OBK: Surprising, or even amazing, as it may seem to you Virgin do need pilots to fly their aircraft otherwise, guess what? They sit on the ground. There: basic aviation industry lesson over for you, dear boy. They sent me two unsolicited e-mails asking me to apply & I have not applied to Virgin in anyway since approximately six years ago when I was flying the 737-800 for FR. And before you open up & accuse another pilot of funding the deteriorating industry conditions know who you are talking to; I funded nothing: when I joined FR I was already rated on the 737 having worked previously for a UK charter company. If you want to point the finger at the underlying attitude that has brought down this once great job then look no further than PtP's brushing off of appalling disloyalty toward Virgin's Classic drivers by the company some years ago where he states
FACT. They are a business at the end of the day and were doing what any employer facing financial difficulties would have done.. And don't give me all that carp about loyalty.. im sure you would do whats best for yourself and your family at the drop of a hat facing a similar situation.
Would you be happy to brush off O'Leary's equally harsh treatment of his crew? I bet you wouldn't. And please don't compare what a private individual would do to protect his family with Virgin's managerial disregard for those who helped to create the company. That's not even comparing apples with oranges it's just stupidity.
PtP: I don't need you to put me on any correct heading, thanks awfully. I work with six ex-VS crew, one of the guys was a TRI/TRE when he left & he was also one of the guys who had to fight to keep his job when Virgin ditched the Classic. If it wasn't for union intervention then after starting up with Virgin, flying for them & training its crew he would have been dumped.
I find it very hard to believe that they were emailing you asking you to apply especially when as you say you still worked for Ryanair and didn't have a 400 rating
Well believe it you should because I'm not the only one who has been receiving these emails from VS. However, you go on to say
I joined them in 2001 from BMI with a little over 1000 jet hours on the 737!!!
How pompous of you, PtP, you really find it hard to believe that only you could join Virgin without a 747 or Bus rating?
The management at Virgin are no worse or better than any other Airline...
Rubbish: they are far worse & that is now out in the industry. At BA they do everything possible to keep their crew, look for voluntary redundancies, offer part-time contracts etc., etc. before they simply slice off the bottom 120+ pilots without bye or leave.
And as far as BA goes ... Well each to their own!! Good Luck!!
Oh come on, give us all a break! Are you seriously trying to tell us that you really wanted to work for VS instead of BA? Anyone here who is unbiased believe that crap?
You're not even Nigels, you're Nigel Wannabes! It's like trying out for Manchester United & ending up playing for Port Vale, you are second fiddle & second rate to BA & really always will be. Do you get jealous when you layover at the crappier hotels, receive half the per diems & one of the lowest salaries in the industry to fly long haul? NO!
Callsign Kilo: nowhere in my post did I say that 'airlines' were seeking me out personally to fly their 744s. Never did I claim to be a kingpin. I suggest that you read through it again & when you do (assuming that your command of written English is good enough to finally grasp the meaning of my post) you will see that I said that I had been contacted twice, via email, by Virgin asking me to apply. Now, not understanding basic English is a failure to communicate so may I suggest that you work on this area as this could be disastrous on the flight deck for you, your crew & the passengers in your care.
I'm delighted to see that the anti-Ryanair sentiment has left VS & that they are now recruiting some of the best trained, most commercially experienced pilots in the industry. Let's hope that their bias towards ex-military twits, from an inferior national air force (The RAF - just so you know who I'm talking about, Callsign Kilo) who wouldn't know a successful commercial venture, or how not to be a selfish A-hole is coming into balance.