BA LGW or LHR?

[flymarek]

hi all,

can you explain me why you prefer have as a base LHR instead of LGW or the contrary?

wich are the pro and contras?

eurofleet means just european flights?

any other info about ba?

[flybywire]

BA LHR: good for money

BA LGW: money getting better, very relaxed (but professional) environment and lots, lots of fun!!!

That'a my bit :)

Ciao!!

FBW:)

*** Love at first Flight ***

[tofster]

Flybywire are you LGW eurofleet crew? I am joining LGW this month and am dying to talk to someone regarding rosters and average take home pay. Would really appreciate any help. Cheers matey!

[apaddyinuk]

If its eurofleet your going to AVOID LGW LIKE THE PLAGUE

LGW is a different contract to mainline BA and the crew work a lot harder with very few nightstops and to transfer to WorldWide you have to go through Eurofleet LHR first anyway!!!! So you could be up to 5 years before you get moved to Eurofleet LHR and then another three to five years before you get Longhaul as your seniority starts all over when you change from the Gatwick Eurofleet contract to the mainline one.

You also only get trained for the 737's although a A319 is flying out of gatwick this summer as an extra. In LHR you have a lot more routes and nightstops, earn a lot more money, trained on Airbus, B757'S, B767's and can operate the occasional longhaul route on the 767!!!

I would really recommend LHR if you are given the choice!!!

[flybywire]

Tofster, don't listen to all the nonsense about LGW eurofleet by people who have never worked there.
We are a GREAT bunch of people, both cc and f/d and as for money....it's improved a lot lately. My April and May rosters are ONLY night stops except two there&backs. You work hard but you work ONLY on one type of aeroplane (737/300-400-500) and the service is so easy!!
Club loads are reasonable, you always have the time to sit down, eat, and socialise!

Moneywise, you can see how much you can expect to earn on the intranet every month, and I have to say for a junior crew (like me) 1400-1500£ a month are very likely if you know how to bid!!!
Carmen is also very compassionate to new entrants, and many new entrants are getting what they want.

You probably work harder than at Heathrow (but things will change there now that Willie Walsh takes over) but Gatwick is a smaller base, and promotion is also quick. they're recruiting for pursers now. The atmosphere on board is also very relaxed, albeit professional.

If you want/need any details feel free to PM me. I am really looking forward to sitting on the jumpseat next to you, we really appreciate new, happy and enthusiastic people. You'll soon realise how good BA is compared to other UK or european airlines, whether at LHR or LGW!

Take care for now!

FBW:)


***Love at first Flight***

***Love at first Flight***

[keeperboy]

FLYMAREK.....

I can't emphasise enough paddyinuk's comments.

If you have the choice, go for LHR.

While I never worked at LGW, my partner did. Although he is now at LHR, when he was at LGW short haul I was at LHR shorthaul. In a nut shell:
- I was taking home 30-40% more than him every month.
- I was getting 1 or 2 more days off per month.
- I was working a lot less hours than him.

It is true, LGW is a more 'friendly/party' base and if thats what you are looking for then LGW might be for you. However, if you are wanting the money/conditions, go for LHR.

LGW have literally lost half their night-stop destinations over the past two years, LHR short-haul has 40-odd nightstopping destinations. Although, LGW short-haul and long-haul are due to merge over the coming years (albeit under a NON mainline contract), BA has a habit of changing their minds on such things.

Here is the other bummer: Say long-haul Heathrow is where you want to end up eventually. If you are short-haul heathrow, you put your name on the transfer list and wait your turn. If you are LGW short-haul, you first have to put your name down to transfer to LHR SHORT-HAUL (which can take years). When you get to LHR short-haul you lose all your seniority and go back to the bottom of the list for LHR long-haul. So basically, someone that started at LHR short-haul 2 years AFTER you will get onto longhaul before you will.

But again, it depends on what you want as an individual. At the end of the day, not everyone is interested in longhaul.

In making your decision though, ask this question: Why do you think there is a transfer list to go from LGW short-haul to LHR short-haul (which can take years). But NO LIST to go from LHR short-haul to LGW short-haul. Sorta speaks for itself really!

[tofster]

Fly By Wire Thanks so much for all that info, I was beginning to wonder if I had made the right decision and was going to see if I could withdraw my notice at Bmed!
Your comments have now reconfirmed what I originally thought about BA LGW and I cant wait to get started!
I def owe you a beer downroute!
Looking forward to seeing you onboard and having a giggle in the galley, thanks again.

:D

[flybywire]

tofster I don't drink alcohol but if we ever fly to Bologna together you could take me out for a pizza ;)

There are good and bad points at both bases. The most important thing is that you don't let people bring you down, especially even before starting.
It's always difficult at the beginning, in any base and any company-new work shifts, flying wears you down more easily and you get paid only the basic salary for the first two months.

One thing that happens at LGW during the training: you get paid every day, you get meals allowances, and when you stay at LHR for the SEP they pay you more and the usual over night allowance. It surely helps!!

