September Roster

Here I am back again with another roster post. Slowly but surely they are starting to get a little more interesting, with more than a couple of flights per month. I can’t wait for things to go back to how they were pre-covid (my salary is crying out for 100 flying hours!) but for now I’m happy to have some layovers, especially some where we can go out and explore again.

If you saw my roster post last month, I only ended up doing 2 of the original flights I was rostered. The Cape Town flight I had was cancelled fairly shortly after the roster was published, and then I was also removed from the Dammam and Kabul flights. Glasgow was also removed because my Tunis layover turned into a 48 hour layover!

Instead I got given a Perth flight which I was happy with, as it meant a good amount of flying hours. It was a shame we were trapped inside the hotel room for the duration of the stay, but unfortunately that’s the requirement from the Australian government. 

At the end of the month I was also put on a Düsseldorf flight which was a nice and easy trip, and a good way to bring in September. This month (if nothing changes!) I’ll be heading off to:

  • TUN – Tunis, Tunisia
  • SEZ – Mahé Island, Seychelles
  • CKY-DSS – Conakry, Giunea & Dakar, Senegal
  • MAA – Chennai, India (turnaround)
  • DUS – Düsseldorf, Germany

As you can see, some repeats from August!

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Flying a Boeing Sim in Dubai!

A few months ago, I was very kindly invited by TFT Aero to come down to their simulator and experience flying, as a pilot! I’ve been cabin crew for almost 9 years now, so I’m fairly familiar with the cockpit, however I’ve never actually tried flying the plane myself.

As you can imagine, I was super excited to try flying… and let me tell you, it’s not as easy as it looks! TFT Aero have a Boeing 737 Sim, so whilst it’s a different aircraft to the 777’s we have at Emirates, the cockpit is similar. Don’t ask me for any technical details though as I’m definitely no expert!

I was invited to bring a friend, so I took along my friend Sally to experience the Sim. She loved it just as much as I did!

Once we arrived at the simulator in JBR, the pilots welcomed us and showed us to the Sim, which they’d built completely themselves. Extremely impressive!

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May Roster & An Update

Well hello there – and welcome back to my blog! It’s certainly been a while since I’ve updated anything on here, and this will be my first post of 2021, oops! I never meant to go so quiet, but as you can imagine, I’ve not been flying very much. Slowly things are starting to pick up and I’m seeing more and more flights on my roster, but since we are still not allowed to leave the hotel on our layovers, I don’t have a whole lot to update you on!

Flights are gradually getting back to normal, although we still have to wear our full PPE (mask, gloves, gown and visor) and of course passengers still have to wear a mask. More destinations are opening up though which is a great sign, and I’m hopefully that eventually things will get back to normal. Let me tell you, I’ll never spend another layover in my hotel room again!

Believe it or not, this month I have an *almost* normal roster – quite a few flying hours, which makes for a nice change. Especially since we get paid depending on how much we fly; it’s been over a year since a normal salary.

So if everything goes to plan and no flights get removed (fingers crossed!) in May I’ll be heading to:

  • JFK – New York, USA
  • AMM – Amman, Jordan (turnaround)
  • HAM – Hamburg, Germany
  • BP – Business Promotion Event
  • DMM – Dammam, Saudi Arabia (turnaround)
  • LUN-HRE – Lusaka, Zambia – Harare, Zimbabwe
  • IKA – Tehran, Iran

I was actually quite excited when I got my roster, as whilst I have been flying a fair amount the past few months, this is the busiest roster I’ve seen since the pandemic!

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December Roster

Welcome back to another roster post! This year has been quite different in terms of rostering, as I’m sure you’ve noticed by now. Slowly but surely, however, things are starting to get back on track a little bit and I’m actually getting a few flights when the roster comes out each month.

This November I’ve had the most flying hours I’ve had all year (well, does January/February even count as this year? It seems like another world away!), with 3 ULR (ultra long range) flights to Houston, Sydney and Chicago.

It’s made me realise just how much I miss flying, and I can’t wait for things to get back to normal, whenever that may be! On that note, my December roster looks like this:

  • SEP – Exams
  • FRA – Frankfurt, Germany
  • CAI – Cairo, Egypt (turnaround)
  • Leave
  • KRT – Khartoum, Sudan (turnaround)

Starting off the month with my yearly exams, which means it’s time to study! Once a year we have to renew our licenses and make sure we are fully updated on all safety and emergency procedures (SEP). Normally it’s two full days in training college, but due to the pandemic this year the majority needs to be done online beforehand, and then we just have one day in college for exams and some practicals.

My first flight of the month is a 48 hour layover to Frankfurt, Germany. I was there just the month before last, and as usual for all of our layovers these days, I wasn’t able to leave the hotel. I don’t anticipate things changing on that front any time soon, but you never know. I’m itching to get back out and explore, and normally Germany in December would be perfect for a visit to the Christmas markets. Sadly I think that won’t be an option this year!

Up next is a turnaround to Cairo, which is an overnight flight. Flight time should be around 3 hours each way, plus we stay on ground while the cleaners come on and prepare the aircraft for the return sector.

That leads nicely into my annual leave, which unfortunately doesn’t fall over Christmas this year. I was lucky enough to have Christmas off last year, and in our job it’s always a gamble as to whether or not you’ll be off for birthdays, Christmas and special occasions! The UAE has opened up a travel corridor with the UK, which means I’ll be able to fly home and spend time with my family without having to quarantine.

I was actually rostered a Düsseldorf layover directly after my leave over Christmas, but this has been removed, which has left me with some reserve days. I’ll try to extend my leave so I can stay home a few extra days and perhaps even for Christmas Day!

Next up is the last flight of the month, a turnaround to Khartoum, Sudan. I don’t remember ever having done this flight before, but according to the crew portal I’ve actually done it twice! It’s a fairly long day at around 4 hours flight time each way, but nevertheless I’m happy to have all the hours I can get these days.

And just like that, the final roster of 2020 is here! What a crazy year it’s been for everyone, and especially so for the aviation industry. Onwards and upwards for 2021, I think things can only get better from here!

P.s. Follow me on InstagramFacebook & Twitter for more day-to-day updates of where I am in the world! 🙂

Emirates Cabin Supervisor – A Day In The Life

I thought it might be fun to share a kind of “day in the life” post about my role as cabin supervisor. Somehow it’s been more than a year since I did my training, and I was able to finish my 6 month probation period just in time before all flights got put on hold. So I thought I’d give you a bit of an idea of what my job entails now.

Let’s start with before the flight. The same as when I was working in any other cabin, I need to make sure my cabin bag is prepped and ready to go, which means making sure my waistcoat is clean and ironed, shoes are polished, and all other items are available. One additional step I have now is charging my company provided “KIS” tablet. This is an HP tablet which is given to the seniors (pursers and cabin supervisors) for use on the flights, you can check all of the passenger information as well as lots of details about each specific destination, all of our manuals and much more. Due to the pandemic, we are currently not using our waistcoats as we are provided with single use disposable gowns, as well as masks, gloves and a visor. Out of habit I still pack my waistcoat, just in case!

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