I can only speak for LHR SH (Airbus 319/320/321)
There are currently 92 Airbus covering the LHR SH (Europe and North Africa) operation with a further 7 ex-BMI A321's flying Medium Haul routes to destinations a bit further afield such as Baku, Amman etc. There are around 500 co pilots on the fleet.
The trips available range from 2 or 4 sector day trips to 5 day 'gypsy tours'. The average tour is usually 2 or 3 days long, as either 3-3 or a 3-2-3.
Positives
Europe in the Summer is the best place to be, (in my humble opinion) and getting the opportunity to have 12-14 hour slips in these places with free accommodation, is a real bonus. The hotels are usually 4 star and well located. Our Hotel 'agreement' is under a lot of stress these days however, so the standard of Hotel is slipping a bit.
Once you can get a bit of seniority under your belt you can have some input in to what sort of work you do. (See negatives too). Bidline is all about 'lifestyle' on SH so the more seniority you have, the more lifestyle you can achieve.
Training is pretty good. BA has a few idiosyncrasies in how it operates but the support is good for those who struggle and if you're one of the more talented types, there are opportunities to be a training copilot, which is unique to our company a.f.a.i.k.
Negatives
Bidline is a Ponzi scheme. As long as you can get people below you then you're ok but if you're sat in the bottom 15-20% you will be assigned a roster that consists of trips that no one else wants. Which means almost permanent weekend working. The plus side to this is that you will work less hard with more standby days in the normal working week.
The average number of days off is roughly the same if not slightly less than an EJ role but the days are on the whole not as long. I'd say 19 days per 31 day month is about standard.
Finally, and this might sound a bit frivolous but about 2/3rds of the cabin crew at LHR are ultra-long term employees (30+ years service) and their, how shall I say, 'sparkle' has long since gone. A small but determined minority of them can be quite unfriendly and dare I say it, obstructive and rude on most occasions. The new contract crew, known as 'Mixed Fleet' are quite the opposite. Enthusiastic and friendly.
I won't comment on pay but it is a 34 point scale.
Time to command is rumoured to be around 15-20 years for Shorthaul at the moment due to the demographics of recruitment in the last 25 years.
Last edited by Right Engine; 7th Jan 2014 at 18:18.