Also the good thing about being only on the 737 fleet.....
Today I was supposed to be on a double, but there's been an aircraft change....an A320 took our flight and the only girl on my crew who got trained on the airbus had to do the flight, and the rest of us got sent home....
There're always two ways of looking at things of course, but I cannot say I am not happy that I got an early MAN and I have been home since 9.30am!!

With LGW short and long haul merging, it's true, the contract will be not as good as the current WW contract, but the crews who do longhaul from LGW now will be surely offered to transfer to LHR long,shorthaul or to stay under the new terms and conditions.
Most of them already came from LHR EF, so there will be hundreds of people flying to LHR WW, so even if you went to EF LHR now you would have to wait ages to get to WW. If that's what you're after.

Once again, if you know how to bid money can be good, but you have to learn how to play with Carmen (the system) I've only just realised how to bid effectively and I wish I had had somebody who taught me that when I joined :ugh:
If you need anything, you can count on me.

Days off-we get a minimum of 8 on a 30-day month and 9 on all other months including November. If you get two single days off in a month one of them will count as an extra (for example you'll get 10 instead of 9).
There're no restrictions on how and when you can take your leave, as long as there're slots available.I could ask for a day tomorrow and there would be no problems. You can also add 2 wrap days off before or after your leave if it is 7 days or longer.

You'll love Jubilee House and the airport standby's usually pass very fast because there'll always be friends around to talk to.
You'll see how friendly most of the crews are.
There's a tv room, a computer room, a canteen, staff shop, coffee shop, and a quiet room. There're showers and lockers on the ground floor, there's a cash point, money exchange and dry cleaning shops as well. It's not as big as the compass centre but we have pretty much everything, and you won't find these facilities in other airlines around here. People always moan after a while, but they should see how other companies treat their employees. My life is much more stress-free since I joined BA.

That's all I can think of now. If you have any questions/worries or just want to have a chat, please feel free to PM me. I know our scheduling agreement inside out and I am more than happy to help :)


Take care in the meantime and be happy!

Ciao

FBW:)


*** Love at first Flight ***

[flightbabe79]

Hi
I got offered LGW EuroFleet today and accepted - start training at the end of may -i know people who work for BA LHR and are horrified by the thought of lgw ef - but im so excited about it - but wondered if anyone can tell me as to where the training is done - is it all done at Cranebank or is some done at LGW?? ANY information would be fantastic - thanks - look forward to seeing you on line soon!

[flybywire]

Hello and welcome!!!

You have all the rights to be excited and congratulations on your new job!!!

To answer your question, all the Customer Service training and Medical will be done at Hangar 6, LGW.
For SEP you'll be at Cranebank with overnight accomodation paid by BA at the Arora Park Hotel. There's a BA bus (though not always on time and not always shows up) that links the hotel to Cranebank. I think it is the number 7.

The Arora Park hotel is outside the busy area of LHR, and has a chinese restaurant at the ground flor. Reasonable prices and good quality. Opposite the hotel there's a pub and an Italian restaurant (their pasta is yummy).

Anything I can help with please let me know :)

Ciao

FBW:)


*** Love at first Flight ***

[flyer55]

End of day the decision is yours but here is a few things to think of:

Yes LGW is a friendly base to be in as it is always changing, crew are friendly and most do like to party when they can. We also do get worked alot harder than LHR and sometimes you are treated as an outsider within BA. However, with the changes coming into LGW with Eurofleet taking over the Longhaul operation @ LGW
to become Onefleet (and it will happen) so you will be working on 737-500/300/400 - which offers both Club Europe and Eurotraveller and you will also be trained on 777 and possibly be First Class trained. while also working in Club World , World Traveller + and World Traveller. With Eurofleet LGW not being treated as Mainline even though your on a BA PLC Contract nobody can transfer into EF LGW from another base or Fleet and promotion done within the fleet(at the moment) . However, if you do accept LGW and the Recruitment team say
"You can transfer into EF LHR or any mainline fleet after 6 months, you must get it in writing as crew have previously been mislead"as their is only a Gentlemans agreement to transfer 54 per year to EF LHR . Im sure you will make a good decision that suits you !! Hopefully see you online soon at LGW !!

[Eddy]

I commute on LGWEF from ABZ to LGW and occasionally to LHR. While all of the crews are friendly, cheery and bloody great at their job, it's the Gatwick crew who have usually been down the bar the afternoon before their early flight to Gatwick having a few drinks and a bite to eat.

I always try to make an effort to speak to the fab guys and girls at LGWEF on the way down to London and you can just tell that, with very few exceptions, they absolutely love their job.... and their base.

The Heathrow crews are the same in that they love their job but money features highly in their list of priorities (fair play to you - it does for me, too!) while the Gatwick crew seem more interested in what to do downroute.

If you're young, I would certainly say that LGWEF is a great place to be. You've got time to move over to LHR and then progress to Worldwide.

[LOTflyer]

Eddy,

I have an idea of LHR EF roster already. Any chance to see LGW EF roster example. I wonder how many nights at LGW would I spend if willing to commute? Which destinations are night stops?

Thanx,

LOTflyer