Originally Posted by
Goat Whisperer
Factors one needs to consider:
Time to command (better at JQ)
Variety of roles (better at JQ)
Desired base (depends on your preference)
Salary (better at JQ, will stay that way under current VA offer)
Days off (better at VA, less so under current VA offer)
Bidding/roster satisfaction (dunno)
Flying A320s vs 737s (your opinion, I have mine)
There's currently not at lot of reasons to join VA. Hoping for everyone's sake that will change.
I think this post is spot on. I will add the following having been at VA for coming on 15 years.
- The time to command has to be a significant factor. It’s still close to 15 years in Virgin and that’s for junior bases like ADL and probably Sydney. If you want a command in Melbourne or Brisbane the wait now is going to be a very long time. There isn’t a particularly old demographic at Virgin - so there isn’t about to be a massive number of retirements in either of those bases that will reign in the wait times. All this whilst at JQ there are unfilled command spots across their network.
- Variety of roles is big issue as well. As someone in their early 40s, the prospect of another 20 years of the current 737 workload is pretty daunting. No longer having the ability to change up your flying (some may say progress your career) and move to a wide body is pretty disheartening. The ability to bid for the 787 at JQ, along with the fact they are getting the cabin refurb / installing crew rest and the likelihood that this means longer trips to the USA for example, should be pretty appealing to anyone trying to make a choice as to who to choose.
- You certainly get more base options at JQ. I’d think flying a NB jet out of Cairns would allow you to have a pretty decent lifestyle. Virgin have pretty much reneged on the possibility of opening up a Gold Coast base. There’s lots of platitudes (we are looking at it, the numbers don’t stack up right now but we constantly review them, etc etc) but don’t count on it happening.
- Money wise it’s hard to know where Virgin will end up. The guys that chase the cash can earn $230k as an FO right now. But that’s working a lot of your days off and working pretty damn hard. I can’t speak for JQ.
- 12 days off is a significant advantage of Virgin. Is this something you can count on for the rest of your career? The Company is pushing very hard to reduce these. Time will tell in negotiations whether they are successful.
- 737 / A320: as someone who has never flown an airbus but who has quite a few mates at JQ, I think it’s pretty clear that a big 4 sector day in an Airbus is less physically taxing than the same day in a 737. Also worth thinking about is just the variety of flying the 321NEOXLR may open up to those at JQ. Meanwhile it’s still undetermined when the Max10 will be certified (if ever?)
Ultimately in both companies you are going to be working pretty hard. Perhaps VA has slightly better lifestyle than JQ - but not by a huge amount, and it’s at the detriment of guaranteed take home pay.
Id say though long term, JQ offers you more variety in flying as they have NB and WB positions. With WB flying (especially long haul to say America) comes a fairly good lifestyle as well. If I had my time again, I wish I’d gone to JQ or applied to QF.
It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when two of the three major jet operators in the country are pretty underwhelming choices when it comes to a long term career.