For goodness sake, will you all please stop this silly squabbling? My husband is one of the famed volunteers & he enjoyed the chance to catch up on Avmed as BA pilots are no longer given any med training (a big mistake IMHO). He was taught how to use the defib in about an hour, it was hardly rocket science.
I have great respect for BA CC, they are a highly professional group of people and I speak as one with many years of experience as one of their number. However, during my illustrious and varied flying career I was never under the illusion that my job was of any particular significance to the continuation of humanity.
Emergencies on board should be dealt with in accordance with the training given, which is what its for. Horses for courses and those that can, do.
Would I rather have been an ambulance paramedic or a stewie on the 001? Give me a few moments to think about that one.....
What I'm trying to say is that I performed my job to the best of my ability, with great regard for the passengers and my colleagues but always in the knowledge that in a matter of a few weeks, I could be replaced. When the babies arrived I realized that combining motherhood with flying wasn't for me and so I quietly withdrew and got on with my new, non-BA existence (it IS possible).
I spent my late teenage and university years helping out in the family business, a restaurant in central London, where starting at 10am and, at times of staff shortages and with the exception of a 3-hour late afternoon break, finishing at 2am was not unknown. Long, punishing days, particularly in mid summer. Now THAT was hard work, especially doing it for several days in succession. No service routine to adhere to as on an aircraft, just a constant stream of demanding customers and no Hilton or Sheraton waiting for me at the end of it, just more of the same the following day.
When I became CC, I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven by comparison, even with all the eary starts and double Shuttles of S/H. L/H was even more of a doddle and the time changes were not a problem for me providing I allowed myself decent rest.
I'm not having a pop at anyone, but really, there are many harder, more demanding occupations out there. No one is irreplaceable and experience from other areas of customer service life is equally valuable on board an aircraft.
Just ask the many nurses who gave up the drudgery of NHS life to join CC. Would they rather be on the Saturday shift in A&E at the Charing X or on a 9-day BKK-SYD?