vs lhr, I hear what you're saying but I don't agree that SEP instructors or other office based staff earn more to attract people to the job. People who flew go to those jobs because they want to be on the ground and still be associated with flying and have the opportunity to fly occasionally. I can understand that Virgin get away with offering a low salary for new crew as a result of the huge number of applications that they receive for the job, however, after 10 years + with the comany, the crew deserve to be rewarded for their service and dedication with a decent salary. I have put up with that low salary for over 20 years as have many others and we have always given 100% and put up with it because we enjoyed our jobs. As VS has grown from a tiny 2 aircraft company with a couple of routes to a huge international airline which rivals and competes with major carriers like BA and United, we remain 'one of the' lowest paid crews and our dedication, support and long service has NEVER been rewarded!
I want to keep flying for Virgin as I enjoy it and the perks that go with it, but they're squeezing me out because I just cannot afford to live on my salary anymore and I DO save my allowances, I have to!! The UK is one of the most expensive countries in the world to live in, yet VS, think that keeping salaries low is acceptable because they 'can'! Well they can't any more, it's no longer acceptable and whilst all the other manager's in the office earn 'decent' money, FSM/CSS's both of who are managers, are kept on a lower salary cos they're easily replacable as Branson once said and I believe it because we are simply not shown any rewards for long service or dedication so it's obvously true. Experience and dedication as a crew member is simply not valued!! £5 an hour delay pay for goodenss sake and even after an extended delay on a 10 hour flight there is still no guarantee of a rest for the crew during that time cos there's no permanent arrangement for rest in place, it's totally at the FSM's discretion. Which other crew in the world does a 10 hour night flight without giving their crew guaranteed rest? I don't know of any and I do know many crew who work for other airlines worldwide. Think how you feel as a passenger when you get off a night flight and you've been in a seat all night relaxing if not sleeping, think how long it takes you to get over your jet lag. Well we change time zones 5 or six times a month and about 1 out of every two flights we do is a night flight. Whilst FSM's do their best to arrange a rest for the crew, sometimes, especially when crew down, there simply isn't time. And also remember, we don't have a dedicated time to eat either, we have to grab a bite, normally standing up, when we have a free minute which is normally at least 4 hours into the flight. It's an insult to our intelligence, £10 for going 1 crew member short on a flight (before tax) £10 for working up a rank even though you have no training to do that but are expected to do it to cover when the company cannot crew the flight correctly! Going as many as 3 crew down on some flights which isn't that rare because of crew shortages. On those flights there is definitely no rest either way and you work twice as hard as normal to cover the shortage, do you ever even get a letter of thanks from anyone? Can you imagine a BA flight going 3 crew down? It just wouldn't happen, they rarely go one crew member down!!
This isn't the dark ages anymore, being crew is a great job but it's very very hard. It's no longer glam like in the 60's and 70's, it's a really hard job and that's why the turn over of newer crew is so high, because so many just can't deal with the long hours, night flights, jet lag, dealing with very difficult passengers, SEP etc etc etc. We work bloomin hard and it's time we were rewarded with a 'decent' salary that compared well to other office based staff,not around 5K lower than many!!
Last edited by 016FSM; 27th Dec 2007 at 11:05.