Being an easy veteran of one year there is no doubt in my mind that this is purely a stepping stone. It all depends on your age. If you are young go for the flag carrier, if not and especially if you live or would like to live in the provinces then easy is an option.
Easy has a few positive points, newish machines (apart from the ex Go 300's, where did they find them!) Most importantly they are hiring and will continue to do so, be advised though that the screening is no sunday stroll. Time to command is relatively short, although I have been told by my base captain that there are no more course places this year as FO's cannot be spared, good news for the Parc guys!
Negatives, well there are plenty! Don't believe the hype about orange culture it is complete rubbish, they try to model themselves on South West but only play lip service. Training at CTC, I have never been to one place with so many conceited ******'s under one roof. It is only a rolls royce course (as the manager tells you on day one) because they are charging so much money that all the instructors can afford to drive them! To be fair a few of the instructors were good. I will fly at least 850 hours this year, no doubt, and so will the majority of my colleages if not all at our base. That is alot of short haul flying in busy airspace, you will be tired at times. I would say staff travel is a joke but it is not funny anymore, (strangely enough our CEO has industry travel as he still consults for ANZ), but the workers at the coal face get a very poor deal indeed.
In short a flag carrier (like BA) has far superior terms and conditions than any low cost airline ever will, it is not a difficult decision.
Safe Flying and keep smiling , it makes the management nervous!
