Can you live in London on GPB24,000?

[Sandgroper]

Hi folks. Just weighing up all options in regard to the QF London Base and was wondering if anyone who is currently living/working in the UK would be kind enough to pass their opinion on the salary offered by QF. Just how far would a salary of 24,000 GBP go, is this going to be liveable or just enough to get by day to day? Any thoughts on areas to live and rough idea of rents would also be helpful.

Obviously a fair bit of working through figures and getting priorities in order to be done, but your thoughts would be appreciated.
Regards
Sandy:D

[FormerFlyer]

£24k PA? Shouldn't be a problem really.

You should be able to rent a 2 or 3 bed place for anything from about £800 up to £1500/month (without going totally silly!!). Have just had a quick look in Skyport to make sure I was ontrack and this is about right. £850/month for 2bed/2bath apartment or £1500/month for 3 double bed fully furnished house.

Rent a room from £75/week bills included!

Depending how often you're expected to be flying you could easily live quite far from LHR without making life too difficult. Suppose it mostly depends if you're gonna have a car when you're here.

Hope this helps you. Does the above salary include expected flight pay, or is that on top?

cheers ;)

FF

[Sandgroper]

Thankyou FF for your reply. That seems like good news to me. The salary of GBP24000 is the total package on offer to Australian based crew (f/a's) who relocate to the UK. It includes the base salary, sector pay and fixed allowances. Thanks once again for your time in replying.

[exmax]

ib16uk;

I think that QF are actually planning to offer this contract to exisiting QF personnel in Australia in the 1st instance, this is my understanding but I'm not a QF employee so I don't know 100%. To work for QF too, you have to be in possession of Ausralian permanent residency.

[FormerFlyer]

Normally to work for QF you do have to have Oz residency, however from the info I've got from the other huge long thread on QF opening an LHR base it seems like all these crew will be employed by a wholly owned subsidiary of QF which will be a UK company.

This means that the Ozzies who do transfer will need UK or EU residency/visas.

cheers ;)

FF

[exmax]

Thanks FormerFlyer for the info, seems like this topic will be going on for quite some time - understandbly so and a delicate topic.

Exmax

[ozskipper]

Actually existing QF employee's who are selected to transfer to the UK will not need UK/EU passports - they will be sponsored and the appropriate visa will be issued by the Home Office.

To kinda answer your question Sandgroper a good rule of thumb for comparing wages in the UK against Australian is to double it.

For example: GBP 24,000 is similar to earning AUD 48,000. I'm not talking exchange rate this is purely rule of thumb for comparing wages and cost of living.

GBP 24,000 isn't bad money but you certainly won't be living the high life.

[nickmelb]

hey hey

my 2cents.

Travel in general in the UK pays really bad. I worked there in 1999/2000 on a contract.

i was on really crap money, taking home about 280 pounds a week! shockin! but i made it easily, and learnt to budget

rent is a nightmare, and getting to the airports are a nightmare, its cold but u know what, I said go for it

what an opportunity, learn a new culture, meet some different people, and get out there!

[GalleyHag]

ozskipper is correct QF are arranging all the work visa's etc for the crew member and I think from memory after reading the offer their partner as well. They are also offering an interest free loan of something like 1500 for a tube pass or something like that.

All allowances are paid at the hotel in local currency at the same rates of Australian based crew.

Its point to point flying and trips range from 4 to 7 days.

Although I disagree with Australian jobs being exported the offer on the table for existing cabin crew wanting something new for 2 years and being able to come back to their job is not bad and if a current flight attendant manages an up-grade out of London the salary is even better. Lets hope all 400 positions are taken up by Aussies.

BTW: Was just thinking, the offer did say trips of 4-7 days, if you are flying London - Singapore, Hong Kong and Bankok return only how would you get a 7 day trip? What sort of pattern would make up a 7 day trip with only 3 destinations?

[Sandgroper]

Thankyou everyone for your thoughts so far. I think that it would be a fantastic opportunity for those who like to think of it as an "adventure/working holiday" type scenario. You certainly won't come home rich $ wise, but the experience gained would be priceless.

Thanks again team.