Originally Posted by
Badboy21
I compared the SFO (for someone with 3000+ hrs) pay vs FO at BA ( no Direct SFO option). Virgin was more by atleast 10k £.
Next, virgin pays layover allowances into a card, vs BA pays it with salary. That brings another 500£ monthly i believe for Virgin. I read in an earlier post that with all allowances year 1 pay for BA FO with overtime can be around 110k, but this is around 120-125k for virgin SFO with 3-4 overtime trips I believe ( with layover allowance paid separately into card). Correct me if I'm wrong ?
It’s not an accurate comparison really. You shouldn’t compare salary/allowances with overtime as it’s not consistent.
Virgin Yr 1 SFO: £90,775 + flying pay (£9,985) = £100,760. Yes, you get HMRC rates on a corporate card, it’s roughly $150 USD for a one night USA. Can be as low as $40 if in “cheap” destinations. You also get a courtesy £85 fully taxed top up for each trip paid in arrears. It’s around £5,500 after tax.
BA Yr 1 FO: £74,930 + £35,000 (average flying pay and allowances A350) = £109,930. A decent chunk of the allowances is tax free. Ballpark they are roughly the same take home.
As you say you don’t join BA as an SFO, which means that people can earn that when they join with 1,500 hrs, rather than 3,000 as at Virgin. To compare the Virgin FO Yr 1 with the BA Yr 1 shows the contrast much better, as you’re then comparing apples with apples.
However, the real benefits of BA are the fact that the trigger for three pilots is
significantly lower than at Virgin. Not only that, it is rostered if you’re going to be relief, so you can plan your rest the moment the roster comes out, rather than deciding it in the briefing room. The new rule coming into effect in October means that almost every long haul trip will have a minimum three days off after. The busses to the crew car park are much more frequent and reliable than the PEX or long stay busses so you don’t have to get to the airport way before report time. You usually get your roster about five days before Virgin as well. These are all little things but they have a marked improvement on quality of life. Not to mention the variety of routes, fleet bidding and job stability.
If you want to be based in the UK, it’s a no brainer.