Considering DU vs UO's post, I'd like to offer an alternative opinion about working for Britannia: I am a year 5 F/O with them.
Yes, it is a long time to command, but most people that join BY stay with them for the rest of their career; although I am still a number of years away from promotion, I will hopefully have 20-25 years in the left hand seat.
You have good control over your lifestyle; for a start, you have a choice of 10 airports to be based at in the U.K. (BRS, CWL, GLA, MAN, LTN, LGW, BHX, STN, EMA, NCL). There is the option to do either long and shorthaul flying or shorthaul only, plus voluntary overseas postings in the wintertime (5 or 10 weeks based in Singapore with your family if you fancy that at the beginning of 2003).
We have very stable rosters, thanks to a -2/+2 block window, and I currently know what I am doing up to mid December. Being a holiday airline, the wintertime is fairly quiet (just 8 days' work rostered for me this month!), providing a chance to recover from the busier summer season or pursue other interests if you so desire (a number of pilots have their own businesses).
The flying we do is fairly straightforward; shorthaul will almost always be just 2 sectors for a day's work (ok, could be Geneva & back or Tenerife & back; that's just the luck of the draw!) in a very pleasant aircraft that is way over-powered for the job (like a trip down to the newsagents in the Jag, someone once said!)
Plus we still have a final salary pension scheme, decent pay scales plus a number of other fringe benefits (flexible working scheme, loss of licence protection, etc.); I took home £3,729 last month for 47 hours flying (18 sectors).
Sure, you won't get a fast command with Britannia, but, from my experience, your time in the right hand seat is anything but "sad". And No, I'm not a management pilot!!!
x
Oh yes, the CTC guys weren't all Dutch, by the way; the chap I met in September was from good old Blighty!
Last edited by x; 12th November 2002 at 10:14.