In answer to the initial questions on the first post.
Yes the pay rise was 4.0% for this coming year starting in April. The private pension contribution from the company was raised from 10% salary to 14.5% and other small (RPI)rises to hourly allowances etc.
This was entirely due to a tracker pay system (which compares 6 equivalent airlines - Monarch and others) negotiated some years ago by BALPA through the solid membership of the pilots. The company got a good deal too - a contented workforce who get fair and competitive pay for the work they do.
Any reasonably qualified pilot can apply for the vacancies that come about. Only the better ones are recruited. There is no secret agenda, there is no PC, corporate mumbo jumbo or spin. Pilots (male and female) come from all sorts of airlines (and the forces too) at all sorts of ages. Many ex - BA pilots work for the airline. They tend to come at age 55 on retirement from BA and stay until 60, often on part time contracts. Some stay on after 60 as F/Os (due to flight restrictions in France). They seem to enjoy their time with GB, and I have never heard other pilots complain about their presence, flying abilities or commitment to work. Perhaps the only distinguishing feature that these pilots have, is their very expensive car in the company car park, presumably paid out of the fruits of a long career with BA mailine. The few exceptions, in smaller cars, are recovering from divorces.
So, Magic2, looking forward to seeing you - perhaps when you are 55. You might, by that time, find you move from a very shiny new Boeing Dreamliner with BA to sit in an old GB A321 with the latest cabin upgrade.
GB first started flying in 1931 , which makes it almost as old as Imperial Airways, and I'm sure GB will be around for many more years. It might not still be a BA Franchise by the time you join - that depends on big BA, the attitude of BA Balpa CC and of course the Gibraltar family that own GB. If Easyjet don't go bust over the next few years, it may even be as an Easyjet partner. Now that's bound to start a new thread.
Last edited by fiftyfour; 17th Mar 2005 at 15:08.