VIRGIN ATLANTIC

[R998SEG]

Hi, I currently work for BA as cabin crew and recently applied to virgin, however I was rejected by them, and did not even get an interview. Does anybody know whether VS discriminates against BA cabin crew.

[Fraudsquad]

What colour's your hair? If you are blonde then maybe they do discriminate against BA crew.

[152]

R998SEG

Can I just ask why you would like to work for VS if you work for BA. Are you not on long haul or something?

Anyhow, dont worry about it, my girlfriend was with British Midland for 2 years but fancied a change. She applied to Virgin Atlantic 5, yes FIVE times over 2 and a half years getting to the final interview 4 times, does she work for them now? No.
She applied to BMed and was taken on straight away with her experience.
If you fancy a change from short haul BMed are looking for crew now, send a CV with a picture of yourself in the BA uniform.
Get that job no probs. Good money to.

Happy New Year.


152

[PaulDeGearup]

152 sez "send a CV with a picture of yourself in the BA uniform."
If you sent a photo sans the uniform d'you think that might help :) :)

[152]

?

[ben5]

Virgin is one big let down. Other airlines have started to look for practical people to do our job. Virgin is still stuck in a catwalk show pieces era! Forget Virgin! Stick with BA, it beats the pants off the flying bimbos! sorry Virgin girls! I'm sure your all very intelligent! (s******) http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/tongue.gif

[cabinboy]

Ben5 I am afraid to say I agree with you..In Australia Virgin Blue Airlines has been a perfect example of this, from the moment myself and other candidates entered the room we were constantly looked up and down - thats all it was about ( some females I was with were extremely upset ). The Questions in the interview had nothing to do with how you would succeed in the position as a flight attendant...it was all about the image...very sad but true.

I do realise that good complexion and grooming is important but Virgin is a perfect example of " Bimbo's of the Sky ". ( Of course there are intelligent genuine f/a's amongst the virgin crews though )



[This message has been edited by cabinboy (edited 05 January 2001).]

[ben5]

Cabinboy, maybe it's about time these poxy airlines made us recruitment managers. I know just the type of people i'd like to fly with me. Ones with 1 brain cell (+) and ones that don't spend half their time sitting on the f/o's lap. Thats my job!!!!!:d

[cabinboy]

hehehe :)

A friend and I were joking about the pre requisites for Virgin f/a crew.

* Blonde
* Air head
* Big H**ters
* Appeared on a fashion magazine within the last 6 months
* Must have completed primary school education
* Knows how to drive to the airport

Cabinboy
( sorry virgin girls I am turning very nasty now...definetley not f/a material am I ! )

------------------
Trust your captain .... but keep your seatbelt securely fastened.

[Bob the Builder]

Hey !
My girlfriend neither has blond hair, nor big h**ters ( although they are extremely THE BEST) , she works for Virgin, though! She is bright, intelligent independant, yes she is very attracive and has a mind of her own!
Don't paint all CC with the same brush. Give the ones with the nonse the credit they deserve!
Bob

[euroboy]

You want to leave BA for Virgin?!

Are you over 30? If so Virgin won`t want to know.

[Next Generation PSR]

I have to agree that Virgin Atlantic does give the impression of using the aisles as catwalks. Although you must have some inteligent ladies there, I think they are few and far between. And Richard does tend to have a reputation for wanting dolly blondes and brunettes. I also get the impression that he only employs male cabin crew because he has to. Would anyone in Virgin from the male cabin crew fraternity like to confirm this either way? The reason I say this because when the press or TV are about, the guys always seem to be in the background and never on an equal footing.

And as for those age restrictions Richard.

Nice image Virgin, but I think I'd rather have a combination of ability/inteligence and image over cabin crew who would just 'like to travel the world and meet people' and look dolly.

[fcom]

As far as the age limit goes my girlfriend joined VAA at the age of 33 with only 1 year flying experience so it just goes to show experience is not the only requirement.
Virgin generally employ crew which are people orientated which is why they are renowned for being a fun airline.They usually weed out the bitter and twisted ones who apply and send them down the road to BA.

[IFS to Flight Deck]

All VS crew whatever they look like are all trained, and have qualified, to carry out required emergency procedures.
ALL airlines have their own recruitment policy! but at the end of the day we are there for safety!

[Oi...Geeza]

fcom...
Correction.....The "Bitter and Twisted Ones" get made "managers" with VS !!!

[Covboy]

You say that at your interviews you dont get asked much about the jobs, I expect it is the same with us pilot wannabees. At our BA testing days, long before the interview stages, you get asked all sorts of weird and wonderful questions, one quite memorable one was 'would you ever consider watching a film about otters?'

I understand that the airlines use their cabin crew as tools to attract and keep pax, and therefore they like to have them looking pretty. We all know at the end of the day that a lot of the interview process is eliminating people and this can be down to appearances.

But like the pilots, they must be able to do the job at the end of the day and I know that 98% of the knowledge comes from the training. So this is my way of saying that even though VA may choose their staff cos of their looks, at the end of the day, they are trained to high standards.

Yes it is wrong to discriminate over looks, and I wouldnt let this put anyone off.

I think it is BA management and office staff who may have trouble trying to change between BA and VA, and not the CC.

