ba euro fleet lgw

[mk124]

You do need to take your exam certificates because they have to make photocopies of them and to check what you put on your online application is correct!

[SuperStewardess]

I really don't wish to be rude, but is it really any good joining British Airways? I think it used to be in the early 90's, but it would appear that, financially, you're going to be 'worse-off' than a few other airlines, no matter what fleet you're on? Temporary positions, no guaranteed pension scheme, reduced rate travel 'at the company's discretion' if you're lucky. And a basic salary of less than £10,000 sound a bit 'cheap' and conditions which vary greatly from probably every other member of staff at B.A. for doing a similar job? I hope you all think carefully before commiting to a company that isn't all it seems...

[Rachie]

I had my interview on the 18th and got the email saying I'd been successful today

[tooposh62]

Well Done on Getting BA

[OzzieO]

I have said it before and I will say it again (for what its worth) in my humble opinion BA is by far the best UK airline to work for in terms of pay and terms and conditions.

I have been with the airline for almost 16 years now so guess I am lucky in that I am on the old contract etc But I would still say to someone considering a career as cabin crew in this country forget the other carriers and join BA.

I worked for BMI for 4 years prior to BA and although it was a long time ago now it seems when I speak to ex-BMI crew not a lot has changed!

Join BA although it has its fair share of problems at least your well paid, staying in some of the best hotels in the world and seeing parts of the world that many people only dream about.

[Katie]

I didn't get BA...never mind. Got GB on Monday!

[OzzieO]

Try again Katie if its what you want. Never give up. I got into BA on my third attempt and know of people that have got in on there 5/6 attempt.

Good luck Kido.

[luksy]

Oh, I am so sorry to hear that Katie...I know how it feels ....keep on trying....NEVER give up. Pursue your dreams...
L.

[Rachie]

I'm going to turn it down - can we just confirm that I'm absolutely out of my tree?

[Turroncin]

Are you mad ? Not really

Hi Rachel. I was offered a job with BA in summer for LHR and turned it down. Am I mad? Not really, I just decided it wasn't worth the move to London (financially speaking that it is). It wasn't hard to get the job so I guessed that if I decided to join BA, I can always apply again, and go through the same (painfully slow) procedures of applying.

[filipehm]

working

thank you everyone for your posts - they have really helped my friend who has applied for BA Eurofleet LHR (temp. 6-month contract) and is going for her assessment day.

1. i would rly like to the answer to these questions:
2. living in lisbon, portugal, is it easy/do cabin crew commute to london every time or most times when they are on duty, and does BA pay for this? is that possible to do?
3. do you recieve a salary while on training?
4. how do the rosters and the bidding system work? do you more or less choose your duties like a month in advance, and can u basically tailor all your trips and get your first choice?
5. if you applied for EF LHR, are there chances that you will be put into WW LHR (that would, i guess, be excellent!!) or WW LGW (which i suppose is also great to start off)?
6. and also, i'm not sure about this, but EF LGW is a separate franchise of BA, owned by GB Airways, right? so therefore all the other three 'bases' belong to BA (EF LHR, WW LHR, WW LGW)
7. what is the difference between WW LGW and WW LHR? is there a diff in pay or only in terms of bases and destinations?
8. also, if you know anyone also applying from portugal, or portuguese already working with BA, pls keep in touch!

i would RLY RLY RLY appreciate if you could answer these questions asap! thank u to you all!!!

all the best
(btw the title's supposed 2 b 'working for BA' and not just 'working'... lol i clicked enter a bit soon....lol)

[apaddyinuk]

Hi Filipehm,
Ill do my best to answer these questions for you.
But before I do please be advised that the 6 month secondment at LHR is mooted to be moved to the mixed fleet at LGW after the 6 months therefore do not get too comfortable with LHR.

