And are most of these British or EU citizen F/As ex-Pan Am? When did United last hire abroad for F/As?
The LHR base has a significant number of former Pan Am F/A's. FRA less so, as the FRA base did not open until 1997. However, FRA did absorb a significant number of the F/A's who were based in CDG before the CDG base was closed. There were a handful of former Pan Am'ers based in CDG.
I don't believe UA has hired abroad (in Europe) since the late 1990's. When UA resumed hiring in 2006 in the US, some of those F/A's had the ability to transfer to LHR and FRA as transfers were posted during that time. Furthermore, United re-opened two bases in the Pacific, SIN and BKK and recruited in those regions during the 2006-2007 period.
The BKK and SIN based F/A's are not represented by AFA as those bases were grandfathered by contract language from UA's purchase of Pan Am's Pacific routes in 1986. As such, F/A's based in those regions were considered foreign nationals and wore different uniforms. They operated under different pay scales and work rules than the company's AFA-represented F/A's.
When United grounded the fleet of 737's in 2008, the company had a system-wide furlough. As such, both BKK and SIN were subsequently closed. Per the AFA contract, if United has a reduction in force of AFA-represented F/A's, the foreign nationals based in BKK and SIN must be furloughed first. Since the company has approximately 2,000 AFA-represented F/A's on furlough, the BKK and SIN bases remain closed.
jamake1 From United States of America, joined May 2004, 895 posts, RR: 2 Reply 14, posted (1 year 8 months 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 2313 times:
Quoting AirNovaBAe146 (Reply 12): Do UA FAs who are based internationally get any sort of premium for being in LHR, FRA, etc...
There are no cost-of-living adjustments for being based abroad, however there is a premium of $4 per flight hour for flying international. Many of the Americans who are based in LHR and FRA would not have the seniority to hold an international line of flying if they were based in one of UA's US bases. Hence, transferring to LHR and FRA allows them to hold international flying consistently. International per diem rates (meal allowances) are also slightly higher than domestic per diem rates.
Also, there is a B-scale rate of pay during one's first 5 years of employment. After 5 years of employment, F/A's merge to A-scale, which is a fairly significant jump in hourly pay. Living in FRA or LHR would be very difficult at United's B-scale wage rate (one can barely afford to live in the US on B-scale).
The F/A's whom I know personally who are based in LHR and FRA are on A-scale, which makes living abroad much more manageable. There are also ways to increase one's earnings potential by becoming qualified as a Purser. Flight attendants can be pretty resourceful and they make living abroad work for them.
Yes. Sometimes. It is not uncommon to have a HKG flight staffed with a mix of HKG-based and US-based crews. (HKG and NRT-based crews also do an excellent job).
TOMMY767 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 6173 posts, RR: 9 Reply 15, posted (1 year 8 months 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 2215 times:
Quoting jamake1 (Reply 13): However, FRA did absorb a significant number of the F/A's who were based in CDG before the CDG base was closed. There were a handful of former Pan Am'ers based in CDG.
Which IIRC, CDG and PHL were satellites of the EWR base (closed in 2006, now "reopened" under the CO brand)
"Folks that's the news and I'm outta here!" -- Dennis Miller
LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22062 posts, RR: 51 Reply 16, posted (1 year 8 months 5 days 13 hours ago) and read 2166 times:
jamake1 From United States of America, joined May 2004, 895 posts, RR: 2 Reply 17, posted (1 year 8 months 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 2115 times:
Quoting TOMMY767 (Reply 15): Which IIRC, CDG and PHL were satellites of the EWR base (closed in 2006, now "reopened" under the CO brand)
No. Not quite. United does not have and has never had satellite bases. CDG, EWR, PHL were wholly separate crew bases in and of themselves and had nothing to do with each other. Furthermore, EWR is technically not "re-opened." CO and UA F/A's are operating under completely different collective bargaining agreements and currently, there are no UA F/A's based out of EWR. That won't occur until a joint CBA is negotiated, which is still a ways off.
The only bases that could be considered satellites are what we term as co-terminals. At UA, co-terminals include LGA and JFK; SFO and OAK; BWI, DCA, and IAD. BUR is also a co-terminal of LAX, however since UA pulled mainline flights out of BUR, it is obviously no longer used as a co-terminal. There is contract language stipulating that SNA is also considered a co-terminal however UA has never used it as such.
With that said, UA's current F/A crew domiciles are HNL, SEA, SFO, LAX, LAS, DEN, ORD, BOS, JFK, and DCA.
The overseas domiciles are LHR, FRA, HKG, and NRT.
Between 9/11 and United's bankruptcy proceedings, CDG, SCL (Santiago), TPE, EWR, MIA, and PHL were closed.
TOMMY767 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 6173 posts, RR: 9 Reply 18, posted (1 year 8 months 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 2099 times:
Quoting jamake1 (Reply 17): No. Not quite. United does not have and has never had satellite bases. CDG, EWR, PHL were wholly separate crew bases in and of themselves and had nothing to do with each other. Furthermore, EWR is technically not "re-opened." CO and UA F/A's are operating under completely different collective bargaining agreements and currently, there are no UA F/A's based out of EWR. That won't occur until a joint CBA is negotiated, which is still a ways off.
I was half joking about the reopened element of EWR. Also there is a very strong a net rumor circulating that a 767 base for UA will eventually open at EWR before the CBA is negotiated.
"Folks that's the news and I'm outta here!" -- Dennis Miller
jamake1 From United States of America, joined May 2004, 895 posts, RR: 2 Reply 19, posted (1 year 8 months 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 2064 times:
Quoting TOMMY767 (Reply 18): Also there is a very strong a net rumor circulating that a 767 base for UA will eventually open at EWR before the CBA is negotiated.
If that is true, it would most likely be a base for pilots, since they are type-rated on specific A/C types. In which case, it would be a 757/767 base since UA pilots are type-rated to fly both. At UA, F/A's are not scheduled according to A/C type. In other words, if UA decided to re-open EWR as a F/A domicile, it wouldn't be according to A/C type.
blueflyer From United States of America, joined Jan 2006, 3126 posts, RR: 1 Reply 20, posted (1 year 8 months 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 2005 times:
Quoting The777Man (Reply 3): I guess it's possible to have a mixed crew but I have never seen that.
Quoting jamake1 (Reply 4): Crew scheduling at United may need to fill two open positions on a LHR-SFO flight,
When I was flying TATL regularly on UA, mixed crews would tend to occur during irrops, such as missing reserve as explained above, or for foreign language qualification. If I recall well, UA had at one time one or two French-speaking F/As based in CDG assigned to a CDG-IAD-BRU-IAD-CDG line to complement an IAD crew.
Quoting Sulley (Reply 10): The routing goes IAD-ZRH-EWR-ZRH-IAD, I believe. Same goes for BRU.
Correct. The crew will basically follow the aircraft.
caleb1 From United States of America, joined Nov 2008, 321 posts, RR: 3 Reply 22, posted (1 year 8 months 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 1552 times:
Quoting LAXintl (Reply 16): In 20-odd years of United flying, absolutely best cabin crews were the regional ones in Asia.
The stark difference in service and especially attitude could not be more evident.
I was extremely sad to see the bases close.
I couldn't aqgree more. UA's SIN and BKK based crews are hands down the best in United's system!!! It is too bad that they have to be furloughed. They rock!!
yegbey01 From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 1679 posts, RR: 3 Reply 23, posted (1 year 8 months 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 1216 times:
Back in August, my FRA-IAD flight was pretty all European based flight attendants with the director being very French....I kind of wondered myself why that is...But I guess it is a common practice at UA
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