Aside from all this
I have to go to Griffin House in Crawley for work, and I know that VA is within the building somewhere, I have fallen in love with everyone who works there, any takers? (21 yr old male, tall, dark short hair, no money but adventurous!!) Sorry! (dont tell me off)

[airforcenone]

Two of my friends just joined VS (both brunette) so the blond criteria doesn't always apply.

PS: I answered 'Yes' to the question about otters and got the job ... I thought it was completely bizarre as well!

[Pavetack]

R998SEG

The reason why our company VS which is obviously the best British carrier in the UK
dislikes the BA CC is because "BA CC's are all Stuck up Trolly Dollies" and not to mention the service isx LOUSY with BA. I am speaking from my experience when travelling with BA before I joined VS.

[Evil Bastard]

The differences between BA and Virgin hosties is being overly exaggerated. BA hosties are certainly not "stuck up trolley dolleys".

My wife is now a BA hostie, after trying for 2 years and being offered jobs by both BA and Virgin.

The Virgin interview process of teamwork task, selecting the outgoing, organised and articulate candidates for final interview, simple maths test, then asking sevice industry type questions drawing on previous experience...is exactly the same as the BA interview. (Wonder where Virgin got the idea from?)

My point is that same interview = same hosties

Main difference is that BA require language skills - a good thing in my opinion.

The reason my wife chose BA was better pay, perks, and opportunities for advancement in training etc.

The grass is always greener, but BA is the better employer as far as hosties go (if they have a brain of course)

So...R998SEG consider yourself lucky you didn't get an interview.



[This message has been edited by Evil Bastard (edited 19 January 2001).]

[JOA]

this is the most accurate description or virgin atlantic i have ever seen. this one here is worth a million+ words

http://www.virginaircrewlies.com/original/rage.jpg

[euroboy]

Having worked as cabin crew for a couple of airlines and have flown for more than a couple of years I have to say that ALL crews from ALL airlines chat to each other, moan about the same things but what I have noticed is that we know we do the same job and that any airline rivalry is non existent. When crews from other carriers pass each other in crew areas they smile and say "Hi". Hence why we have pprune.
So lets not go slagging down other crews, as I`ve been on flights where the cabin crew have been a bit offish.

I know a family where mum and dad have just started flying for BA and their daughter flys for Virgin.

As for VS age restrictions in their info pack they send out with the application form the upper age limit is 30.
Boy did I feel old!!!

[This message has been edited by euroboy (edited 20 January 2001).]

[OneLeft]

I couldn't agree more with Euroboy.

At the end of the day we all do the same job whichever uniform we wear.

Every airline has good crew and bad, but I firmly believe that the vast majority of UK based crew have the punters best interests at heart. It's up to us to push the crap ones into being better (or leaving!).

Let's not fall into continual slagging matches, but accept that different airlines do things in different ways, and look for different things in their crews.

Happy flying!

D1L

[FireDragon]

Must say, I flew with BA as pax 18 months ago to Barbados, and I couldn't fault the cabin crew at all.

All crew were courtious, polite, (and likeable), the service was excellent, (lovely meal), and the entertainment was good.

Just speaking as I find ...

FD

[airforcenone]

FireDragon,

Funnily enough, if you flew BA from LGW on 777 with no seat pitch, then the cabin crew were from JMC!

[FireDragon]

It was from Manchester, on the 747 ! (Whoever the crew were - can't fault them)

[SussexAirwaysPurser]

Airforceone, the BA LGW-BGI-LGW route has always been a mainline operation with BA crews and a standard BA cabin config. All the other caribbean routes (with the exception of LGW-NAS-GCM) are operated on charter configured 777s by JMC crews. As from summer 2002 all BA caribbean ops will be mainline BA on mainline configured aircraft as the AML operation will have been terminated by then.

[airforcenone]

Aha! I stand corrected.

[Stirling]

I know this threads rapidly going out of date, so apologies to drag this back up to the top!

R998 - keep going if VS is your thing as it appears to be. It does amuse me how the bitterness from both sides (especially BA it would appear) continually surfaces from a relatively small minority, when essentially everyone's doing the same job, for two companies that both have pluses and minuses when working for them.

I am BA ground staff, and very rarely have any trouble or cross words with my VS counterparts, with whom I choose to deal with on a regular basis. My wife is with VS in recruitment, and is also an ex VS flyer. Amazingly she's blond, attractive, can hold intelligent conversations in three different languages, and chose VS over BA because VS had a slightly more personal/approachable touch than BA throughout the selection process.

That's it, nothing more, nothing less. VS does have a slightly better public image of being a fun airline, but then BA appeals to a far more conservative buisness class market. Both exploit their images to maximum effect, including choice of crews.

The grass isn't always greener R998, but I'm sure you'll get their. Best of luck.

[xtc]

if virgin want to hire looks then its their right isn't it....

i am sorry but anyonr who is not happy with that is just JELOUS!!!!

if u owned a company then its your right to have the image that u want.

it may not be politicaly correct but then polititians arn't either.........

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[atcomatic]

I have friends who have tried for years to get into BA and have always been rejected, yet they go to Virgin and get in first time! Surely their selection criteria cannot be the same if they are willling to take BA rejects?