You guys love hearing about what it’s like to be Cabin Crew with Emirates, so I thought I’d answer your questions about our roster! Please do keep in mind that I am a GR2, meaning that I work in the Economy Class cabin. Rostering is different depending on your role within the company. As a result, I can only speak to to how scheduling works for me. 😊

Each month we have the opportunity to request up to 5 flights and/or days off- this is referred to as “bidding”. There is no guarantee that we will get what we ask for, but it is a chance to tell scheduling where we’d like to go. Whether these preferences are granted or not depends largely on legalities, language requirements, the number of flights available etc.

There are also “groups” that Cabin Crew are randomly assigned to when we join. Many of us think that depending on which group we are in, the chances of getting what we prefer are higher depending on which month it is. In actuality, as GR2s this supposed grouping scheme does not apply to us, so I‘m not going to confuse you guys and get into that any further.

The truth is that when it comes to rostering nothing is guaranteed and the system that Emirates uses tries to allocate as many preferences as it can for us each month -regardless of seniority. There are over 13,000 Cabin Crew working for Emirates across all grades, so you can imagine how difficult it is to take all of our preferences into consideration!

About once a year Cabin Crew are rostered for reserve month; meaning that we receive few to nil scheduled flights and that each night our roster will change around 6pm for the following day. Based on Emirates operational needs, we could be scheduled for a day off, a flight, airport standby or cross-qualification standby.

Our roster for the following month is emailed to us two weeks prior to it’s start, around the 16th. This gives us time to swap flights (trade) with our colleagues if need be. While I can’t show you an actual picture of my roster, here is a sample of what one may look like:

LV = Leave

SRA = Service Training

XX = Days off

The airport codes represent the destination we are flying to and the numbers above them indicate the trip/flight number and the date of our departure. The arrows (–>) mean that our flight continues over a few days. If it is our reserve month, our roster will say “RSV” instead of having airport codes.

It’s exciting not knowing where each month will take you. If you could choose 5 places to go, which destinations would you pick? Let me know in the comments below!

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Next Stop: Casablanca, Morocco

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Disclaimer: My posts are my personal views and and do not represent the views of my company.