Hey monkeyhead....
Wow, BA short-haul Terms and Conditions are so complicated it takes ages to understand them all. Luckily i'm in Kuwait tonight with bugger all else to do so I will do my best to explain!
Firstly, the infamous 'CAT' turnaround.....This is basically an allowence of around £40 each time you have a turn-around at LHR but where you don't achieve 2.5 hours 'rest'. Complicated, I know. I'll try to give an example......At BA LHR 4 sector days (or 'doubles') are rare. They do exisit but are few and far between. Here's why: each time you return to LHR you must have 2.5 hours rest at Compass Centre. Therefore, if you add in the brief and de-brief time, flight time, and 2.5 hour 'rest time' into your duty day there are not many '4 sector' combinations that the schedulers can fit in. This 2.5 hour 'rest' can be reduced to a minimum of 2hours (or 1.5 hours if leading into a night-stop) but your 2 hours rest is then taken in the 'CAT lounge' which is airside of the Queens Building and a £37 payment will be made. If your inbound flight to LHR is say delayed, and you do not achieve a minimum of 2 hours 'rest' in the CAT lounge you will be removed from your next sector/flight and sent home. Phew, hope that answers that one!(??)
OK...other rules/benefits:
-Allowences are not paid with an hourly rate like most airlines. You get paid 'meal payments' which are generated at different trigger times.
- You get 'long-day payment' for a duty (including brief/de-brief) over 10.5 hours.
- 10 rostered days off per month that you 'bid' for (apparently meant to have a 60% minimum satisfaction rate)
- If you do over 11 hours duty you can request 15 hours rest instead of the legal minimum. (cannot be refused by scheduling)
- If you do over 12.5 hours duty you can request 18 hours rest (cannot be refused by scheduling). This would usually leave you 'non-operational' for the following day (ie another day off)
Hope that helps!