BA Cityflyer Rostering

[Neon Circuits]

Hi all,

I'm due to start with BACF in a couple of months and would like an idea of a typical month in terms of destinations, nightstops, 'tours', downroute lifestyle etc..! :ok:

Thanks,

NC

[DutchBird-757]

Hi ya NC,

First of all welcome aboard!

Typical month is mostly EDI-LCY flights as we do those like 10 times a day. One MAD a month on average. The rest is just a mix. BNC/WAW/NCE is kinda rare. NCE is going double daily so a better chance of getting that one.

Nightstops. I'm averaging 9 to 10 a month. Tours. Mostly 2 day tours with a fair bit of 3 day trips as well. Maximum 4 sectors a day for flight crew. (wouldn't be surprised if they rostered 5 as well but haven't seen/heard that yet for flight crew)

Flying. About 55 hours a month. Depends on your surname I think... :=
Mostly 3 sector days. About 9 positioning flights a month as well.

Downroute lifestyle. Mostly minumum rest but some trips offer some nice downtime. (MAD/ZRH/LCY/GLA)

Crew are a great bunch in my opinion.

See ya on the line...

[Neon Circuits]

Great info, thanks very much! Check your PM's!

[chai ja]

Does BACF have a base at LCY or just EDI?
Cheers

[DutchBird-757]

BOTH flightdeck AND cabin crew are now based at LCY and/or EDI. First crews will be based there officially from Dec 1st IIRC.

[chai ja]

Bit off the rostering topic so apologies.
Cannot find on their site whether they are recruiting Flight Deck at all? Any hints would be great
thanks
CJ

[Iver]

How many Avros do they have total and is LCY senior or junior for flight crews?

[Neon Circuits]

CJ,

I believe all the recruitment is finished for now (or so I have read on here).

Iver,

10 100, 2 85's with a couple more joining. No idea on the senior/junior question. I got given an option but preferred EDI (family etc..)


Any more for any more on the rostering question???

[DutchBird-757]

The LCY base is 'on offer' to current flightcrews. No one is, or will be, forced to relocate to LCY. New slots at LCY will be filled by new recruits. Don't know if they will be given a choice between EDI and LCY as well.

[Iver]

Thanks DB and NC,

Just one last question for those who might consider applying to BA Cityflyer. Why should someone consider your company vs. LCC opportunities like Easy and Ryanair? Obviously the LCCs don't offer night stops and they probably involve more sectors per day. Are there certain benefits to flying for Cityflyer vs. flying for Easy and Ryanair in your opinion?

Cheers

[DutchBird-757]

Iver,

That's a difficult and personal question. I can't give you a straight awnser to that one. And I know too little about the likes of EZY/RYR.

I think that doing nightstops isn't all that bad. But that depends on your home situation as well. I've heared stories about EZY guys/girls making loooong days, starting early and finishing late, day in day out. Basically eat/sleep/fly/etc... Our captains do all the nasty long shifts as they are short of captains.

We do a max of 4 sectors a day right now. Some trips are long days but some are really relaxed with only 2 sectors. Just a there and back

The best thing we have is our Schedueling agreement. It's our protection and safeguard. We can't be tossed around, everything is layed down and we work to that agreement. Period! Something you'll never find at EZY/RYR.

Everything is paid for. (medical/training/expenses/food on board etc.) Stafftravel is good as well. (slightly slimmer form than BA mainline)

When you don't fly you'll get your basic pay. I didn't fly for nearly 3 1/2 months after signing my contract and before starting my training but still got basic pay. It's changed a bit from this month onwards but it's till behind inflation. Hopefully this was just phase I of the negotiations. Pay is not good though.

Everyone hopes we'll be fully BA mainline but I don't see that happening. As a foreigner in the UK (:)) I think the BA mentallity is to blame for that. (verrrrrryyyyy cautious, but that's a different subject and I'm gonna be shot for saying that :ok:)

Happy flying!

[CheekyVisual]

Ok Qualified to answer this one as have done both ! Horses and courses, pros and cons. I used to work for BACF now in the LCC world. It all depends what you ultimately want out of life away from work. I didn't want to spend my life in a hotel or live in EDI. LCY was not available at the time.

