Moderators: richierich, ua900, PanAm_DC10, hOMSaR
LAX772LR wrote:
eamondzhang wrote:Or wouldnt that be those staff returning home from cruise ship works? I know the cruise ship industry hires a fair number of Africans, and myself have met a few (very nice) staff from Ethiopia actually.
Given the whole cruise industry shutdown it won't surprise me if that's the case.
Michael
SunsetLimited wrote:A group of 60+ came in from LAX on AA only to take one of the flights to MNL. Yes you read that right. LAX-MSY-ADD-MNL.
maverick4002 wrote:I asume the crusie ship crews have to pay for these flights? Anyone have insight into coordination of these flights? Costs? These aircraft have first class seats right. Are those sold as first class, who gets those, are they empty?
phatfarmlines wrote:ET really has alot of charters operating. Whether its for LDS repatriation to Utah or cruise ship personnel going back from MSY to ADD, they are making their rounds.
Did these flights use the North or South Terminal gates?
SunsetLimited wrote:A group of 60+ came in from LAX on AA only to take one of the flights to MNL. Yes you read that right. LAX-MSY-ADD-MNL.
maverick4002 wrote:IThese aircraft have first class seats right. Are those sold as first class, who gets those, are they empty?
phatfarmlines wrote:Did these flights use the North or South Terminal gates?
smokeybandit wrote:If the major cruise lines were flagged in America, they wouldn't be major cruise lines because most wouldn't be able to afford one.
MD80Ttail wrote:maverick4002 wrote:I asume the crusie ship crews have to pay for these flights? Anyone have insight into coordination of these flights? Costs? These aircraft have first class seats right. Are those sold as first class, who gets those, are they empty?
My brother has worked for over 15 years as Director of Operations for a major cruise line based in Florida. I asked him your questions as I was curious as well.
—The crew do not pay for the flights. It’s an industry standard in the crew contracts transportation is provided to and from the ship from your home irregardless where the ship is located. Many cruise workers couldn’t afford to pay for the flights if they had too. Many workers get paid an extremely small amount for working 70-100hr weeks. Contracts are mostly 9 months-7 days a week for a straight 9 month 70-100+ hrs a week. What makes it attractive for workers, especially from developing countries, is the strength of the US dollar compared to their local currency.
—coordination is done from the cruise lines corporate office. Each cruise line has a department which handles travel for staff. At my brothers cruise line there are about 60 people involved in the logistics of hiring and moving staff to and from ships at ports all over the world.
—there is a huge hierarchy onboard cruise ships based on your position. Crew, which is operations such as engine ect. They are the lowest class and some spend 9 to as long as 14 months on lower decks and never leave the ship and don’t come into contact, if rarely, with passengers. Next up is staff. Staff are stewards and cleaning people. They do come into contact with passengers often. Next class are entertainers who have a pretty good life onboard, live well and enjoy the destinations compared to what my brother refers to “legalized slavery”. (His words). Next is child care personnel. They tend to be younger college age and mostly recruited from the entirety of the UK empire and have a really good gig with plenty of partying and time off the ship. Next class is officers who are kings and queens in relation to other employees. Fun fact, each class has their own accommodation, galley and recreation areas on board. They don’t mix much, if at all, and the quality of their food, accommodations and lives is all determined by the hierarchy. Officers for example , higher ranking can eat in the fanciest restaurants, use passenger pools and facilities, mingle with passengers and even fornicate with the girls. (not officially of course but it’s extremely common)
This all explains the seating on planes because the higher ranking or class employees will have preference. For example there are multiple different rankings of food and beverage officers. A Senior sous chef and chef have ranks as officers. There will be multiple levels of food and beverage officers ect. So seating will be determined by these qualifiers with officers occupying the 1st class, followed by the rest of the hierarchy from best to worst seats.
Also, you will almost never see an American working onboard a cruise ship. My brothers cruise line which is very large currently has a single American Captain. American staff is even harder to come by. The reason per my brother is Americans won’t work for less than minimum wage and are used to certain “rights” as workers. They won’t work 100hrs a week, no overtime and follow orders having been more entitled and living in a totally different system.
Hope that helps. Glad you asked it. Was fascinating talking to my brother. They even have contracts with termination providers because if you get pregnant you can’t work and get sent home. They will pay for the trip home if you choose. Otherwise the transportation and logistics office has a bus scheduled for the trip to remedy the issue. It’s common to hear cruise staff talking about needing to “take the bus” when they are in port. That’s what they are referring too.
