BAConnect & Flybe
 

Dear Colleagues,

Thought we should start a joint BACON/FLYBE thread for us cabin crew about the takeover of BACON by FLYBE. Anyone any views on this? Personally I just want something to happen, the waiting is getting everyone down here at BACON??:sad:

well done :D
its the lack of communication that is becoming annoying now,we dont know where we're at with the whole deal and whether its even going through, although rumour has it, papers may well be signed tomorrow (how romantic!)

and still it goes on!
 

FYI Guys N Gals,

Been told today by my PM that signing has been put back to end of the month, something to do with Pilots agreement???

im not surprised,pilots havent agreed to anything,have they?

Are there any pilots left to agree anything with?? Seems like there are none left with the cancellation situation at the moment. So it looks like its agreed??

Its getting frustrating at Flybe too. We dont have a clue whats happening really. Got the March roster the other day and they aren't complete becasue the summer schedule has not been finalised due to the delays.

I am really excited to meet you all. Will be nice to see a few new faces. I am just gutted I wont be able to go on your baby embraer. Been told I am too tall :sad:

Baby Jet
 

WoW! You must be a GIANT TeaAnyone21! Seriously, 5-11 is max height for 145's, even little old me at 5-8 bumps my head on lockers if I haven't operated Baby Jet for a while! Where are you based, we have a coupla GIANTS at Brum who are in similar situation, at least they will fit the Qthingy and BIG Embraer you operate?

Fleet Office folk have been showing us the FLYBE uniform this week, SHUDDER! Still at least us boys get to wear blue, much more practical than the RED the ladies have to wear.

Sad to think it will be a while to go before we fly together, but lets hope not too long.

Andrew Strong is coming to BHX tommorrow, do you know if he plans to go to your crew room, I hear he is planned to visit ours??

Happy Flying!

5'11 we were told 5'9. Doesnt matter anyway I am 6ft maybe 6'1.

Been on days off so havent heard about the visit. On earlies tomorrow so will probably see him. Only met him once I think. (I am BHX by the way)

The uniform isn't that shocking. The blokes is better than the old one which never kept all its hanging buttons. Even I look slightly smart in it.

Oh tell the taller blokes that yes we do fit on the super-dash but be prepared to hit your head lots on the lockers!

Eek - Im 6'2". Does a hard hat come as part of the yummy uniform? Is the jacket still double breasted? Straight out of Howards Way....(anyone remember that. Those shoulder pads were FAB!)

BACON girlies who've been used to wearing trousers are going to have to start wearing skirts when the deal goes through... boxy pink ones, no less...

Not that keen on the uniform but at least if I spill some tomato juice on myself I wont look like I've been shot like I do now with my white blouse!!!

One of the hold-ups on the deal being signed could be the fact that half of the cabin crew balloted on the new cabin crew t&c's couldn't be arsed to return the ballot paper.......duh. It was rejected by such a small margin that the company now have to be re-balloted which holds progress up for all of us others.
All the cabin crew have been promised jobs....think about the rest of us that might not be in that position...talk about short sighted!

I know - I sent mine back the day I got it - they either can't be bothered to do anything but sit + moan or they just don't want to spend money on a stamp!:ugh:

Latest
 

According to the Bacon notice board here at B'ham, we are all being rostered a 'welcome to flybe' day in March, will all be trained on their product and delivering it from 24th. Seems interesting given that the deal has not been signed yet?

Also PM telling crew today we will all be measured for the red uniform over next coupla weeks and will be in it also by 24th March.

Pilots deal still not signed, AMICUS cabin crew being re-ballotted as they were the ones who said 'no way jose', and they need to sort the ex BRAL pension deal.

Interesting times ahead!

Yea,i believe management had a nice little trip to gatwick yesterday. Something to do with Uniform was mentioned then.But by 24th March?Bit soon,going by the current deadlines,which have so far been given but never met. I know the guys going to Cityflyer go there on the 1st March & those going to LCY start there on 25th March, but ive got a nice CDG GLA on the RJ i think on the 28th March....interesting.

With BA Cityflyer being the new name of LCY / EDI operations do they have their own website address ?

I dont think so. BACON/BACX never did, so im not expecting Cityflyer to have one either. Everything will still go through the main ba.com website.

Maybe the March date is not such a silly target. What with Andrew Strong at BHX this week and the go ahead given by OFT its at the later stages.

Obviously there are still issues but maybe BACON and Flybe have had enough and are just going for it.

The latest date we have heard is 28th Feb for signing the paperwork.

roster change today to welcome to flybe day on the 19th march,anyone else from BHX there on that date?
cant find the info about it in the bhx crew room tho.

BA Cityflyer open day
 

does anyone have any idea what the open day will consist of?want to be prepared so i can get pout of the sandpit! should you be there at 10am or a little later.. what questions do they ask?
please help me...

