You stick you name on the waiting list. After some months\years you get to the top and the next vacancy arising is yours. To move from the UK to a Spanish or Italian base in either seat is a matter of a year or so's wait presently. Bases vary. Gatwick or Luton is fairly easy to get into. Other regional bases such as North Somerset have decade long waiting lists.
Looking at the logbook I have done 787hrs in the last rolling 12 months. Looking at the payslips I have earned (Basic+Sector pay) £104k with pension, bonuses, insurances and share schemes on top of that figure. Without going Jedi and becoming a trainer that's about the top for the UK contract.
All the French, Spanish and Italian contracts pay >30% more than that.
New payscales are currently in negotiation and should be backdated to Sept2010 with an expectation of at least 5%, or, some significant lifestyle improvements. The company has put £5,000,000 on the table as a pre-negotiation opener.
Can't see the point of BA shorthaul from the money angle and the industrial relations 'climate' is something I could do without every day.. Is there still a cheeseboard though?
WWW