Medical care onboard is free as is birth control for all staff. However, if you get sick and it’s an extended or expensive issues to treat you get stabilized and sent home immediately and your contract is terminated. No such thing as sick days onboard. (Which ties in with this whole Coronavirus issue and thus this thread)
Almost all cruise ships are foreign flagged so are exempt from US labor laws. That’s why they flag them in developing countries. The few ships required to be flagged in the US, I.e. Hawaiian to Hawaiian cruises, are required to use US staff and follow all US work rules ect. That’s why those cruises cost so much and usually score poorly in guest satisfaction reviews. It’s an entire world unto itself.
phatfarmlines wrote:ET really has alot of charters operating. Whether its for LDS repatriation to Utah or cruise ship personnel going back from MSY to ADD, they are making their rounds.
Did these flights use the North or South Terminal gates?
TonyBurr wrote:maverick4002 wrote:IThese aircraft have first class seats right. Are those sold as first class, who gets those, are they empty?
ET does not have First Class. The highest class is Business Class. Few airlines today have a real First Class
MD80Ttail wrote:maverick4002 wrote:I asume the crusie ship crews have to pay for these flights? Anyone have insight into coordination of these flights? Costs? These aircraft have first class seats right. Are those sold as first class, who gets those, are they empty?
My brother has worked for over 15 years as Director of Operations for a major cruise line based in Florida. I asked him your questions as I was curious as well.
—The crew do not pay for the flights. It’s an industry standard in the crew contracts transportation is provided to and from the ship from your home irregardless where the ship is located. Many cruise workers couldn’t afford to pay for the flights if they had too. Many workers get paid an extremely small amount for working 70-100hr weeks. Contracts are mostly 9 months-7 days a week for a straight 9 month 70-100+ hrs a week. What makes it attractive for workers, especially from developing countries, is the strength of the US dollar compared to their local currency.
Almost all cruise ships are foreign flagged so are exempt from US labor laws. That’s why they flag them in developing countries. The few ships required to be flagged in the US, I.e. Hawaiian to Hawaiian cruises, are required to use US staff and follow all US work rules ect. That’s why those cruises cost so much and usually score poorly in guest satisfaction reviews. It’s an entire world unto itself.
MartijnNL wrote:SunsetLimited wrote:A group of 60+ came in from LAX on AA only to take one of the flights to MNL. Yes you read that right. LAX-MSY-ADD-MNL.
Incredible. More than twice the distance compared to a direct flight. In total 15,350 miles instead of 7,305 miles. Talk about a detour. The passengers going all the way to the Philippines are looking at more than 25 hours in the air.
http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=lax-mnl%0D ... =wls&DU=mi
berari wrote:All four aircraft carried on to Manila.
What's interesting is that ET is using its 77Ls for these repatriation flights almost exclusively. I don't see A350s, B77Ws in these efforts. Aside from range, the B77Ls are all owned, while the rest are a mix of leased and owned, if that means anything in the current situation.
7673mech wrote:My understanding is ET is charging a premium for these charters. My sister helps in Peace Corp logistics and she said the flights were not cheap.
e38 wrote:Quoting berari (Reply # 23), "ET is using its 77Ls for these repatriation flights almost exclusively. I don't see A350s, B77Ws . . ."
what's the difference between the 77L and the 77W?
e38
e38 wrote:berari, thank you.
But where do the abbreviations come from?
I mean, 77L makes a little bit of sense, but how does “W” designate 777-300ER?
e38
BravoOne wrote:I think this is an A.Net naming convention as I have never seen that on a Boeing document?
e38 wrote:I mean, 77L makes a little bit of sense, but how does “W” designate 777-300ER?
e38 wrote:aeromoe and LAX772LR,
thank you for the link to aircraft type designators--very interesting; I was not aware of it previously, and for the explanation, LAX772LR.
e38
MD80Ttail wrote:
Hope that helps. Glad you asked it. Was fascinating talking to my brother. They even have contracts with termination providers because if you get pregnant you can’t work and get sent home. They will pay for the trip home if you choose. Otherwise the transportation and logistics office has a bus scheduled for the trip to remedy the issue. It’s common to hear cruise staff talking about needing to “take the bus” when they are in port. That’s what they are referring too.
bmagee wrote:A handful of US bound repatriation flights departed yesterday operated by ET all heading to IAD:
2 from South Africa - Cape Town and Johannesburg (via LFW)
1 from Kinshasa, DRC via Luanda, Angola
1 from N'Djamena, Chad (unsure if this had any other stop)
Another leaves today from Cape Town, SA
iadbudd wrote:bmagee wrote:A handful of US bound repatriation flights departed yesterday operated by ET all heading to IAD:
2 from South Africa - Cape Town and Johannesburg (via LFW)
1 from Kinshasa, DRC via Luanda, Angola
1 from N'Djamena, Chad (unsure if this had any other stop)
Another leaves today from Cape Town, SA
All 4 landed at IAD within 6 hours of each other. They quickly offloaded, fueled up and got a fresh flight deck crew to launch them all back to ADD nonstop empty