Wireless
1) Roster Assign - As a Blind Line Holder, your entire roster is 'assigned.' (As opposed to 'awarded' which is when you actively bid for a line/trip.) BLHs already pretty much cover the month's 'hotspots', so in many ways RA is much less of an issue for juniors than seniors.
2) High CAP figures - ANNUAL CAP limits are laid down in Bid Line Rules. BA have to pay overrun payments to every pilot on any status, if they exceed these by a set margin. They would rather gnaw off their own gonads than pay this money. So if CAPs are high early in a year, they will invariably be lower later in the year. Ask any 767 capt what their monthly CAP is for Dec, for precisely this reason! Thus far, BLHs rarely work to CAP anyway. Part of their credit is achieved by Time Assignable days, which are often unusable!
3) Impending EASA regulations - British Airways are in the process of a MASSIVE recruitment process, increasing their pilot numbers to record levels, just as EASA commences. Care to hazard a guess why??? EASA is going to be at least as big a problem for BA as it is for any individual pilots.
You mention 6 trips a month? I can't GUARANTEE that there won't be odd months when you MAY fly 6 trips, but if you think that means 72 trips per year, you are WAY wide of the mark! Every other month, you can have a week's leave, (plus 3 wrap days) or Duty Free Week (with 1 non assignable day) If you have kids under 18 you are entitled to four weeks unpaid leave for every qualifying child. I'd be staggered if you reach 50 trips in any year on LH! Probably much less.
All these considerations ONLY WHEN YOU'RE JUNIOR! Once you're senior, then you can virtually write your own roster, flying to some of the greatest cities/islands in the world. If you want to do that from day one, then tell me where you're going to work?!
Last edited by 4468; 15th Dec 2015 at 22:13.