Originally Posted by
MikeAlpha320
As others have said above don't come here for SH. You'd have to be somewhere pretty bad to better off. FTL's are targets and I've never been so close to 60 hours duty/ 7 days more than I have been here. I made the mistake of leaving ezy for BA short haul and IMHO you're not better off. More work for similar pay. Fatigue isn't a recognised concept here and you'll get patronising comments from management telling you to bid for more days off.
As always its each to their own- long term there is more variety and yes the staff travel for Long Haul is a nice addition. Come here for short haul and you will probably be on the airbus for at least 5 years and with all the Long haul DEP possibly even longer. Even when your freeze is up you still need seniority for it. That currently sits about 3400 and as a new joiner you will be somewhere about 4400. Who knows how long it will take. What is long haul even going to look like in 5/6/7 years? BA are after productivity and you bet the workforce here will give it. Never seen so many people offering days off at a pretty embarrassing market rate (330£/day LGW FO) and coming in on days off to 'help-out' when we get extended none of it back.
You can blame BALPA for the huge decline in T&C's here but we are the only ones to blame from what I've seen in a short period of time IMHO. Its look after number 1- the division amongst us as a work force is genuinely quite depressing at times. LHR/LGW SH/LH PP24/34 BARP/NAPS just to name a few. Company have cleverly manipulated the pilots into this position where will they pick away until there is very little left with almost little to no response from us. I remember reading about what people were willing to do to defend NAPS, Bidline e.t.c but surprise surprise where are they both now?
I'm sure there will be plenty along to tell you how great 24 hours in Cairo/Beirut/Tel-Aviv is (
) and spending every weekend sat in Pret at T5.. at least you can wear your hat and tell everyone you work for BA!
If you're lucky enough you might even get to come in unpaid on days off to be a pilot ambassador
Ok, I'll stop now. Its each to their own- I don't see why you would leave other UK (stable) SH operators to come here and I suppose I'd like people to know what I now know about lifestyle on BA short haul. Probably just bitter and don't want to work 85 hours in February when LGW winter is 'Quiet'.
There's not much I can add to this, other than to say I'm afraid this has been my experience entirely. In a vain attempt to be positive, I do enjoy the trips/night stops, and some of the hotels are truly fantastic. But unfortunately this is almost totally eclipsed by the rest of the job.
As always, perspectives vary, and they'll invariably do so depending on where you came from. If your airline is dying or has been abusing you somehow, join. If not, I'd personally avoid it like the plague - unless you're desperate for long haul. Bear in mind though that JSS now destroys any kind of roster control for the juniors, irrespective of fleet. Short haul can be truly appalling - you'll have no control over days off and you'll find yourself switching between earlies and lates relentlessly, often with only one or two days off between. Equally some junior long haul rosters now appear to feature 6 full trips per month, again regularly with only a single day off between trips. How you manage any kind of home life with that kind of roster really is a mystery to me.
As I've seen mentioned before - don't get drawn in by being able to say you work for BA, calling yourself speedbird, or just going there because everyone else is. Think long and hard about it and ask yourself if it's really worth it.