Beagle:-
... trucking a people-tube of chavs at some ungodly hour from Manchester to Argos / Domestos / Asbestos or wherever to drink themselves stupid is hardly 'interesting', let alone fun.
What a load of supercilious superior claptrap! The one thing that always irritated me in the RAF was the sort of rhetoric as above, usually expressed by those who thought themselves as superior to their fellow military pilots who weren't FJ, or Strat Fleet, or V-force, or whatever.
The whole point about civil airlines is that they are businesses. The successful ones are those that make money and expand their fleets, ie such as Jet2, Ryanair, Easyjet. The ones that don't often cling on to past glories and grandfather rights to LHR slots (which incidentally are not owned but allocated) and rarely issue shareholder dividends.
I recall in the 70s a fellow squadron captain was in the process of leaving and was overjoyed to have been recruited by BOAC. My congratulations were not enthusiastic enough it seemed, and he asked when I left wouldn't I too treasure such an offer? I remember my reply, "13 years of Government work is quite enough for me, thanks".
About a year later I did leave the RAF. I wrote off to every UK based airline in the Feb Flight International airline directory (and a few overseas ones too). I still have the file of rejection letters thanking me for my interest in their company, regretting that they were not recruiting, but promising to keep my details on file. We marched out of our quarter, moved in to my mother's home, and I signed on the dole. Before I had even received my first Gyro cheque I had a call from someone who had just got a job with Dan-Air on 1-11's at LTN. A mutual friend had been offered the other job but was not free to go for it. He had passed on my contact number and if I was interested to go up to LTN the next day with my Log Book. Thus I started out on a career with Dan-Air (a then solely charter company that mainly flew the bucket and spade brigade (or "chavs" as you so charmingly put it).
I have never regretted the subsequent years with an outfit that had to live on its wits and make its own way in the world without the favoured status of the "flag carriers". As many will have already realised Dan-Air stopped making its way in 1992, after a boardroom coup caused the founder chairman to resign and the company fatally switched operations from mainly charter to mainly two class scheduled. I was one of the few that were on the right fleet (NG 737) at the right base (LGW) to keep their jobs in a BA subsidiary, BAEoG. Everyone else lost theirs, every shareholder lost their entire investment, Lloyds bank (who pulled the plug) didn't.
So ironically I was back into government work or as near as damn it, but on Dan-Air pay minus 10% (though we did at least get that reinstated). The following four years were not the happiest, best illustrated by a reported BA training meeting when profound concern was expressed due to this group of ex charter pilots compromising the very high standards of BA. They were reassured, but scarcely mollified, by being told that following our "harmonisation", we had been assessed on average as being BA above average!
They kicked me out at 55 and not wanting to retire yet I grabbed a job with Air Foyle that was operating the start-up EasyJet operation at LTN prior to it getting its own AOC. When the daily 140 mile grind round the M25 began to pall, I then switched to Virgin Express (ostensibly LGW based, but actually HOTAC'd at BRU for a week at a time). When they switched base to LHR I decided to hang up my headset rather than face further the delights of the M25.
Both of these latter two companies were great fun to work for. Hard work (up to 6 sectors a day), we had to do our own 20 mins turn round at EasyJet, ie fuel and oils, manual loadsheet, etc, while the cabin crew cleaned and prepped the cabin. Co-Pilots and Cabin Crew were usually young and starting out on their careers, keen to learn and improve, and hardworking. No doubt they were looking to move on as soon as their CVs allowed, but as a captain I could rely on them to always do their best.
So why this long self indulgent rambling? Simply to counter the aloof comments in this thread aimed at Jet2 and similar companies. The move to the civvie world is traumatic enough (well I found it so), without making the mistake of joining what is the wrong company for you. If like me you want to enjoy your work rather than simply go for the best pay, then think on. It can be hard work making the move such that the minutiae dominates one's attention rather than the final outcome. It is the latter though that is going to determine your subsequent career and job satisfaction.
I feel that I was lucky. Are you?