Great to see Leo Hairy-Camel out and about. He is without doubt the most consistent pilot in the industry - he is consistently wrong about every issue affecting professional aviators.
Regarding easyJet, this is a BIG deal. My gut feeling is that people will whine about the crew food but get on with it. Contract captains are a different matter and if the issue is not resolved (ie real live contract captains are employed at easyJet over the summer), there will be a strike. I have not yet met a single pilot at easyJet who does not regard this as a striking matter. Incidentally, until recently BALPA membership at easyJet was in the low 70 percent area. It is now rocketing up as people wake up and smell the coffee.
Also, at SEP days, a senior manager (CEO/Director level) usually comes to give the business chat at the end of the day to anyone who wants to hang around and hear it. It is always much-appreciated by the crews as it is the only real chance the worker bees get to meet the top people. At last week's SEP day, no manager could be found talk to the troops - very odd! As another little aside, Cor Vrieswijk, our Flight Operations Director and the most invisible man at easyJet, is actually coming to Gatwick on Friday to discuss the issues of concern with the crews. Bearing in mind that no one outside of Luton could recognise him if they saw him, this is an indication of the alarm felt by our managers at what is unfolding. They are absolutely right to be alarmed as they are about to save a few quid by employing contract captains and lose millions on a damaging strike in the middle of the summer season. It makes you wonder if Andy Harrison our CEO and Jeff Carr our Financial Director are really worth their recent pay rises (10% and 20% respectively) - nice work if you can get it.