Originally Posted by
2 Whites 2 Reds
Just for completeness, Seeded Blindlines were ONLY on the 747.....the other long haul fleets weren't so lucky. However when I joined on a LH Fleet Blindlines were pretty good and trading with EOT was very easy allowing me to totally rewrite my roster some months.
I'm currently about 2/3 down the P2 list on the 777.....rosters are manageable but under JSS I'm very realistic about what I can expect so bid accordingly. My real gripe at the moment is the number of weekends worked per annum which is ridiculous. In fact it's having a very serious impact on my family life. That said, I met a lovely bloke on my last trip who's just vacated the LHS of the Bus to return to the RHS on the triple. So short of moving to the RHS of the SH Bus and gaining a huge chunk of relative seniority I'm stuck with it. Hopefully the efforts towards getting a fairer balance of weekends off can be achieved soon!
As you say, stories of DEP's joining then swiftly leaving (I know of at least 2 other guys who've done the same) and people giving up a BA Short Haul Command to return to the RHS on a Long Haul fleet to regain some sort of life out of work says a lot!!! Pretty sad really isn't it.
The issue of weekends off is even more relevant in today's "I want it now" society and where lifestyle is a big plus for Aircrew.
Back in the good ole days there was no such thing as part time. Now days there is one UK AOC (big red and yellow machine) that's see's part time as a positive way of keeping its crews,(probably 20% are P/T) This ensures their loyalty (most of the time), offering fixed roster pattern for a large amount of crew and has agreements for days off in a year (never enough for Nigel's but a good amount) and has an agreement on weekends off also.
The problem for BALPA is getting their members to think collectively rather than just for themselves - Good luck with that. If BA are to offer more weekends they will want something back e.g. no payrise, 1000 hours etc etc