Originally Posted by
Doppio
To clarify some points that were raised;
- Yes I did bid for shorthaul command every year from day one; all I got was Equipment Freeze.
- Treated with respect and professionalism at BA? All new joiners are made to wear two stripes for four years as a junior FO regardless of prior experience. A380 FO’s aren’t even trusted to land the aircraft for the first several months.
- Industry leading Pension? I would have had to retire at 65 on £8000,- per year annuity. And that’s with maximum contributions into BARP 2.0
- BA wants JSS over Bidline; that’s all you need to know.
- 3 to 4 trips on LH per month? More like 5 or 6; the only change when you have a week’s leave is that the same number of trips are scheduled closer together.
- Final salary of plus £200k? Not according to the 34 year pay scale that the majority of DEP’s will never reach the top of. It’s more like £168k (excl flight pay), if you are still full time that is after 33 years of doing 900hrs p/a.
- Planning your life with a fixed roster? How about doing 21 day reserve periods several times per year...
- And dare I mention; most of these decreases in T&C’s were voted in by senior ‘colleagues’. Secure in the knowledge they would never be applied to them; just the new joiners. Welcome to BARP I guess…
I could go on of course, but fear to damage the delicate sensibilities of those who’s only justification seems to be that they’ve had it worse somewhere else before... What can I say, I’ve had it better.
No delicate sensibilities damaged here although some of your points do require challenging with some facts. Where I agree with you I'm not shy about stating it.
1. It's been said in posts above but who on earth cares how many stripes you have. We're all adults here, you would hope, and if someone treats you differently because you have 2 stripes then tell them to poke off! They are clearly idiots. I'm assuming that is your problem, and not the physical absence of a third stripe. For if that is your problem I fear you may be beyond help...
2. Your point about A380 Fo's not being able to land is misleading. It was a training capacity issue, not a trust issue as has already been pointed out.
3. I share your scepticism over JSS but ultimately until it comes in, no one definitively knows what its going to be like. We're all speculating. I do, however, mourn the loss of bidline like many of my colleagues.
4. It's uncommon to do 5 long haul trips a month, certainly on my fleet. It's only happened to me once. Ive never done 6, and I've never done more than 3 on a month when I've had leave. Next month on a blind line with leave I have 2 trips.
5. I agree the 34 point pay scale sucks and it must be one of the main reasons that people think twice before signing on the line.
6. You might do 3 reserve periods a year to begin with. But that won't go on forever. If you are a long haul DEP it will go on longer than short haul, and that is one of the main advantages of taking a short haul DEP job - a more rapidly advancing "on fleet" seniority. The first couple of years aren't great for reserve and you'll probably do it over Christmas at least once. I didn't do a single reserve for my last two years on the airbus. I've done 1 reserve since I went to long haul 18 months ago.
7. The pensions changes are well documented elsewhere, but it's disingenuous to infer, as your post reads to me, that BARP is some recent development. NAPS closed to new joiners a LONG time ago now, much as MANY final salary schemes at other companies did. The new BARP is an improvement on what has been offered for many years now. Quoting annuity rates is a waste of time. You'd have to be nuts to buy an annuity today.
I'm glad you're happy at Ryanair and I do think the decision about whether to leave a loco command to join BA has become much more balanced in recent years. You can't escape the reality though, and please don't gloss over it, that Ryanair is hardly a happy place to work for many of it's "employees" (self employed, contractors, delete as appropriate). Sure, you get paid more as a Ryanair Captain than as a BA DEP. Shock horror. I would question whether Ryanair is a particularly good employer compared to BA when you look beyond the financial side of things. That's borne out by the statistics in terms of the sheer volume of resignations from Ryanair over a typical year versus resignations from BA. I don't need to be BA's biggest cheerleader to point that out either.
Ultimately BA is far from perfect. Financially you will be better off taking a command at RYR or EZY, no contest. If you're reading this and that is what motivates you then forget BA. Lets not pretend though that doing so is without its downsides. It's a lifetime of multiple sector, high intensity short haul flying with all the stresses that come along with that. Working for a company, in Ryanair's case, who don't even try to hide their contempt for the pilot workforce.
I won't apologise for making the case for working for BA. There's plenty wrong with it, but it's still the best flying job I've ever had and when I'm cycling down the beach or sat by the pool with a cold beer my previous loco job seems a MILLION miles away. Oh and by the way, I'll happily join the picket line to protect our terms and conditions, just as soon as we are given the chance.