Angel O – sympathise with your comments about TP pilots unable to move on as EZY only take P2F cadets/Flexi, (which I think is appalling) but to be fair on BALPA, apart from making the representations that they have done, what else can they do?
The airlines have far more clout as they keep the CAA afloat through the fees they pay, so the regulators aren’t going to step in unless something like Colgan occurs. The Easy pilots aren’t going to go on strike or refuse to fly with P2F/Flexi guys – lets face it would you if your airline started employing them? And the public aren’t going to stop getting on aircraft with P2F/Flexi guys at the controls as they don’t understand the issue, and even if they did, as Mr OLeary says; “the European consumer would crawl naked over broken glass to get low fares”.
HF13 – was going to reply earlier but macdo got there first and made a number relevant points. In a represented company how good BALPA is depends on the competence of the CC, and the willingness of the membership in the company to support them. If they are good; great join, if they’re not good it’s only going to get better if you join and be part of making it better.
In my company, when people have screwed up (I’m talking about genuine mistakes not recklessness/deliberate wrongdoing) and have been subject to disciplinary action, the outcome for those who are BALPA represented has been noticeably better than for those who aren’t.