Guys,
I'm happy to accept that there is bureaocracy in BA but I think you may be pointing the gun at yourselves before very long when comparing the 6000pax/1 staff at Ryan with the 600pax/1 staff argument at BA.
If you sacked every Manager/back room boy you'd still get nowehere near the 6000/1 ratio you quote so I think it's fair to say that those at the sharp end are likely to face similar pressures on their terms and conditions and productivity levels. I doubt that many Ryan Air pilots get paid the £140 000 pa so many of you enjoy.
Incidentally in reply to an earlier post Senior Management salaries at BA are considerably below those of the pilots and it takes until at least 35 and usually at least 40 to get there. Salaries start around 40k rising to around £80k.
I find it amusing that some of you quote a mobile phone and laptop as a perk - get real!! the mobile phone is a pain in the ass (so you can be on call anytime) and the laptop - jeez probably some 3 year old heap of junk which can just about run Office 95! That would be like me saying to you that getting SID charts is handy!
Managers get the same travel concessions Captains do (only they don't get to put their family in 'First' all the time when operating ;o)
They do also get healthcare so that when the stress of working a 60hr week 47 weeks a year finally catches up with them they get the best medical treatment possible!
I think there are many who feel the pilots have had it pretty good in BA for a long time - I recall an 8 day trip to Barbados with only a quick hop to St Lucia in the middle of the week - that's not exactly maximising productivity either is it??
Just trying to put some balance in here. It's a dreadful time for all of us in any airline - let's just hope that things start to improve soon for all our sakes...
Not exactly crying in my beer about Rod's pay cut though - the senior execs of these plc's are a bunch of nest featherers!
Desk-pilot
Desk-pilot