Week #3 of the Myths & Legends campaign is already here. It is time to reveal the truth behind myths about Airport Standby!
Imagine a day when you are on airport standby. During the day you have to go to the ticket desk to get the post, then you have to go and pick up ID’s for new crew members, then you are told to complete boarding instead of a No4 who is late and then you are tasked with bringing a big, heavy red bag filled with money to the Dublin flight. You have been on airport standby for hours and you are tired already. You finally sit down for 5 minutes and then your phone is ringing. It is Crew Control. You have to operate a long 4 sector day. You are already tired, you haven’t had a chance to eat and now you are going on a trip. Is it compliant with Flight Time Limitations?
⚠️ “Yes” – because as far as the authorities are concerned you were on airport standby
⛔ No – because you actually were not on airport standby and you might have not even known it! And this is a BIG NO!
☎️ There is a fundamental difference between airport standby and airport duty. When you are on airport standby, you are expected to be fully rested in case you are called to operate a flight duty, therefore your maximum duty period will be longer.
🔇 To ensure you are rested, you have to be provided with a quiet and comfortable place not open to the public with the ability to control light and temperature, equipped with adequate furniture that provides you with the possibility to sleep, with enough capacity to accommodate all crew members present at the same time and with access to food and drink.
🌃 During airport standby you cannot be given any other tasks such as office jobs, escorting, boarding, completing cleaning checks, selling priority boarding in the terminal or doing cash run. Once you have reported for your airport standby, it cannot be changed to airport duty to accommodate the Company’s needs to complete other duties.
🛫 As a cabin crew it is your responsibility to complete the duties the Company rostered you for. Your duty while on airport standby is to rest and be ready to operate a flight / flights should you be called for them, therefore it is well within your right to refuse any other given tasks. You don’t have to feel uncomfortable about it, you can politely remind your supervisor of these, EASA Flight Time Limitation Regulations and FRUnite are on your side!
You might think that the above imaginary day is purely fabricated. Sadly it is not. It happens on a daily basis around the network. Cabin crew have to fly long sectors after spending hours running errands around the airport while they are on airport standby and they should be resting. The only way out of it is to keep reporting these incidents to the Company, to us and to the regulators.
If you feel uncomfortable raising this issue directly, get in touch with us or use CHIRP – the Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme!
Next week are going to reveal the truth behind myths about your rights at disciplinary meetings.