Howdy...
I would like to strongly recommend that you apply for this exchange - its a total laugh! I will post a copy of an email that I sent to a few mates who asked me similar questions... sorry to the Mod's if its a bit long!
If it is, I will PM it to those concerned...
1) Do you always fly out of the same airport in London or no?
No, you fly mainly out of London Heathrow, and sometimes out of London Gatwick (LGW mainly to leisure destinations such as the Carribean, Orlando, Las Vegas etc). You will tend to get mainly LHR flights and sometimes an LGW one. A lot of crew who live closer to either airport tend to try and swap their flights with other crew who live close to the opposing airport.
2) How far away from the airport do you live?
I live about an hour or so from LGW and about 2 hours from LHR (on public transport). You need to live within 3 hours of LGW and 2 hours of LHR for standby purposes...
3) Do you know a few of the suburbs around there I could look into?
A lot of crew live in areas that are close to LGW - Horley, Gatwick, Crawley, Three Bridges, Redhill...The FAQ's from last year had a lot of suburbs listed in it... I recommend a visit to a few websites:
www.findaproperty.co.uk ;
www.gumtree.com ;
www.findaflat.co.uk are all good websites that list rental and share properties. Just be careful that the price is correct - findaproperty.co.uk inparticular often show a price that is per week as a per month price!
4) Overall though, do you think I should apply??
In a word, YES! I am not going to lie, some things have been tough, however I am having the time of my life and if I had my time over I would definately do it again.
Here are a few points from me...
The allowances in general are much higher than Virgin Blue. For example, a bad allowance would be the USD$124 that you recieve in Orlando for one night, whereas a good one is the USD$245 you recieve for one night on certain JFK flights. In Narita for 2 nights you get about 30,000 Yen (about GBP150), Hong Kong for 2 nights is HKD$2538 (around GBP180), Sydney you currently get AUD$212 for one night (and thats about to go up by about AUD$50!) and so on... the pay you get in your bank at this stage I cant give you an average really, guessing as a senior its between GBP900 to GBP1000 or so. As a junior, its closer to GBP750-GBP800 I think.... The allowances are quite high, but a lot of crew take as much home from their trips as they can, so that they have spending money for their days off!
The work is different - you can't compare it to Virgin Blue. It truly is like apples and oranges.... as a junior, we have been in the economy cabins and I tell ya its a lot different shelling out 380 meals to a planeload of drunks going to Las Vegas for 10 hours than it is selling muffins and coffee to a plane full of suits on a 1 hour sector!
I wont lie - it has been tough! Training was intense and I found some parts difficult to understand. AVMED was one week and some of the things you learn (for eg the hiemlich manouvre, and the UK version of DRABC/CPR/EAR) will have you scratching your head at the logic! You learn 3 aircraft types (A340-300, 8 doors, minimum required crew 9, usually operates with 13 I think?; A340-600, 8 doors, 2 Overwing Exits, minimum required crew 11, usually operates with 16 crew; and Boeing 747-400, 12 doors, minimum required crew 12, usually operates with 17 or 18, depending on which airport you fly out of). Equipment maps are very difficult, particularly when you have to learn different configurations for the 747's based out of LHR to those based out of LGW... the equipment maps are an exam of their own, and the airbus ones had over 200 pieces of equipment to put in! However they do teach you a helpful way to learn, even though you really only learn it parrot fashion for the exam...
Life in the UK is different to oz, extremely different. If you want to do it, start saving NOW. Cost of living here is outrageous! For example, fuel is currently 83pence a litre (thats 83pence, not 83 cents! A meal at Maccas will cost you about GBP3.50-4.00, a bus ticket usually around GBP1.20, trains outside the greater London zones are extortionate (for me to travel from Purley to LGW, which is around the same distance as say Brisbane Airport to Southbank, costs GBP5.40 - whereas a travelcard that takes in all of the greater London travel options within zones 1-6 costs GBP6 offpeak, or GBP12 peak...for more info visit
www.tfl.gov.uk and have a look at the maps - they will give you a clearer explanation of what I mean by the Greater London zones.
In rent, you can expect to pay between GBP250 and GBP400 for a room in a share house per month. This sometimes includes bills (council tax - similar to rates, but paid by renters; your TV licence - required for anyone who has a tv in their home; electricity; gas etc) and sometimes doesnt.
Longer layovers are great! Layovers vary from 12 hours in Lagos to sometimes 5 or 6 nights in destinations like Shanghai, Las Vegas, Cape Town etc... In general, east coast USA is one night (although Boston can be 4 nights), west coast USA is 2 nights, carribean destinations vary from 1 to 3 nights...