Commuting from LIS:
Well there are a number of flights each day between LIS and LHR. But always buy backup tickets. You will not be entitled to staff travel tickets for your first 6 months. But you will be entitled to Hotlines which are firm seats but cost more than standby tickets. You have the added headache that if the flight you are working on is delayed or cancelled you will be unable to change your hotline as they are not flexible. BA certainly does not pay for your commuting tickets home as it is your choice to commute, if that where the case those that drive to work would need to be paid for the fuel in their cars!!! If you are late for work as a result of commuting you may also get into trouble so it is always best to leave plenty of time to get to and from work.

Pay during training:
You get paid your basic salary for the 5 weeks you are in training which is not really very much as you are not earning allowances but is better than nothing.

Rosters:
Worldwide does not really have a bidding system. You can request 2 specific days off a month and hope you get it but it is not gauranteed. You can also make 2 trip requests a year which again are not gauranteed. Your roster is usually rolled every 2 weeks allowing you to view what your roster is for up to 4-6 weeks depending on the time of the year.
Eurofleet has the Carmen bidding system which allows you to plan out the type of roster you have for the month. Again though nothing is gauranteed but it is a good system. I however cannot comment too much as I have never worked on eurofleet.

Placements:
When I joined I was placed directly into WW LGW and I only had to wait 18 months to move to WW LHR. That was pot luck really. Management have already announced this year that the 6 month LHR Temps will be placed into WW LHR only BUT BE WARNED...The plan is so that when EF LGW and WW LGW get merged in October, these temps will be sent down to LGW earning far less money and doing a mix of SH and LH. You will not be on the NSP contract like the rest of BA mainline!!! THIS IS NOT A GOOD DEAL!!! Just my opinion though, I dont wish to upset my colleagues in LGW at the moment.

LGW EF:
LGW EF is NOT a franchise. It IS British Airways and has nothing whatsoever to do with GB airways, BMED, Sunair, Loganair, Cityexpress(connect whatever) or any other franchise that exists in BA world! It exists from the amalgamation of various subsideries and runs off the old Dan Air contract so the crew are in effect earning different money to the NSP crew (LGW WW, LHR EF, LHR WW) and they work to different working conditions. It is this contract which they want to operate LGW WW on as it will be cheaper for the company.

LGW WW:
At present there is very little difference between the two other than the obvious, they only have B777's out of LGW and the only places the crew go to are KIN, ATL, ANU, BDA, IAH, DFW, BGI, MCO and TPA. Also none of the aircraft have crew bunks... . There is no real difference in contracts but the pay is a bit less but only because the crew dont have any long range trips but crew are trained for the 747 so if you are on standby you can still be called to operate a 747 out of LHR which does happen from time to time. But as I already mentioned....THIS IS ALL ABOUT TO CHANGE!!!

As for your local colleagues, there are plenty of people from all over europe in this airline. Dont worry, you wont be alone! Good luck!

[DXman]

You said : "The plan is so that when EF LGW and WW LGW get merged in October, these temps will be sent down to LGW earning far less money and doing a mix of SH and LH"

Okay... So does it mean that the crew joining next LGW base will be both current on 737 and 777 series?

BTW "far less money"... What does it mean in facts? When I look at the basic salary between LHR and LGW contract, there's a slight difference. So I guess the allowances are just completely different?

Cheers
DXman

[filipehm]

thanks for the info!

hey Apaddyinuk,

thanks a lot for the info, it's really a great help. the thing is that if my friend really is appointed, she will be more or less leaving her life in portugal behind, but i guess she can always com back to visit. the thing is here in portugal things really aren't that great, and if, as you rightly say, the basic salary isn't very much, it's a lot more compared to here! it's a big investment to move to london, but my friend is really wanting to give this big step in the hope for something better! so it'll hopefully be worth it!

she applied for EF LHR and has already booked her assessment day, so i do hope she stays there, as taking into consideration what I have found out, it really isn't a good start to begin with LGW because of the different conditions and pay (i think).

