re-positioning crew member?

[domtom]

Hi there,

Flew FCO-BRU this morning. To my surprise, there appeared to be a captain within passengers. I think he is from Brussels Airlines, as I could make out a small 'B' logo within his wings on the shirt.

So does anybody know what he might have been doing there? Definitely didn't seem to be 'auditing' the staff, as he dozed off after a while. Also, he was waiting for his luggage in Brussels afterwards.

Any thoughts?

[CaravanDriver]

Just a positioning crew member after his duty. You don't fly always round trips arriving back in home base. Sometimes you have to position (dead heading) to or from your duty start or end place.

[Avroflyer]

If it was only the captain it was probably a contractor who is commuting to BRU to start his duty after this flight, it's indeed nothing really special and happens quite often these days

[domtom]

Hi there,

Thanks. Sorry, so I understand what you're saying. The captain might have flown BRU-FCO the night before, but not the return flight? And so that assumes there was a 2nd captain the night before also flying as a passenger?

To Avroflyer: are captains contractors? And again, do they tend to don typical SN badges and all that?

What seems surprising, I presume, is that this was the morning flight (6.30 am), so the guy obviously stayed the night. I assume, though, both of you are right in some way, as he was wearing his full captain kit.

Just trying to get my head round this still...

[KriVa]

Captains are more often contractors than the F/O. And yes, of course they wear the full SN uniform, just like every other pilot.
This was probably an Italian contractor, on a deadhead flight to BRU, to commence his duty after the flight.

[Avroflyer]

Yeah we have contractor captains, they have a SN badge but it features a green band on top with "CONTRACTOR" written on it, so you can't mistake them.

If it was a contractor (but I don't know that since I didn't operate the flight) he could be living in Roma and just had his days off so taking the 1st flight back to position himself at BRU and later today do a flight(s)

[b-west]

Just wondering, what if a flight is overbooked? Does the cpt stay on, or will he have to wait for another flight?

[KriVa]

He'll probably get the jumpseat. I'm not sure about specific procedures at SN, but that's how a lot of other carriers solve that problem.
Not a bad way to start your duty