The aircraft are great to work on, you will have a ball. The entertainment system on the A340-600 is awesome - its called V:Port and has over 50 channels of on-demand movies at your fingertips. There are a total of 4 different IFE systems that are on VA aircraft, with V:Port being the newest and best. Most flights you will get crew rest on - this can vary from 1 hour to 4 hours or so if you are lucky on long flights! Sometimes you wont get it, and really are only entitled to it on long flights anyway (eg longer than 11 hours or something), but more often than not the FSM's do the best they can to let everyone get a lay-down.
If you are considering applying, definately do your research! Go to
www.virgin-atlantic.com and read about the company. Their values and behavioural competencies are similar to Virgin Blues obviously, however still know the company history etc. Be prepared to answer questions similar to the ones in your initial interview (tell me a time when you dealt with a difficult customer, tell me a time when you went out of your way to help a customer, tell me what you can bring to virgin atlantic, tell me why you want to work for virgin atlantic, tell me how you feel about going into a junior position etc). Sit down with a list of questions and have practice answers! Don't know them off by heart, but have examples ready in your mind.
A typical roster generally will have 5 trips - usually 1 or 2 nighters, and sometimes a 4 day block of standby. Swapping trips is very easy, and encouraged - this is because crew who are working trips they want to be on are less likely to call in sick! They also have this department called Pre-Ops which is great. Pre-Ops basically deal with anything outside the 24 hours before the day of operation. You can call them up and say "hi, I have a JFK trip on wednesday that I dont want, is there any chance of a Narita trip instead?" and basically if what you want is available, and will fit your roster, they will give it to you! A lot of crew request longer/shorter trips, non-usa trips etc...
There is a free bus which operates more or less hourly during the day between LHR and LGW. Its great and is available only to VA employees & their companions - so you can live near LGW and still fairly easily get to LHR.
That is really all I can think of for now, however below I will list a typical flight for you...
Sign On (2 hours before STD), briefing lasts generally for a half hour. Each person required to individually answer either an EP or AVMED question (each month a scenario is issued to the FSM's, and its the same one all month - so once you have heard it once you are generally in the clear!) Once you have finished briefing its off through crew security screening and onto the bus to the aircraft. We dont enter the terminals at LHR/LGW at all - our 'check-in' is in a different building altogether. The bus then takes us to the aircraft, where we dump our wheelie bags and get onboard...
Once onboard, everyone does their safety and security checks (security checks done EVERY flight before take off and after landing), and the cabin service supervisors check their catering etc. Boarding commences at -55, 2 crew at the door boarding pax. Doors close, safety demo done usually by video with crew only pointing out exits, however the last week of the month its always done manually - same as virgin blue. Take-off, then its all action stations... hand out headsets, amenity kits, immigration documentation, then into the galley to set up for drinks service. Drinks service conducted then cleared in, followed by meal service. The meal service can take up to 1 1/2 to 2 hours sometimes! 3 meal choices, generally someone will get the meal they dont want (always fun to deal with!). Tea and coffee is next, followed straight up by refills of tea & coffee. Then its time to clear in everyone's trays! Once that is done, the crew can usually have something to eat. Ice creams follow about a half hour later, and oj/water is served throughout the flight. If its a long flight there is a mid-flight snack served, which is usually a hot item of some sort - a cajun chicken panini, or a cheese and onion tart etc... More OJ/water, then 1 hr 45mins before landing the breakfast/afternoon tea service is done. Very similar to the main meal... Then we secure for landing, collect headsets etc, land, say goodbye to pax, then do security checks again before disembarking. We then proceed through customs/immigration (usually the crew channel which is good!), collect bags, and head to the bus to the hotel, where you check in, recieve your allowance, then whatever.....
The visa we got was an ALE Business Visa, and you need to go to the british high commission in CBR (literally 5 mins walk from the DJ terminal at CBR) if you want to get the Visa Entry Clearance sorted in one day - or you can do it by post, probably takes about 6 weeks...
A long post, but I hope its managed to answer your questions. Again I strongly recommend you apply - however, START SAVING NOW!!!!! I
cannot stress this enough - because you will realise just how expensive things are here. For eg, I bought a car yesterday - for GBP1250 (quite the bargain for what it is) however the insurance cost me GBP800 - and thats only for third party fire & theft insurance!
Good luck in your application, and please feel free to ask me any more questions...