but suppose she does get this job (which i really believe she will), and she works hard and she is valued by BA, do you think there are chances of promotion in terms of pay and chances that she could be put into WW LHR as quickly as you did?

english is obviously not my friend's first language, but she does have, however, a high level of fluency, and can understand english perfectly. do you think that that will be a barrier to her being appointed? and also, the fact that her first language is portuguese, won't that be an asset, e.g. for flights to portugal or brazil? will BA recognise that as a plus and thus is that an advantage for being promoted to WW LHR?

and one last question... the basic salary for someone starting is about £10,500. is the salary (and flight allowance) at WW LHR greater than at EF LHR? if you could give me actual values that would be great to get a general idea of what she can expect, e.g. how much she can (in good and in slightly worst months in both WW and EF LHR) earn.

thanks so much for the help,
all the best

p.s.: if anyone has answers to these questions or wants to say anything related to this, just post a reply or send a personal message! thanks

[apaddyinuk]

Hi DX, When the plans for the merger of LGW EF and WW are finalised, plans will be put in place to train all LGWEF crew for the 777 and vice versa for the WW crew. And as for the less money, the basic I believe is the same. But they have far less allowances and virtually no nightstops anymore. Plus the allowances they earn are less then those earned by NSP crew (those in the other bases). All in all the average LGW EF crew would earn up to 20% less then the LHR EF crew.

Filiphem, Ill try to answer the rest of your questions here!!!

To my knowledge unless you specifically applied to join the LHR EF position which was not advertised as a 6 month temp contract which closed late last year then all new applicants are for the temporary LHR EF 6 month temporary contract are those being places in LHR WW and eventually sent to LGW. Make sure your friend is aware of this.
BA do not really promote for more money as you put it. When you are senior enough which takes many years you may be invited to apply for purser (and then after that CSD) promotion which is also an application process so it is open to competition. More money is earned in Longhaul but only because the allowances are that bit higher. A transfer to longhaul also comes out of seniority. I wont comment on how long a transfer takes at present because with all the changes taking place it could become longer than it has been of recent.
She will be tested on her english, Mind you, I have problems understanding some of my colleagues so you never know, she may have more than an acceptable level However dont expect to be placed onto routes as a language speaker as they dont do that. For many of the longhaul routes we have local crew based in those countries who join our crew so we will always have a language speaker. We have crew based in South America who operate those flights with us. A similiar facility does not exist on shorthaul.
Unfortunately I wont release figures online here about wages because no offence, but you never really know who you are talking to on pprune. Its not appropriate to discuss salaries online. However the £10500 is merely your basic before tax and you need to account for allowances which increases your allowances significantly but also fluctuates from month to month depending on where you are flying to.
As for how things are in Portugal, I appreciate that but you must also appreciate that it is all in moderation. London is a VERY EXPENSIVE place to live. I personally have difficulty keeping on top of my bills and I certainly dont live out of my means. But she will get the hang of it very easily!!! But best to know all in advance.
Hope this info helps!

[filipehm]

thanks Appadyinuk!

sure this info helps. yep i completely understand it's really not appropriate to talk figures online. what you said about london being expensive we know...but hopefully through sharing a flat and living on a budget, it shouldn't be much worst than here. here you get paid far less and even though most prices are reasonable, they are too high for our salaries! compared to spain, our country is far behind in money matters! my friend has a close friend who is also a FA for a charter airline, and her boyfriend lives in london, so i think accomodation won't be a problem for my friend.

and yes, my friend did apply for the temp 6-month contract for EF LHR just at the beginning of this year, and if you go to BA's website there's still a job opening. they seem to always be extending the deadline.

as for the english, very honestly, i don't think she'll have much of a problem. maybe in writing she'll struggle, but not speaking. i guess that communicating isn't just knowing the language, it's also being able to 'communicate' in all senses, and that, i think she has !

we have however heard that some portuguese crew members are able to spend half of the month stationed in portugal (LIS), though i'm not sure thats completely ture. in any case, she will be starting off by living in london, and she knows that the cost of living is quite high, but it'll pay off in the long run we hope.

also, just to have an idea, do you think you could give some examples of how ur monthly roster looks like, as WW LHR cabin crew (eg destinations, days spent)? if you dont really want to expose this on a thread then please send me a personal msg if you can.

thanks for your help (again)!

