Just want to give a fairly fresh view of life on SH for those who are still trying to join the company away from LH.
This is by far the best short haul gig in the U.K. currently, you can bid for days out or for blocks away whichever suits you (commuter ect)
the blessing being the LHR curfew plus other strict curfews around EU means your “lates” have you in your bed or a hotel bed NORMALLY before midnight
some of the earliest can be gruesome, I think BCN has a 0430 report but that actually suits some other Pilots as they’re home before lunch!.
Once you get your head around JSS you really can make the roster work for you as long as you’re not being too restrictive. Summer is chaotic as all summers are around SH but with the amount of Leave and DFW available you can still get a break, plus if you’ve got kids you can take quite a chunk of parental leave to make some space.
Junior LH seems to be doing 5 trips a month on the 777 but if you request 4 or 5 day tours on SH you also don’t do more than 5 trips a month, so you can almost create a decent lifestyle and have zero jet lag. Lots of new rostering rules have come in recently on SH to make it slightly easier too.
This is coming from someone who’s in year 1 of the company, already climbed 19% up the seniority list without realising and getting more and more of my requests now JSS is becoming familiar. For me I prefer lates, days away at work in a block to suit my commute and I’m not too fussed with getting every weekend off (at the moment!) I try and avoid the Swiss night stops and some of the dull ones such as CDG & HAJ and 90% of the time my roster comes out with exactly this. If it doesn’t, I jump on ibid and swap and change any trips to make it work for me.
There’s so many Pilots working for BA who have different priorities and specifications that there will always be someone bidding for what you don’t want, and swapping for something you want to get rid of.
The atmosphere is very good, the crews are brilliant and the Captains all come from different backgrounds so makes it a decent day/tour, and always within walking distance to an Irish pub!
Hotels around Europe and the U.K. are majority very good with the help from BALPA agreements and centrally located.
Remove the occasional LHR or IT meltdown and overall it’s a very simple gig.
Hope this helps anyone trying to get into BA who have a little SH fear going on.
Happy to answer any questions as long as it doesn’t lead me to CONNECT!