British Airways - Wannabes & Recruitment

[The Cribbys]

EF Courses

Scottfly

I posted a letter on here which was sent out yesterday by BA saying they have no more business requirements for further Eurofleet courses in the next few months. They do however have LGW courses and you have to register for one of these or stay in the EF holding pool. They have suddenly become very short of crew at LGW.
Good Luck

Hx

[jde]

AMS, I understand your concerns, but I am sure you need have no worries. BA have every right to move you to LGW if they see fit before you sign your contract as your base is London. But I am fairly sure your course will be LHR. I am sure the person on the phone offered you LHR but I am suprised that wages were discussed as the basic pay is pretty much the same between bases. You have the potential to earn more at LHR with the different allowance system but I dont understand how that can be confirmed because it cant. I would be interested to hear how the pay was discussed with you.

[speedmarque]

Well done AMS

A great decision to listen to the facts that come from BA and not everybody on here winding each other up!

People should learn from your example.

[jde]

a wise move, stop fretting and see what happens. the world of British Airways is sometimes an uncertain one but until you sign your contract you have no voice. Years ago you wouldn't know your fleet until you were half way through your training course!

[jde]

hee hee! cheeky monkey! no not at all! I guess my bits of advice come across a bit old school do they?

[SuperBoy]

Ams,

Read your contract. BA reserves the right to move you where it wants you within the first 2 years of your employment.

I'm not saying its going to happen however the sooner you realise your just a number to this company the better on you.

Having said that it is a great company for various reasons so I'm sure you will love it.

SB

[Smell the Coffee]

the sooner you realise your just a number to this company the better on you.

And the 757 won't smell of strawberries!

[Jay_solo]

As BA are recruiting for Gatwick, what are the major differences (Besides pay)between LHR Euroflight and Gatwick (i.e type of flying, aircraft, roster bidding system etc)? If there is a previous thread, please point me in that direction.

Thanks

[flybywire]

jde is right till 2004-2005 BA would tell you what base you were going to fly from only mid-course!!! So...not old timer at all, AMS-LHR!!!!

I speak for myself and my colleagues we fought a lot for people like you to know where they were going to work before they applied/started working for BA.

Having said that they can give you a contract let's say based at LHR EF but send you to WW for a secondment or any other combination possible. They have the "right" to send you to another fleet during the first 2 years if requirements dictate so.

[lovethesky]

remember we are also very very short of crew at lhr euro, and with 100 crew due to move to longhaul this month we wll be even shorter. i think those in the euro pool will be contacted soon but they will try and bully u into lgw first. when i started 3 years ago and was waiting for a course i got offered lgw str8 away and was told no more courses for lhr for a while, then 2 weeks later got a euro start date.!!!!
nothing changes.

dont be bullied into lgw it is a fab base, but you earn peanuts, lgw is in a mess because soooo many people are leaving, that should say enuff

[flybywire]

You are indeed right about people leaving SFLGW, howver, just my humble thought, it's not very nice to make lgw base look like c**p. BA doesn't bully anyone into joining, yes they might offer lgw when it's available but for my experience the people who offer courses know nothing anout what's coming up (I worked for the training admin when grounded and I never knew anything in advance myself) so if they say we do not know how long it'll take to place you on a LHR course it's because they do not know what the plan is in advance!!!)

There are good and bad points for both bases, but the last thing we want is new but annoyed crew to join our base because they believe they have been "bullied" into comin to LGW.At the end of the day nobody signs for them, the responsibility is only theirs. Things are a bit different from when you and I joined, now you know what you're applying for and you can stick to what you want, even if it cantake years.

LGW is not as bad as it is described by who doesn't work there, it's true it's facing some problems now as many people (particularly new crew) have left and I believe that one of the many reasons is because of all the negativity that goes around. Unfortunately grumpy people are contagious!!!

[Londonphilou]

Lgw/lhr

I am intrigued by this ongoing debate between LGW and LHR supporters. I am personally not a sun and sea person and being at Gatwick would mean flying to the Carribean a lot. I have chosen LHR because of Im more of a city person. I understand the money is a little bit more at LHR but you still need money to spend when you are away. And I suppose it comes to the individual at the end of the day. The person who drinks less, dont smoke and dont splash on expensive stuff will take more money home, right? So whether you are at Gatwick or not, its how you manage your money that really counts.

[Jay_solo]

£££££££

With a basic £10,399 on offer for LGW vacancy, I worked out (via online PAYE tax calc) you can take home around £745 after tax and NI. Obviously this figure excludes allowances. So on average, how much do you take home with allowances on top of basic? (A ball park figure would do) The BA website say its possible to make £500 per month. Is it realistic to consistantly make around that figure (totaling around £1200 pm)


Thanks

[RNboi]

Jay, Ignore all the hype that you read from a few months ago on this forum regarding appalling take home pay, that was last year when we were going throught the transition to Single Fleet and we had too many crew to man the routes as they were phased over to us.

Now that it is all up and running the take home pay is usually satisfactory, I work at LGWSF and usually take home approx £1450-£1600 per month and I only joined in 2006 so do not have years of annual increments behind me. Of course if you have leave or sickness this figure will be lower.

I have worked at both bases for BA and I have to say that I prefer LGW, it is all down to personal choice but at the outset you work where BA need you, currently LGW, if BA is your hearts desire as an employer then you should take it and transfer to LHR at a later date.

[Pax Agent]

AMS-LHR has it spot on....LGW is fantastic fun with fantastic crew who are ALWAYS up for another party downroute!!! I have some brilliant memories already after only 10 months!
Also pls ignore the money thing where people spout off about taking home £900. These are the people who either go mad with their crew card then wonder where there pay has gone....are part time....or bid for SBY and there + backs!!!
I have 10 months seniority (which funnily enough means there are approx 400 peeps below me with more to follow) and I can take home on average £1300-£1600 after my crewcard deductions and union dues etc etc.
Considering I also have to claim another payrise this year and a further in Feb next year it really doesn't take long to boost your wages.
The money is still in BA but you have to work your way up to it!

Good luck guys....and for those of you coming to LGWSF...my room at 7 for a room party....yeah!?

XX

[Pax Agent]

for attn of Jaysolo....you are looking at obviously £500 being a bad month.
£600 would be if you were unlucky with yr roster £700 average and £800 a good month. THis month I have a 7 day Antigua plus an Orlando, Dallas, Houston and Amsterdam night stops. Plus with 1 day rest day working my allowances are working out at approx £1000!!!!!!!

[lovethesky]

its good to hear that things arnt as bad as said at lgw. but how often would you £1000 per month in allowances?? at lhr euro £1000 is a bad month, £1700 in allownces can be achievable, with an average of £1400 in allowances.

[Pax Agent]

love the sky do you actually work for eflhr? £1700 eems a bit (alot) far fetched to me! Unless you get constant ZRH ZRH GVA ZRH but remember everyone is looking for the money routes!

[BA Boi]

£1,700 in allowances ontop of basic salary is certainly achieveable on EF LHR, however, a more regular figure would be £1,300 to £1,500 in allowances.

.

[Jay_solo]

Thanks guys, you all answered my question. Now that I have established that the pay after basic is very good, this is more encouraging. I would prefer LGW because I live very close by (20 mins by train), so communting and stby wouldnt be a problem. Plus I am from the caribbean and I travel stateside alot. So the routes would suit me perfectly.

Just another question, I heard they issue you a blind line for your first roster? So does that mean you can't bid for anything? Can you swap a trip or days off on your first roster? And what about your second roster?

Also, I know training is at Gatwick with about a week at heathrow, do you train on the weekends too?

Thanks