[apaddyinuk]

In that case the position she has applied for IS the one where she may get sent to LHR WW for 6 months and then down to LGW.
As for crew being "based" in LIS...certainly not. However, a number of crew on Longhaul do indeed commute from portugal...e.g, they live in portugal and catch a flight as a passenger to london in order to attend work. But this as I mentioned in my first post is a personal decision.
My roster in LHR varies a lot as I am trained on the 747,767 and 777. I generally get about two short to medium ranged flights (e.g...BOS, JFK, MIA, CAI, DXB etc) which are three day trips (away for 2 nights) followed by 2-3 days off. I then usually get one longrange trip (HKG, BKK-SYD, NRT, CPT, JNB etc) which can be anything from 5 days to 9 days which is usually followed by 4-5 days off. I also usually get a central african trip on the 767 or 777 which also tends to last from 3 to 5 days. But it could be a case of a spend all month in the states, all month in asia or a mixture of everything!!!

I wish her all the best with it.

[flyer55]

Just like to say that the plans for LGW are not a Merger as WW fleet is being closed and Eurofleet will do both SH & LH. Nobody in Eurofleet LGW has been told about the Temp crew being transferred down to The New Fleet @ LGW. Eurofleet LGW is British Airways Plc - so mainline without NSP (Agreement for transfers etc), so isnt a subsidiary / franchise . Their are differences in contracts but that may all be changing as Willy Walsh is slowly moving his axe, so watch this space .

[filipehm]

thank you again!

Apaddyinuk and flyer55, thank you for your replies!

The roster you described seems to be pretty exciting to me. I’ll be seeing my friend tomorrow and telling her about all this. The position applied for is, however, for EF LHR, and not WW, but hopefully after the 6-month contract ends, she’ll be able to get into WW LHR, who knows? It’s all going so fast… we never thought that applying from Portugal they’d call my friend in, and they did. Now, if the assessment goes well, which surely will, she’ll be on her way to London very soon! Thanks for all the help Appadyinuk, and you never know, sometime soon you two could meet whilst on a flight!

So putting this straight, WW LGW and EF LGW could merge (very probably), but without the NSP contract. And then my friend, after her 6-month contract, if she is asked to stay on (which will be pretty certain if she has been a good air hostess so far, I hope!), she will be offered, most likely either EF LHR or WW LHR, but could, eventually, be offered a LGW contract (without NSP conditions like in LHR). Let’s hope everything goes well – we are crossing fingers for that – so that my friend will eventually, after hopefully being hired, stay on at BA after the 6 months!

Thank you both for your information! I’m really thankful for your helpfulness, which I probably wouldn’t get from anywhere else I don’t think…
Thanks!

[apaddyinuk]

Filipehm, I think I have totally confused you somewhere...
Your friend applied for the 6 month temporary LHR EF position...THIS IS the group that may get transferred to LHR WW for 6 months and then sent to LGW. She may not even see LHR EF. Im actually telling you that this is what the company have announced that they intend on doing! If you I were you I would suggest you tell your friend to call BA recruitment or ask them on the assessement day if this is true and to get clarification. Do you understand? BA do not take on temps very often and they have only done so this year so that they can change their contract in 6 months time and send them to LGW without causing too many problems.
Also, you would never get offered WW LHR after 6 months, not unless things are drastically different in the company by then which I doubt. It will take anything from 18 months to 5 years to transfer all depending on where BA need its crew. 18 months is very quick and I was one of the few lucky ones in recent years.
I hope that makes sense.