Easyjet Early Years Across Bases

[Flys4Funs]

Hi All,

I’m interested to find out about life across EZY bases for new junior joiners.

I’m starting the MPL scheme soon and wanted a bit more insight as to what I’m in for when I join. I think I could be allocated to any base across Europe so interested in how it works for SO’s/FO’s in all bases. Key things I would like a bit more insight on:


Roster - I understand SOs are on Flexi Roster for 2 years until you’re an FO. How does Flexi work in practice - is it like being constantly on call? Do you still get 25 days leave? Do you get 5/4/5/3 as soon as you’re upgraded to FO
Pay - PPJN say just over 45k GBP for an SO. Is it basically the same across all bases? Are there any increments in the SO grade? How do the increments at FO get applied, is it just based on time? Sector pay just for FOs and up?
If you get allocated a base you’re not that into, how easy is it to change?
Culture - most things that I read say it’s great place to work and people are really supportive. Is that the same across all a bases, any known outliers?
Training - Again all I read is good on this front anything worth being aware of?

Thanks,
F4F

[giggitygiggity]

I assume you're talking about the UK contract as they are all very different in different countries (PM me for more details if you're looking for info about elsewhere).


Roster - I understand SOs are on Flexi Roster for 2 years until you’re an FO. How does Flexi work in practice - is it like being constantly on call? Do you still get 25 days leave? Do you get 5/4/5/3 as soon as you’re upgraded to FO


It's actually 4 years until you are able to go onto fixed pattern. 2 years as second officer, then 2 years as first officer, then finally SFO. At the moment, guys are getting commands between 4-5 years if they play their cards right, at which point you'd go to fixed pattern anyway. That will undoutably change if the UK economy tanks WRT brexit, but that one is for another thread. Flexi is not reserve (like people at BA do occasionally), it is a random set of duties in a month. The roster comes out on the 17th and you might work a pattern like this - brackets are days off... 4 - (2) - 3 - (3) - 5 (2) - 3 - (4) - 4 etc... You get 25 days of leave a year and blocks of days attract wrap days. For captains, less than 3 days attracts just 1 wrap day either side (eg you book 3 days off, you get the 3 and then 2 either side). 4-9 gets 2 days each side (you book 5 days, you get 9 in a row). Cant remember exactly how it works for FOs but it is similar. You can also book guaranteed days off each month and are allowed 2 of those, so if you're creative, you stick them before your leave making it pretty efficient. If you book 5 days of leave, you get 9 (including the wrap around days) and then a further 2 (using the GDOs), meaning for 5 days of leave, you get 11 off in a row. You can do this 5 times a year with the leave allowance.



Pay - PPJN say just over 45k GBP for an SO. Is it basically the same across all bases? Are there any increments in the SO grade? How do the increments at FO get applied, is it just based on time? Sector pay just for FOs and up?


That's about right for SO's. No increments, on that salary for 2 years, although the current pay deal has had minor increments relating to RPI. There is a new pay deal this year, no info yet, but potentially could be quite different as we're struggling to keep FOs. Basically, pay uplifts are related to rank, when you get FO, you start to get sector pay, which might be worth between 6-10k a year (including nightstop/day off payments etc). I'd imagine realistically, 45k for SO, 65k for FO and 75k for SFO. If you trained with CTC/L3 and are eligible for the tax dodge, you can avoid tax on approx 11k a year, on a SFO salary, that's effectively worth another 10k before tax (6k after tax) as you'd be on the 40% tax band.



If you get allocated a base you’re not that into, how easy is it to change?


I think there is a 6 month base freeze when you join (perhaps someone else can correct me on that as it's quite different to my day), then you can put your name on a base transfer list. As an FO, you can move around the UK pretty easily. There is an embargo against moving to Europe now due to Brexit.



Culture - most things that I read say it’s great place to work and people are really supportive. Is that the same across all a bases, any known outliers?


Wouldn't say there are outliers to that, people who've never left LGW moan about the workload, but it is worse in other bases and those guys cope. In LGW, you just get used to lots of disruption that you perhaps wouldn't have to the same extent elsewhere. Since I joined, things have only gotten better T+Cs wise, that's not the case everywhere, so it has given me confidence I'm in the right place. Realistically, I don't think I will cope with working this hard indefinitely, but part time options are available.



Training - Again all I read is good on this front anything worth being aware of?


Just do as you're told, honestly. I think our training department is fantastic and keeps moving in the right direction. Keep your head down and you'll be fine.


Enjoy it!

[Flys4Funs]

Awesome response, thanks for that Gigity. Clarified a lot of what I was wondering.

I was also interested in Paris or Berlin as bases, but sounds like not really happening for the time being.

[Ragazzo]

mmmh, EZY still doing MPLs? Thought they had given up...

[UberPilot]

Awesome response, thanks for that Gigity. Clarified a lot of what I was wondering.

I was also interested in Paris or Berlin as bases, but sounds like not really happening for the time being.

Unless you will have the right to work in Europe following a hard Brexit it looks very unlikely that you’d be assigned to a European base. This has already been implemented for internal transfers to some newer European bases.

If if it is an option though, Italy and France are great options contract wise. In Italy SO attracts sector pay as well, so you can expect to net 4K euro a month from day 1. FO is about 5 and SFO about 6. No loyalty pay though. German contracts not as good initially, SO under 3k net, but you get loyalty pay after 3 years so SFO is about 5.5 net.

[Flys4Funs]

Thanks that's useful insight to the continental terms.

[dirk85]

I don’t know about the rest of Europe, but in Italy you have random roster only for the first year, after that it’s 5 on 4 off.
I would have to check but as SO I remember the average net being around 10% higher than quoted above, but all the rest is spot on.
Block hours between 600 and 650 per year, for Captains a bit more but not much.

[Daily Dalaman Dave]

A couple of questions, on the 5 “on” is it 5 days of flying or 5 duty days i.e standbys etc thrown in too?

Would any kind SFO be able to post a glance at an average summer and winter roster, even better if from a UK regional base? If a PM is preferred that’d be great.

What is a typical SFO monthly net pay (again UK regional base if poss)?

Cheers

[dirk85]

In the 5 days you can have also standbys of course. You have a mix of 4 and 2 sectors day mostly, with home standbies and in some bases airport standbys as well. Can't help with SFO salaries. Most people remain SFO for very short time, before upgrade.

[Daily Dalaman Dave]

In the 5 days you can have also standbys of course. You have a mix of 4 and 2 sectors day mostly, with home standbies and in some bases airport standbys as well. Can't help with SFO salaries. Most people remain SFO for very short time, before upgrade.

Thanks for that!

[Dct_Mopas]

Net pay for an SFO should be just under £4000 per month. Thats after a few deductions for shares, pensions, etc.

[tomelam]

I think there is a 6 month base freeze when you join (perhaps someone else can correct me on that as it's quite different to my day), then you can put your name on a base transfer list. As an FO, you can move around the UK pretty easily. There is an embargo against moving to Europe now due to Brexit.


Do you have any information on how easy it would be to move to Spain? And do you have a sense of whether the embargo would lift if the UK ends up agreeing a deal with the EU?