Hamrah
The mole doesn’t appear willing to detail his statement publicly. Maybe I can start to explain, from my personal experiences, why he may fell as he does, although I may not be as strong in my accusations.
Prior to my assessment with Astraeus I was inquisitive as to my employment prospects with Astraeus or any “partner airlines”. An Astraeus employee, “sales person”, told me not to worry as they had a scheme for people who did well at assessment through which they would give interview advice and actively seek employment opportunities.
I preformed to the required standard at assessment and the Bond Training Manager (Bond is a wholly owned subsidiary of Astraeus) gave me the tick in the box necessary to be accepted onto the “Global Programme” starting early December.
The course started well, simulator training followed ground school in a timely manner. Good instructors, BA’s facilities and a programme in advance added up to a strong package. The delays then started. Base training wasn’t forthcoming, SEP course dates unavailable and line training delays rumoured but not qualified.
All approaches for information were dismissed and we were told to wait. Having spent £25,500 finances were already stretched and a 3-4 month course turning into an 8 month course was making the situation worse. To add insult to injury Astraeus/Bond had fallen out of bed with a third party company (IAG) connected to the “Global Programme” and the whole concept seemed to be in doubt. I had only ever dealt with Astraeus/Bond and had no contact with IAG.
A meeting was convened at the end of February by the MD of IAG and the MD of Bond (formerly a director of IAG) with the Global students. Delays were explained, employment prospects discussed and Bond indicated they would do their best to allocate additional line hours to help students gain 100hrs and employment with Ryanair.
Base training and OPC’s eventually took place and I was eagerly awaiting my first line training sector and the birth of my first son – a very busy time. I had to wait for both as it happens. Two weeks for my son and 123 days after OPC for my first sector. Upon examination of the Astraeus manuals 123 days even with a TRI/TRE is too long not to have operated at the controls of the type for take off and landing on commercial operations. Never the less I’d kept my skills as honed as is possible through armchair practice and things were progressing nicely. My requirement for a safety pilot was removed after 4 sectors.
During my line training the earlier Bond endeavour to provide additional hours was completely rescinded and an email sent reminding Global Students to “remember our seniority in the industry”. As customers not employees we have no seniority and this sounded like a veiled threat.
An application for employment with Astraeus was rejected and my request to purchase additional hours was also turned down.
I feel as though all that was offered prior to me handing over my hard earned cash was now evaporating.
“you’ll be finished in time for the summer season recruitment” – I wasn’t.
“you’ll be given interview advice and we will try to introduce you to partner airlines” – hasn’t happened.
“we’ll do our best to get you additional hours” – you won’t even let me buy extra hours now.
Great training but I feel let down by the lack of information, poor programming of training and the way students are treated by the company. I know there are “no guarantees” with any of this.
Hamrah I hope this come across in an understandable and balanced manner and goes some way to explaining why the mole may feel as he does.