I recently got a few emails asking me what “roster” means in the aviation world. Roster is our schedule, it tells us when we work, where we work and whom we are going to work with. Depending on the airline, the amount of information on your roster varies. Usually the length of a roster is 30 days. Before the month begins, flight attendants have the opportunity to tell the company their preferences, such as: where we want to go, when we want to work/not work, the type of aircraft we want to be on, the length of the sequence, etc. Then the company will try to match our preferences base on operation requirements and seniority.
Some airlines have the rosters pre-made and the flight attendants just simply bid by the roster. Advantage to this system is that the “rules” such as minimum rest periods will not be violated and flight attendants have an idea of what the available schedules are like. However, you might not be able to find a roster the meets all your preferences. Let’s say you want the 1st and 2nd off and you want to go to Rome that month. There might not be a pre-made roster that meets all your requirements. Read the rest of this entry »