(Belgian) flight crew commuting to Belgium

[saratoga]

Hi

I am pilot, living in belgium but working abroad. My base is abroad and have to commute every week. Now with this corona crisis we have to fill in a plf form which is not really designed for flight crew. On top of that ppl from abroad have to do a test and going into quarantaine.

I am looking for info how that works for flight crew but i dont find any info. At the moment it is all very diificult and sometimes impossible to go to work if i have to comply with all these rules.

Is there flight crew on the forum having the same issues and perhaps having more info?

Tx

[Bracebrace]

I suppose the question is about coming back to Belgium after a duty? Going on duty is more a question of the regulations of the country you work in.

Rules change with every change of measures, but as far as I'm aware you need to fill in the PFL and have proof of travel for business reasons from your employer. No quarantaine should be necessary.

[saratoga]

Hello Bracebrace

Tx for replying. It is that PLF form which is giving me headache. If you fill in that form you have to point out that it is for business u have to fill in a number.

To get that number my employer has to fill in EVERY WEEK a BTA form concerning my whereabouts. If that form is approved then we should get a number i have to fill in on that PLf form.

I called the corona hotline and there is simply no other way around it.

I just wanna work and pay the bills but authorities are making it impossible.

[Bracebrace]

Maybe you can try to contact BATA (Belgian Air Transport Association), they are negociating with the authorities and also represent the DHL crews. I suppose those crews, flying out of Leipzig, are facing the same problems.

[saratoga]

Tx Bb, i will contact them.

Keep it safe!

[Lyulka]

I understood flight crews are exempted from those tests.

[sdbelgium]

I understood flight crews are exempted from those tests.

AFAIK This is only true when they are travelling for work, generally not when they are travelling to or from work.

[Magiktrix]

Take care. Apparently rules have changed last week for crew. If you stay out of belgium more than 48h you must fill an eplf with bta number. Paper form NOT accepted.

https://travel.info-coronavirus.be/publ ... cator-form

[Poiu]

I just do the tests and stay at home. Far from ideal, but why take risks and put others in danger? Being crew doesn’t protect you from getting or, even worse, spreading the virus!

[Bracebrace]

Being crew doesn’t protect you from getting or, even worse, spreading the virus!

That depends on your company. I'm in the freight business (which might unfortunately be the most active pilot group in Belgium for the moment). We have special rules on the flightdeck to avoid contacts and spend days and days in quarantaine in other countries. I don't see the point why I should have a test every time I come back after +48hours all of a sudden, when I was already isolated all this time.

Anyway, I think this is the reason why all details are still being "discussed".

[Poiu]

That depends on your company. I'm in the freight business, we've being flying and working very hard in an ever changing environment in different countries for months and months now. We have special rules on the flightdeck to avoid contacts and spend days and days in quarantaine in other countries. I don't see the point why I should have a test every time I come back after +48hours all of a sudden.

And exactly this is the problem, everyone thinks they are safe and shouldn’t follow the rules. It’s because of this behaviour that non- essential travel has been banned till March 1st.

How do you know you didn’t have any problems if you don’t test???
You could have been an asymptomatic super spreader of the British variant and infected a dozen people without even being aware of it. Fact is that travellers are responsible for the import of variants, a crew member is not an Ubermensch, although many seem to think they are.

[Bracebrace]

How do you know you didn’t have any problems if you don’t test???
You could have been an asymptomatic super spreader of the British variant and infected a dozen people without even being aware of it. Fact is that travellers are responsible for the import of variants, a crew member is not an Ubermensch, although many seem to think they are.

No we are not immune, not at all, even I have been sick several weeks because of Covid. It is fantastic to see that no infection has passed through the company or has caused cross-infection inside the company, exactly because special procedures were put in place from day 1 to avoid these things from happening. If it wasn't for these procedures and the way the company managed the situation on a daily basis, Belgium would still be waiting for mouthmasks (or vaccination needles...).

If Belgium would have the mentality to "get the job done", we would have been far better off to be honest. In Belgium we prefer to throw single sentences, think black/white, throw opinions and make it a big scary TV show... and wait for the ever-so-efficient state system to move. But at the end of the day, nothing gets done.

For the record, I'm not against testing at all, when I was sick my doctor refused to test me, Belgium didn't test (but my company had blocked me from working already from day 1 and all people working with me were home as well). And now, if I quarantaine because of my company rules and come back home, I have to quarantaine again and test. That is the difference between realistic thinking and trying to get the job done, while Belgium continued with idiocracy based on nothing else but fear. All I can say now is, kudos to my managers. And Belgium... well I guess they prefer to continue the do-nothing-fear-all story right? There is hardly anything constructive to find in this country, only destructive. Our negative minds are a virus on it's own.

[islandhopper]

Dear Saratoga,
I am in similar position like you. Every 15 days I commute back and forward to my base abroad where I am on duty for 15 days. When I come back to Belgium I fill out the PLF with the annex filled out by my employer. I get a QR code back from Belgium. On day 1 back in Belgium I go for a test and stay in quarantaine until I receive the outcome of test 2 on day 7.
For the moment I can comply with the regulations because I am 15 days home , but once everything cranks up again with full time rosters I have no idea how to comply with the regulations.

[longwings]

And now, if I quarantaine because of my company rules and come back home, I have to quarantaine again and test.

So what you are saying is that Belgium should trust the Covid program of a company it has no control over, and has no way to enforce any requirement on, such as providing advance notice when that program is updated, all for the convenience of a few cross-border super commuters?

Or am I missing something?

[Bracebrace]

A few cross-border super commuters?

I think people should stop projecting their work environment on the world. The world of aviation isn't passengers flying out of Brussels or Charleroi. The world of aviation isn't holiday people looking for the sun in Spain, but that is used as a reference.

If you are missing something than it probably is how a logistics network uses an aviation network. Fedex, UPS, DHL, ... In short: I'm a pilot, and I've been working my ass off for the last 12 months. And I'm quarantaining my ass off. The government knows my company, the government knows what I'm doing, it's a question of simplistic bureaucracy or talk and think together. We don't need 'a single rule for everybody' that pretty much can ground a company. And I'm not alone, Belgium based pilots hit by the rule are hundreds (facing quarantaine measures multiple times a month). Simply visit Liège, Cologne, Leipzig, Paris aprons... at night.

[longwings]

I know what you are, you left enough hints above, and I am quite familiar with the world you describe, even if over longer distances... It's never a question of knowledge but oversight. Governments should not and do not trust companies over which they have no oversight. If your employer can square that off, have at it... I do agree with one thing you wrote though:

I think people should stop projecting their work environment on the world.

[PttU]

Now with this corona crisis we have to fill in a plf form which is not really designed for flight crew.

Do you have to fill it in, as you are not a passenger (and it's a PASSENGER locator form)?

You cross the border to go to work, that's allowed. But take a proof from your employer that you're working abroad in case there's a checkpoint at the border. If that work abroad is in an office, in a truck or in an airplane, shouldn't make a difference.

Maybe check the rules for truckers etc, they often stay >48h abroad as well. Only difference is they usually use their own work-vehicle to cross the border.

[Bracebrace]

For info: the PLF can now be completed with the option "Professional reasons without BTA".