Bill, well you jump to interesting conclusions without knowing me and whether you guys miss me or not is really not of my concern.
I don't like the commuting to LGW of course. I didn't like commuting to LEJ either though. It's because I don't like commuting in the first place but I do it because I value living at home much more and then thats a price to pay. Interestingly the money I pay now for commuting is almost the same as I paid on average commuting to LEJ but honestly, I will take London, Paris, Barcelona, Rome or any scandi city anytime over Leipzig but thats of course a personal preference.
But if it fits your mental picture and makes you feel better that we are unhappy and regret our decision to move along than thats ok, we have already heard the rumors about us and its always good for a laugh when we meet at the Costa or somewhere else in the world before we move along to different topics.
Also and to be a little more on topic, I always said that AL is not a bad job, rosters are nice for the most part and you will in general have a good time in the flight deck but without the rose tinted specs it looks like this:
- the ratio of cpts to sfo/fo is skewed, has always been so one can not expect a high amount of upgrades with even two or three more aircraft coming. Sure there will be some but I would assume its in the region of 10-12 people.
-As a large number of copilots are with the company for years and many have already reached the hour requirement and most will reach it within 1 or 2 years, meaning that a new FO at the bottom of seniority can now expect to sit in the right hand seat for 10 years+. Also, a significant portion of captains is fairly young (40s or younger)
-As entry salary is low and the progression of salary is slow, you will in that time progress to a salary level a little higher than what NLH pays for a First Officer in the first year. That can change of course but it would take a really significant adjustment upwards to make the salary competitive and that includes cpts salaries.
If thats ok for you, then apply and join should you make it through the selection. If you have doubts though it might be a good idea to look elsewhere, there is lots of opportunities now, Norwegian being just one of many.