British Airways - LGW

[BA-FLY]

Hi guys
Been reading all the posts on here and theyr really informative. I found out on friday i have been accepted as cabin crew for BA. SOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED ! wanted this so much , more than anything and being a previous flyer for easyJet i know im going to enjoy my self at BA. I start my training in June. And does anyone know what my first roster could be like ??

Hope to here from some of you who may be starting the same time as I

xx:O

[aar4n5]

Got a call form BA on Monday giving me a start date of 4th june so i don't think that the courses have been cancelled. Anyone else got the same date?
I've completed my disclosure and all the medical forms.
Ba are still recruiting for gatwick, I have friends going for interviews this week and into next week as well. Anyone know how many they are recruiting?

[tuismile]

we need quite a bit of crew actually!! quite undercrewed at the moment now that we have all 9 longhaul routes. and i guess we're hoping to expand the base a bit so the more crew the better really...good luck üith your training guys!! it is hard work, but u'll enjoy it....and we're all lovely people at LGW!!! :-) keep us updated!! xxx

[newbagr]

tui...how do u know we are undercrewed? i mean i thought they were recruiting 200 people this year only to hear others that they got the numbers wrong and now only need 60 as we dont have many shortages...i mean its highly unlikely they would run an external campaign for 60 vacancies....but then again knowing BA they might accept a lot of people and put them in holding pool for when they need crew again.....

[BA-FLY]

Hey ya , i start June the 4th
xx

[ex cabin crew]

Just had a call from recruitment - I start on the 11th June :)

[WeLieInTheShadows]

We're not undercrewed. We're overcrewed at the moment.

Especially Pursers. So part time is being offered on a temporary basis to some.

Also people have been complaining that there hasn't been enough work around (too many days off/ standbys/etc), so management have listened and cancelled courses so people leaving are not replaced, therefore there are less people for the same amount of work.

Great in theory. I predict people will complain they're working too hard come summer. But hey...that's crew!

Two courses in June so far, one more planned for later in the year.

Congratulations for those who have been successful.

Read the pre-course stuff and learn it.

Do not pay for your disclosure form, that will be sent to you.

If you are moving to the UK for the job, you need to open a UK bank account.

Next is my biggest tip......

If you do not have savings, START. The pay for the first 2 months when you join will be about £700 bacause you will not be earning allowances.

Hope this helps.

[bcnbarcelona]

Hi guys always pay attention to galley FM as you can see your courses have been canncelled and postponed to june, you suposse to start in the next couple of weeks no months. Well done anyway and make sure that you know tHe terms and conditions THAT we have a LGW before you sign your contract, our conditions are far away of those for BA LHR. If you have some seniority in your current company move to BA can be a big paycut for you.:ok:

[chickenfeed]

In all the excitement over course dates I don't think anyone answered ste 86's question...

Current LGW nightstops are:

DOMESTIC - Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Newcastle (till next week when the LGW-NCL route is axed) and Jersey (honorary domestic!).

Aberdeen is a layover day in the summer.

EUROPEAN - Amsterdam, Geneva, Bologna, Rome (starting this Summer), Toulouse and Marseille (staying in Aix-en Provence).

Marseille is usually a layover in the winter and Bologna in the summer (handy for day-tripping to Florence, Venice, Verona, Pisa, Rimini etc).

LONGHAUL (from memory as I only fly on the little jets) - Barbados, Antigua, Bermuda, Orlando, Kingston, Tampa, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston - have I missed any guys???

Look forward to flying with you!

[pips]

dear all
bad news for lgw today as eu have agreed open skies .
mr walsh has said in public that if this happens the following routes
will be moved up to lhr, atlanta ,dallas,houston, leaving the future for lgw
not looking good at all ,crew wise this would leave us very over crewed.
and i think the clock is counting down to the end of lgw

[Location]

Well the good thing is you will be all moved up to LHR and on better money once T5 is finished .

[pips]

if they have jobs for 1200 crew!

