I hope this post is as balanced as I can make it. Just my reflections on the london base. A bit of history,I was an 11 month contractor,who's only choice to get full time employment with qantas was to move to london for two years. It was a hard choice,but as others have mentioned I would be unemployed as the guys I trained with are now if I hadn't taken the two year contract. Some would say blackmail,and it feels like it at times.
I think peanut pusher is being a bit over the top about how great london is. He or she may be having the time of his/her life,but it isnt all roses. Already I am very homesick,and a lot of the crew are tired and sick.
The crew are mostly great,some of the new ones are taking a long time just to get tha basics happening and it gets a bit tiring having to carry several people on every sector. The flying is ok,not much different to working out of Australia. It is funny watching all the younger ones from both Australia and the UK making fools of themselves at slip ports! The clothes the girls wear and the the amount of drinking they do! Some of them are going to get into a bit of trouble down line I think!
Its kind of a strange base,depends on who your csm& css is on the trips. Its clearly divided,the short haul csms are all very strict,they wont even let us have a glass of wine on the bus! There are rumours of crew having discipline action taken against them for doing it! I know I was only long haul for a year out of australia, but I always had a drink with the crew on the bus on every trip! It kind of takes away a lot of the fun,a lot of the fun isnt here in the new base. You just learn to ignore those csms and keep out of their way. Haven't seen one room party since I have been here! The british crew are all very clicky and dont seem to mix with us from australia that much. I think maybe cos they only hired girls out of here there are only about 5 local british boys hired out of all of them that I know of. From experience the boys are always the ones driving the social stuff in slip ports!
The long slips are great though,just got back from 4 days in Hong Kong, the new hotel is great! The 31 and 32 are even worse than they used to be,as sometimes there is only you who knows what they are doing! The 32 is a long flight home! We also have 4 day slips in singapore, they are great as a lot of the crew go out there and I get to see friends from sydney. The 32 hour slips in bangkok are a bit hard, but there is only so much you can do there!
Meeting the Sydney crew at the aircraft is kind of strange, even people I knew before I left have been rude to me. Sometimes I cannot believe how rude these crew are to fellow crew,and it makes me sad. Do they not realise some of our choices were to come here or get sacked? There doesnt seem to be a lot of compassion from sydney crews,it all seems to be about them! But a lot of them just get on and say hi and go about their business. The thai crew are a mixed bunch,some bag sydney crew to us,others argue constantly with the css,and some are nice.
Living in london isnt as expensive as everyone said. The rent is hideous but the day to day living is ok. I dont know how the local hired crew do it without the relocation allowance though. The food here is terrible,and I have put on so much weight! Yes there was one girl who got fired for going on holiday on sick leave. A lot of crew seem to be in trouble up here,everyone talks about people who have been in trouble. The office people here are all nice to your face,but everyone knows they are very quick to pull you up on the smallest things. I just try to avoid them by coming in to the office as close to sign on as I can.
Overall I am content for the time being,but cannot wait to get back home. The two years cannot go quick enough for me!
This is only my view on my base. It isnt all good, and it isnt all bad. The people who say it's all bad obviously aren't here,and the people who say it's all good are just trying to defend it.
It's just another base.