Just to put a bt of balance on this thread, it might be worth reading:
http://www.pprune.org/cgibin/ultimat...c&f=1&t=015662
It looks like opinions differ, even from those who've been arround for a while.
I spoke to a mate of mine over the weekend who's an f/o with BA of around 6 months, so bottom of the seniority. He's spoken to them, and the word is that they are NOT laying off any pilots dispite what the media are saying, but the 300 or so that are talked about will come from retirements etc. So to repeat, not 300 on the market.
I guess the question is more a case of when they will start replacing these. Might also be an indication that they think it will blow over soon, so want to retain some excess. They also use the word 'moth ball' rather than scrap of some of their aircraft, so this might also add some weight to the theory.
PS