[BA-FLY]

Ok so what does that mean for the potential crew at LGW , will new entrants be moved to LHR inteh future?

[Location]

It means last in , first out (Take your P45 etc)

[BA-FLY]

To pips , just spoke to friend at BA who is purser and he told me that if we loose the USA trio of atlanta , houston and dallas they would be replaced with something else. So this doesnt mean the end of LGW it could be the start of new things , new routes etc ?

[BA-FLY]

Location how could it mean last in , first out - BA wouldnt take us on for no reason.

[Location]

It's all up in the Air right now and the open skies only comes in next year March 2008 , And it's no secret that BA want to move it's operations from LGW to LHR .

Thats why most people don't mind taking the pay cut if it means getting into LHR . Also remember your only perm after 6 Months so they can do what they want .

I'm sure you will be fine !! but don't go in with blinker's on .

Good luck with your start date ;)

[BA-FLY]

Thanks for that positive note

[BA-FLY]

Thanks location for the insight thoe , much appreciated

[newbagr]

guys lets be honest.....i work for LGW SF and its kinda obvious that those routes will now go and who knows what they will replace them with! if they replace them of course! they dont have to...they can just cancel other domestic and shorthaul routes or reduce frequency of a New York from 11 to 9 a day and then bring more routes to LHR! there is rumours that MIA will come to LGW and IAH will be the first one to go to LHR! quite honestly i dont believe MIA will come to LGW! Things are changing at LGW thats for sure and there will be a lot of uncertainty for staff at LGW its a break or make point! it could be the start of a pure beach fleet with just holiday destinations or nothing! anything is possible i am afraid now! As willie walsh has shown in the past with other parts of the company, he can take very brave decisions without caring much about his employees lives! Well if routes go and transfer to LHR there will be need for more crew at LHR so it could be that transfers will start from LGW who knows.....the possibilities are endless and completely unpredictable!

[pips]

ba-fly
they dont need to replace the flights ,lgw 9yrs ago had a large long haul ,
ops that all went up the road.so it nice that your positive but be warned,
it could go belly up .

[BA-FLY]

Better stay positive ! hehe

[newbagr]

dont think Gatwick could close in a matter of months! but it d take some time really specially till the open skies come into effect!

[Muizenberg]

Believe nothing at BA unless it's in black white or an ESS mail these days.

Even though you guys will loose IAH, maybe DFW and ATL, you will gain something else. MIA is a large leisure route, could be flown double daily with a 4 class 777 on 1st flight, 3 class on second. If we drop PLS, the NAS/GCM will be down at LGW. Don't know how the MEX/PHX are performing but they too could be nominees for LGW once again. Who knows maybe the company will even start to LGW-DXB (or re-start, should I say) to compete with EK and add extra leisure capacity. The possibilities are endless both positive and negative.

If there's one thing I've learned in 16 years of flying, it's enjoy today for today. Tomorrow's important, but don't get so stressed out about it that you miss out on having fun today and wish your life away. Trust me the time soon flies away (no pun intended).:)

[BA-FLY]

Hey Muizenberg great advice
Live today for today

You make alot of sense lol

[newbagr]

well a lot of things will be clearer when decision is made about renewaL of shorthaul fleet...

[snxlou101]

Location,

WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT...............

I was in Ba when September 11th happened and they needed to lose 3000 heads now I was in training when it happened so why wasn't I given my p45????

I will tell you........... if they ever do close Lgw then they will offer severance to those who want it, then they will cut heads by offering Part Time and transfers This doesn't have to be crew@lhr it can be ground jobs and even all round the company.

my my really wish you would get your facts right as opposed to scare mongering.