Work wise your days at BACF will generally be shorter than at a LCC. EZY do the odd nightstop. You will spend a good deal of time in hotels with people who won't always want to do stuff to fill the time. For every great trip I had I had two where I was pretty bored ! Money wise tours sound great but I did end up spending a lot of it to amuse myself (see also platinum bar FRA). Some tours are quite long. If you are living away or planning to live away from home, good news, save a load of cash on digs. If you are planning to relocate a family away from home and their friends think very carefully as you may be away, i.e. not there to support, a lot of the time. There is nothing worse than sitting in a european hotel with your daughter in floods of tears on the phone !

You'll do less flying hours at BACF but duty hours will equate to most LCCs. However, you will generally only get two days off at a time. In most LCCs you will be on a fixed roster pattern with at least three days off. The scheduling agreement is the biggest plus. You really can't be screwed around in the way you will be in the LC world. The other big plus is that the company will look after you a bit better than the equivalent LCC. However, you do pay for this on the bottom line of your pay slip ! BUT if you need a month off sick they won't put you straight on 100 quid a week !

Although it may now have changed you pay for nothing at BACF out of your own pocket. Nearly all the LCCs have some nasty surprise lurking in the small print of your Ts&Cs ! Oh we don't provide accomodation, etc...

BACF is good if :
You want to do nightstops. (Young free single / old divorced !)
You want to do interesting flying LCY. (used to do places like INN and CMF).
You don't want any financial surprises and the bottom line on the pay slip isn't the most important factor in your life.
You want to live in EDI or commute to LCY.
You want a reasonably good staff travel package.
You want to know exactly what you're doing tomorrow !
DON'T join BACF if you think it's a guaranteed way into BA Mainline and that's all your interested in. Better off getting an airbus of Boeing type rating elsewhere and applying externlly IF THEY EVER RECRUIT AGAIN ! Have heard the "we'll be in mainline any day now" line for the last ten years through various incarnations !

LCCs good if :
You need to build flying hours quickly.
You need blocks of days off want to plan your life more than 8 weeks in advance.
You want to earn the maximum amount of money possible for your experience and you don't mind paying for a few things yourself. (Can be more expensive than it first looks ! Especially RYR)
You want to be at home in your own bed every night, even if it is after 4am !

If ultimately you don't want to pay for a type rating BACF is a good place to start ! Everywhere else they'll pay you more but take some of it away ! However, lots or people operate 737s and A3XX Something else to think about.

Hope that helps and is fairly even handed. As for me prefer LCC only because I want to be at home every night and now have that handy Boeing on the licence !

[Iver]

Great posts DB and CV!

[Sir Thomas]

That is a pretty accurate post by cheeky visual. The only thing I would like to add is that since he left our days do seem to have gotten longer and I don't think they are any shorter now than they are in LCC's . My roster certainly seems to be either full of minimum rest or minimum rest +1 hour.

ta ta

ST

[Tandemrotor]

I think the BA mentallity is to blame for that. (verrrrrryyyyy cautious, but that's a different subject and I'm gonna be shot for saying that )

BA do indeed have a reputation. So do Dutch pilots. Are they both generalisations??

I daresay one of your fellow countrymen, Captain van Zantem, felt the same about BA, before his sad demise in 1977 at Tenerife. :rolleyes:

More on topic. The BACF scheduling agreement, is arguably the best in the industry.

Those hoping BACF will be incorporated into BA mainline don't have long to wait!

[Carnage Matey!]

Been posting after the pub TR? Seems rather poor taste.

[Tandemrotor]

Pub?

No, not tonight. Not where I am.

Just wholeheartedly sick and tired of the BA 'knockers' and pointing out that, in this industry, caution tends to be a good thing! (Is it really cultural?)

IMHO The only way BACF pilots (DB-757 included) will be denied BA mainline access, is if the BACC indulge in 'horse trading'. (Or the membership decide it's too unimportant)

There are some good guys there, DB-757 is probably one of them.

[XT668]

I think the Tenerife comment is frankly in appalling taste.
Everybody has a reputation of some description, but to raise Tenerife in response to a totally innocuous and accurate remark -
Everyone hopes we'll be fully BA mainline but I don't see that happening. As a foreigner in the UK (http://static.pprune.org/images/smilies/smile.gif) I think the BA mentallity is to blame for that. (verrrrrryyyyy cautious, but that's a different subject and I'm gonna be shot for saying that http://static.pprune.org/images/smilies/thumbs.gif)

For goodness sake, the guy/gal is entitled to an opinion, has not been remotely overtly critical or disrespectful and you start dragging up (and mispelling) his fellow countryman! What next, do we start discussing the "Key" to the Staines disaster??????
Do get a grip! :yuk: