A very good question bmibus. Wish I knew all, or even some, of the answers, but I don't. Nobody does!
One thing is certain, though. MB will be throwing his 51% into the ring at some point, probably sooner rather than later is my guess.
That could result in anything from no job losses to total carnage, depending who takes control of what. The command prospects are unlikely to become significantly better and could become much worse. It's a funny business, though, so I could be totally wrong.
But where else do you go? Would Easyjet be any quicker to command? Job security looks OK at present, but could change rapidly. But do you really want 30 years of loco workload? Then again, the currently running GB takeover thread is worth a read. Comments about rosters and workload might help you form an opinion. Virgin? Time to command still a problem, but could possibly change rapidly for the better. BA? Time to command probably worst of all, though job security seems the best, provided you get far enough up the ladder. As for Emirates, there are many threads on PPRuNe well worth a read! Bear in mind that those who are happy with any of these airlines are less likely to be sounding off, which means PPRuNe often gives an unbalanced picture!
One thing is certain. If you're 30 years old, as your title says, you've only got a few years left before doors everywhere close on you forever. It's now or never. You seem to be aware of that at least, unlike a lot of the ostriches at bmi.
Dare I say you should have thought about this and taken action five years ago at age 25, when bmi was well into it's downward spiral. There's time enough to make mistakes at that age and possibly still recover. That's more of a message for the 25 year olds, I guess.
Anyway, maybe I've helped, maybe not. All I can do is throw a few opinions into the mix. Good luck!
Last edited by acbus1; 2nd Nov 2007 at 15:10.