Hi. I was a low-cost airline FO. I made a reasonably good salary, but had to pay £15k (about 10% of my salary over 3 years) to get the job in the first place. I got what equates to 6 weeks off a year. I have to take them as whole weeks, sometimes from midweek to midweek (so only 1 weekend during that holiday), and had to book my leave 4 to 7 months in advance. There was no flexibilty to allow me to take a few days off with 4 or 6 weeks notice (or even less) without faking a sickie, for family occasions such as weddings, or just to be at a family party. I found that I had to take a week of leave every other month just to stay roughly fit enough to do my job without too much fatigue, and the first 3 or 4 days of my week's leave, especially in the summer season, was spent just catching up on sleep, and feeling like a zombie, and not really being very sociable to my nearest, and dearest. I was made redundant recently with a minimum statutory package, and a week before my IR expired: the company wasn't willing to let me renew my rating in the sim, just by way of good will thus making it that bit more difficult to get re-employed. They also failed to send a reply to a number of queries that I posed regarding various matters around the redundancy. Staff travel was barely any saving over some of the normal priced seats, and considerably more expensive than some of the promotional offers, and the seats were all standby. The company consistently rode rough shod over my contract, especially when it came to redundancy. When I was flying the company gave me a bottle of water (it was 2 litre one), and coffee: the rest I had to provide for myself for a 10 or 11 hour duty day.
SLF don't know what goes on to get infront of the locked door at the front...
The upsides are that I got to work with some great people in the aeroplane, and got to see some fabulous views.