Iluv2fly (off the handle)
If I may take each of your points from your outburst in turn…
- Rosters. It's nice to know that you have rosters 4 weeks in advance. At my company we have a bidding system where we can work which days we want to and as of 4th of feb I knew what was on my roster until 4th of april. If you're working blocks of 5 days of day trips followed by 3 days off ad infinitum what use is a roster?
- Blocks of earlies followed by lates. An excellent way of doing things, somebody in crewing obviously has heard of circadian rhythmic lag.
- No overnights. That's great for you as that is obviously your preference, I on the other hand being young and single like being paid to lie on a beach, go on safari, ski or stroll around a foreign city. At my company you have the option to work whichever patterns suit you.
- Brand new a/c. Fantastic, we've got some A321s on order as well but this doesn't really demonstrate whether an airline places its crews first.
- Rapid promotion. Yes an enviable trait of any expanding airline, but quick commands have been dished out at my company too (away from main base) – and 2 years was the length of service required.
- Pay. Shorthaul Captain's Basic salary in my company pp1 £54k - pp24 £102.3k, add variable pay onto this of between £8k and £20k per year.
- Share options. Yes yours have way outstripped ours and also we were capped at the same investment rate as other employees, yours wins hands down. I hope, for you that it will continue but doubt whether it can maintain the performance it has done recently.
- Pay inc. Last year I got a £4k rise in basic, this year I'm looking forward to a £10k rise in basic. Pay alone though does not demonstrate how much your company values you.
- Package. Yes your package is good if you look at salary and your share options but that seems about it. Ours is also a reasonable package but also has a final salary pension scheme which is currently allowing guys who crystalised to retire on six figure pensions. Also we have private healthcare, worldwide staff travel, the opportunity for part time work, training costs met by the company and the list goes on…
Honestly I don't know why you're getting all worked up for? I hope that when you're at work your fuse is a little longer and you don't resort to rants and name calling if someone's opinion differs from yours.
In my post I was pointing out that there are other operators out there who, in my opinion offer a better deal than FR. That's why I am where I am and probably why you are where you are – it comes down to personal choice and opportunity.
Kind Regards
Bucking Bronco
Square wheels
You shouldn't have to pay for interview/application costs it's that simple! Which other companies/industries does this happen in? And yes I would turn down an interview if they asked me for any money, it's something I feel very strongly about as you can see on the following thread…
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...threadid=80244
If you're not fussed about longhaul then you're right it doesn't matter whether the operator offers it or not – again personal choice.
With respect to crew food, at FR if you worked 200 days a year then that £5/day adds up to £1000.
BA is starting to make noises about hiring DEPs again; requirements, as you know, do vary according to market forces.
If I was out there I'd consider all the options (FR being one of them) at the end of the day I posted in reply to a couple of other chaps who said that FR was the bees knees – I disagree.
All the best
BB