[ex cabin crew]

I am going back to BA in June after nearly 10 years away and can't wait. I found some of my payslips from when I was on LGW WW back in 1998 - basic salary was over £16,000 and average take home pay was around £1800 and that was as a grade 1 with 9 years service. Thinking back to those days were we happy then? Most of the time yes but we still moaned about pay and conditions compared to LHR and how hard it was (10 day Seychelles, 10 day Dubai's, Back to back Antigua - more like a holiday). I left to try other things and trust me it has been a hard slog. I have worked in management positions and also had my own business and worked 80 hours a week with no days off and earnt nowhere near as much as I was back in 1998. Having run my own business I have had to make cut backs and changes that weren't to everyone's liking but what was the alternative...go out of business and nobody would have a job. If I were running a company like BA I would do the same thing to cut costs and remain in business.

I am fully aware of pay and conditions at LGW now and I am still really excited to go back. No more 80 hour weeks only to give most of it to the tax man and pay other bills.

I had interviews lined up with other airlines but chose BA as I think they are the best.

I think that terms and conditions at LHR will eventually be the same as they are at LGW. How they will do it is anyone's guess but it will be done as people on the better contracts will leave eventually or take a pay off to leave and be replaced (I took severance back in 1998 and it was well worth my while to take it).

As someone who has been on the "other side" it isn't any better outside of BA - fortunately I have been given the chance to go back to a job that I have missed desperately for many years.

[bcnbarcelona]

Ex cabin crew congratulations for your come back.

Unfortunatly the conditions that you left behind are gone. Our conditions are far away for those a LHR.

As you may be aware we are doing same service, same amount of pax with less crew ( 2 down) less days off and mix flying ( short & long haul) and our generous hourly rate of 2,32 per hour, not enough to cover your meals in places like Bermuda, Barbados, Antigua...

Our sby are built in monthly ,basis up to 3 blocks as per our MOA.

You will understand what I mean as soon as you step in your first day.

[ex cabin crew]

Thanks BCN - June seems so far away! Thanks to Pprune I was able to do research before applying to BA and still decided to go for it. I accept and know that the old terms and conditions are long gone but still decided to go for it. One of the biggest attractions was the mixed flying - love doing shorthaul so will be happy with that.

I feel we also have to think of the other new people who will be joining BA - if it is exciting for me then it will be even more exciting for people who haven't done it before and as much as conditions aren't any where near perfect let's keep up the positivity for all the new joiners.

[lovethesky]

who knows what wil happen, ba may sebnd loads of euro lhr work to sfg
i cant see sfg crew being xfered to lhr ww

[tofster]

Why can't you see that? We are now in the NSP and have the right to transfer to LHR EF & WW. Without having to go to EF 1st.

[apaddyinuk]

Tofster, although correct you will be waiting a lot longer to transfer to WW than EF. You must remember that the transfers are done on seniority. Since Singlefleet joined the NSP in October that basically makes you all junior to anyone in LHR EF at the moment so they would get their transfer to LHR WW before SFG crew.
However of course, if they ever do recruit back into LHR EF then you will all be above these crew members before they have the chance to accept an offer to WW. But sure, WW is NOT the be all and end all of BA. They sheer volume of people who volunteered to go across to EF recently from WW is testament to that!

[lovethesky]

excatly, xfers done in seniroity and everyone at lhr euro is more senior than crew at sfg, if they put there name down for lhr ww they will have at least 1000 crew in front of them

[Smell the Coffee]

Bear in mind that many people at LHREF put their name on the list to transfer to WW then, for various reasons, decide not to transfer once the offer comes through; and many relatively junior crew on EF have no intention of going over to WW again, for various reasons.

[lovethesky]

im 500 on the xfer list, the last course to get called to lhr ww joined 6 months b4 me. and there is 12 months of crew after me, average of 80 crew starting per month thats over 1200 crew at lhr euro that are waiting for lhr ww, i would say aprox 1000 wil put their name on the next xfer list.

[snxlou101]

Yes we are in the NSP that is correct that's where we were made mainline, we arn't in the acc nsp (research it on the intranet).

We will be able to transfer but it all depends on number's if they are going to employ lhr temps for the summer and this was confirmed by ifs then why would they do transfer's........

????????????????????/