Nicoals and Goose - many thanks for the info, greatly apppreciated
Camelhair - good question. What I'm endeavouring to do here is listen to the good, bad and indifferent feedback, and then make an informed career decision. Granted, there appears to be significantly more critical stuff on this site than positive, but I'd probably expect that with a LCC.
Everyone's circumstances and motivations here will be different. I've had a previous (reasonably well paid) career, am married with no kids, have an fATPL and looking for that elusive bottom rung on the ladder - a starting point. Where else can someone with low hrs (311 in my case), no jet time, the prospect of flying a B738 and (eventually) getting paid for it go in the present climate? If got a job with FR, I'd probably have no intention of staying beyond 3-4 yrs anyway. With 2700+ hrs jet time under your belt, I reckon you could practically walk into another job, and one offering better T&Cs than FR. Indeed I know a number of FR grads who joined the company with precisely the same plan.
People on here moan about having to pay for this, that and the other with FR, and I find it all quite baffling. Unless you've worked for a legacy carrier or been in corporate, this is the norm. I've had a previous career with a UK blue chip as I said, and at no time did I expect them to pay for my suits, lunch and car parking. An FO at the FR open day I went to at EMA said jocks just bring their own food and drink onto the aircraft - just like a normal job surely?
What's exercising my mind more than anything else at the mo is the basing policy. As you have to agree to being based at any one of FR's 27 European bases when you join them, the last thing I'd want is to get the training over and done with, then get stuck in Marseille, Reus or Pisa for 6 mths - I gather this can and does happen. Probably OK if you're a single bloke, but not great if you're married like me.
For existing pilots, is this a realistic problem or do FR do their best to give you your stated preferences? I appreciate there's no g'tees...
HW