I am not a pilot, but i have followed this thread with interest because I am the father of an Easyjet Flexicrew pilot, and some of the posts here are simply outrageous. It is the never ending call of "prostituting", "pay as you fly" pilots upsetting the supply / demand balance and forcing down the T & Cs of you comfortable '4 stripers' that has finally pushed me to adding my contribution to this debate.
I hold a senior position within a construction company and it isn't uncommon to have 25 plus applications for every post I have available to fill. But we don't slash the pay rate and put them on peace work simply because there are a surplus of applicants, indeed the successful candidates will receive the T & Cs deemed appropriate for the position regardless of the how many applied.
The Flexicrew contract must remain as one of the only Dickensian employment arrangements in place in 2012 because it is truly inhuman and degrading. For all the responsibility my son faces sitting in the RHS of a jet aircraft carrying some 150 PAX, his take home pay (after loan repayments) must be amongst the lowest of anyone working in the airline industry and I am including the staff cleaning the terminal building! The guy waving the tug pin at him after the push, and most of the cabin crew will all have greater net pay than he does. And yes the bank of mum & dad has to step in each and every month he gets less than 50 hours.
There will be many who slag off the CTC training option with its inherent training debt, but as with BlackandBrown, my son received his HSBC loan & started training weeks before the world caved in financially. And whilst CTC has been heavily criticised, he is doing what he always wanted to do (flying jet airliners) where many others who followed alternative training routes are not. Many of the posters here seem to feel that as responsible parents we should be telling our 10yr, 12yr, 14yr old children not to pursue their career ambitions because some grumpy old men wish to retain their 6 figure lifestyles and there is no way they want any young upstarts rocking the boat. Well sod you all, I am not a rich man, but very proud that I have done everything in my power to help my son achieve his ambition and will continue to do so until your industry feels he ought to receive a fair reward for his job.
At 36, Guy of Gisbourne may not have any children old enough to express any interest in following their father's career, but i hope for family harmony his children choose to be doctors, lawyers & bankers!
So for all Flexicrew pilots and their parents lets hear no more blame for them wanting to fulfill their ambition. And using the language of the building industry please, ALL of you in LHS, get off your a**es and render this bl**dy Flexicrew contract a thing of history. And yes i believe that will involve you withdrawing your labour because it is the only language the airlines will understand. So 'man-up' and get on with it.