Please try and resist the temptation to join BA to call yourself Speedbird or join because you consider it a 'prestigious' job unless you're absolutely sure it's what you want. Only when 5-7 years in as a LH FO or 25 years in as a LH Capt will you reap the lifestyle rewards. That said, my time at BA was a pleasure in terms of the training and the colleagues I met. Great bunch of guys and girls who treat you as an adult.
Very good concise advice.
Regarding JSS. There is a huge amount of negativity out there. Put simply, if you want to write your own roster and have lots of weekends off then you will perpetually be pissed off with life as an airline pilot. Whoever you work for. Most negative reviews are down to a perceived loss of control over what you are bidding for as we now lack visibility of the actual lines of work that are on offer. The principle of seniority hasn’t changed though, and the simple rule is the lower down you are the less control you will have regardless of how the work is bid for.
In BA if you are junior you will, to some degree, shovel manure for a few years, depending on how quickly recruitment takes place and which fleet you are on. Then you will have a series of choices to make over your career that will affect your seniority. If you choose DEP LH or an early command on SH you will be consigning yourself to being junior for a longer period of time than the “average”.
None of this is news. It’s fairly common knowledge for new recruits if you do your homework.
As Tommytailwind has said be careful with your reasons for joining. I applaud anyone with the wherewithal to quit and go back to ezy etc if they find it really doesn’t work for them. If you find life here isn’t for you, look elsewhere. I agree that it is rubbish at the bottom. BA management don’t think so because people are queuing up to join and not enough vote with their feet when they find the job doesn’t work for them, because when it comes down to it admitting you have stuffed up and going back to an ex-employer cap in hand is difficult.
In summary, I really don’t think, from a new joiners point of view, that a lot has changed. We’ve had one roster under JSS. I do however understand the gripes and confusion from more established pilots. It will take time to figure out if things are better or worse than life under the previous system. My feeling is it won’t make much difference. We still have the same amount of work to cover. The variable will ALWAYS be how many pilots we have to cover that work. How we bid for it and who gets what has always been driven by seniority. It still is.