Hi All,

I’ll be flying SFO - FRA on LH455. I’m curious how many crew are on the flight deck, and how many FA’s are typically on the upper deck and in the main cabin? Thanks all!

SFO to FRA is most likely four flight crew. However, apart from takeoff, initial climb, approach, and landing, only two would be on duty at any given time.

No idea about cabin crew. 15-16?

Starlionblue wrote:

SFO to FRA is most likely four flight crew. However, apart from takeoff, initial climb, approach, and landing, only two would be on duty at any given time.

No idea about cabin crew. 15-16?

I believe only US carriers require 4 flight crew for a route like this (over 12 hours westbound). Euro carriers generally follow ICAO rules, which allow 2 crew up to 10 hours and 3 crew up to 15 hours, which allows them to operate all US routes with just 3 crew.

United857 wrote:

(over 12 hours westbound).

I need to get myself a new map and compass.

Personally I would go NE in about 10.5 hrs which is within 3 crew range.

zeke wrote:

United857 wrote:

(over 12 hours westbound).

I need to get myself a new map and compass.

Personally I would go NE in about 10.5 hrs which is within 3 crew range.

Yes but the crews are assigned for the ROUND-TRIP and so both directions of flight must be accounted for. Otherwise after some months all the "4th crew members" required for the longer westbound sector would be residing in SFO and the FRA crew base would empty out in a hurry. If you send 4 crew west, it's better to bring all 4 back to base, even if they're technically "not required".

No passenger 747-8I is operated by US airlines, only 747-8F cargo planes are US operated, so they can fly FRA-SFO-FRA with 3 crew .
LH is operating FRA-SFO-FRA standard with 3 cockpit crew.

Pretty sure the standard flight deck crew for LH on flights to LAX and SFO is 3, though they run 4 at times for various reasons.

All my flights on the upper deck of their 747s, both the -400 and -8, have had 2 FAs at any given time upstairs and they seem to basically have 2.5-3 dedicated upstairs.

aeropix wrote:

zeke wrote:

United857 wrote:

(over 12 hours westbound).

I need to get myself a new map and compass.

Personally I would go NE in about 10.5 hrs which is within 3 crew range.

Yes but the crews are assigned for the ROUND-TRIP and so both directions of flight must be accounted for. Otherwise after some months all the "4th crew members" required for the longer westbound sector would be residing in SFO and the FRA crew base would empty out in a hurry. If you send 4 crew west, it's better to bring all 4 back to base, even if they're technically "not required".

But you can pax one of the pilots back, so they would not be operating the shorter leg.

Starlionblue wrote:

aeropix wrote:

zeke wrote:

I need to get myself a new map and compass.

Personally I would go NE in about 10.5 hrs which is within 3 crew range.

Yes but the crews are assigned for the ROUND-TRIP and so both directions of flight must be accounted for. Otherwise after some months all the "4th crew members" required for the longer westbound sector would be residing in SFO and the FRA crew base would empty out in a hurry. If you send 4 crew west, it's better to bring all 4 back to base, even if they're technically "not required".

But you can pax one of the pilots back, so they would not be operating the shorter leg.

But would they be getting paid.

On a US carrier they’d be getting the same, operating or deadheading.

AirKevin wrote:

Starlionblue wrote:

aeropix wrote:

Yes but the crews are assigned for the ROUND-TRIP and so both directions of flight must be accounted for. Otherwise after some months all the "4th crew members" required for the longer westbound sector would be residing in SFO and the FRA crew base would empty out in a hurry. If you send 4 crew west, it's better to bring all 4 back to base, even if they're technically "not required".

But you can pax one of the pilots back, so they would not be operating the shorter leg.

But would they be getting paid.

Now that is the real question.

GalaxyFlyer wrote:

On a US carrier they’d be getting the same, operating or deadheading.

On non-US carriers, it varies. It can be anything from zero to full hourly rate.

On most European major carriers you are not payed by flying/block hour, but your have a fixed salary, with a monthly max to be flown hours.
So the entire crew will be active at both stretches or one can be send (deadheading) to another destination to augment a crew at that destination for the reurn flight to the home base.
Crew rotations are always planned for mimimum costs.

Thanks everyone

The LH B747-8 configuration to SFO is as follows:
3x pilots
3x cabin crew in upper deck,
13x cabin crew im main deck (includes 2x purser)

Regards,
Loran