Not on transoceanic flights that the discussion is about.

I timed out on one of those trips out of JFK. They had us fly to ATL to layover and deadhead the next day. The flight was recrewed. Not a bad deal for us but flight attendants were ****ed! I was home several hours early with a some extra pay. I have also seen them short stop flights in MCO or TPA to recrew and deadhead a crew there from ATL. Usually plenty of time as they generally know when you depart that you will be over. In our case ATL was out of our way but lack of a gate at the destination put us over and they did not have time to position a crew.

Looks like the tidal wave of Academia over Common sense continues to hit Europe:

A concept known as extended minimum crew operations (eMCO) would require one pilot to leave the flight deck to rest during cruise on long-haul flights, while the other pilot remains on the flight deck alone. An additional concept envisioned along the same line, single-pilot operations, would allow for the possibility of operations by a single pilot in all phases of flight. The Association recently released a white paper that discusses the Airbus single-pilot agenda in greater detail.

The push to implement reduced-crew operations is driven primarily by technological advances in flight deck automation and the promise of artificial intelligence. Airlines and aircraft manufacturers believe these advances will reduce labor costs. Proponents have argued for an aggressive timeline for implementation, suggesting that eMCO could be introduced before the end of the decade, and possibly within the next few years

The public should be staunchly against this. Safety concerns aside, it isn’t like tickets will be magically cheaper. Airlines are just going to line their pockets with more profits while kicking labor to the curb.

You mean the savings won’t trickle down? I’ve heard that before.

profit sharing predictions? I’m going 9%

I'm going 7.8%...

How is 6.9% not taken already?

Agreed. We are all screwed unless it is outlawed. Why? Because even if we have a requirement for two pilots (which is still a 50% cut compared to a 4-man crew), any competitors that don’t have a similar requirement will be able to undercut us and it all quickly comes tumbling down.


Additionally, I’m a bit surprised that Europe is considering allowing a lone pilot up front considering the whole Germanwings event not long ago.

]

Upton Sinclair — 'It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.'

I’m not happy about the idea of fewer pilots doing anything, but I certainly understand it. The original article was about reducing 3-4 man crews to 2 man crews, with one pilot being provided a break during crossings. It doesn’t strike me as completely unreasonable.

All this great automation we’re using is just gathering data for the eventual removal of pilots from the cockpit.

It’s not “if”, it’s a question of “when”.

This brings me no joy.