Well i guess that turning up after the start time for the open day wouldnt be a smart move!!!! seriously tho if your coming in from the land of sand for the job, please dont be fooled by the BA bit at the start of the name you will NOT be joining BA mainline, but a subsidary company on Terms and Conditions far removed from anything that mainline offer!

and pay that isnt mainline...and no transfers into mainline...and after a couple of years management will probably screw up again.....

ah but it will 'possibly' be flybe management anyway so forget all about mainline. They aren't that bad.

OBC's
 

Can anyone from flybe give us any idea what it's really like to fly for them? We hear masses of rumours about crewing being cack and changing rosters at short notice. The 'new' scheduling agreement has a dispuption clause that allows you to refuse if less than 48 hours before check in time ,which should help. Do you get put back on standby after flights? How often do you nightstop away from base? What are 50% and 70% rosters etc.

I'm at Brum, whats the management team like there? Our PM's are OK, some old, some new, all approachable.

well guess I can answer that for you.

Roster stability is not very good. I think its mainly due to staffing levels. To be honest BHX just dosn't lose crew but other bases are always recruiting. This means that us Brummies night stop... ALOT

For example I had standby this weekend on Sat and Sun. Checked in on Monday for my 'changed' flight and am now nightstopping in Belfast.

In all honesty I dont blame crewing for the disruption we get. At the end of the day they have to put crew on aircraft and we are definately short in several areas.

As I said stability is an issue and even after checking in for a flight you may not complete the same sectors as planned. Again on Monday I checked in for a double belfast but after the first two sectors we were told that we had to go to scotland. One aircraft went tech and we went to glasgow via edinburgh and back. Were supposed to be finished at about 21:30 but I left the crew room just before 23:00.

Standbys after a duty are common particularly in winter. Usually the BHD/GLA/EDI earlies will have 2 hours airport standby when we land. The good thing is that if the other aircraft are running ok we are allowed to head home instead of sitting in the terminal.

How much do we fly? Well Feb's roster came out and I had one nightstop in Jersey but so far have also stayed in Edinburgh for 2 nights and have Belfast this weekend. This month I am doing 61 sectors which is fairly average. We work different patterns. Usually 5 on 2 off but you will also get at least one 6 - 3 and occasionally you will do 4 - 1 - 4 which is a bit tiring but that happens very rarely.

Now it may not sound great but what with you loveley BA people coming over we have been assured that stability will improve for all crew. Also as you say there is a new scheduling agreement coming up which we haven't seen yet but are promised is better than current conditions.

This may not answer everything but if anyone has any more questions then just ask!

oh also the managers are really nice at BHX. We have two of them and they are always ready to listen and help with any issues that we have so don't worry about that. Plus (and i am probably biased) but we have great crew at BHX. Everyone gets along and you are guaranteed a laugh every day which makes even hard duties go much smoother.

Doesnt sound atrocious....doesnt even sound bad.in fact,im feeling quite positive.Just had my uniform fitting and its not as bad on as it looks off.starting to look forward to it now,although i will miss some of my friends,and also the RJ's,who will be moving on to cityflyer,back to mainline,or new ventures.

Sounds OK.................
 

TeaAnyone21,

Sounds OK??

I have met a couple of your crew on the bus, though some of you seem to avoid eye contact! I am pleased to hear you are a friendly bunch, we in BHX have a reputation as being the friendliest base in the region, p'raps its just us Brummies being nicer than the rest of the UK? (Just kidding folks!)

Suprised you have not seen the new agreement, it has floated around our crew room for a coupla weeks now, sadly I don't have a copy as I think it was for info until we join up. Our TU rep Emma used to work for you before and she has done a great job in getting an agreement which is very nearly what we operate to now.:D :D

Do you have info about your part time rosters? I look forward to eventually, once the SOP stuff is sorted and we get re-licenced, flying with all you lovely flybe guys n gals!

PS: Roll on the new uniform which we hear is due next year, don't think my old eyes can take too much red!


PPS: I can reassure everyone that us ex BACON crew are not stuck up or snobby!:ok:

see this is whats good everyone getting excited!!!

Sorry on behalf of anyone who seemed to be avoiding eye contact on the bus. We have had a few not so nice comments from some individuals and as you know everyone keeps to their crew most of the time anyway.

oh and NEW UNIFORM?? How do you guys know more than us. Cant wait if its true.

As I am full time I dont pay attention to the part time roster really but I know that some of the girls are on a 5 on 5 off roster. Availability is fairly none existant right now to go part time or 70% but again with the merged crews I am sure it will not be a problem. Obviously anyone who is already part time should get that honoured but not sure as I just serve the tea. ;)

yea ive noticed some avoiding eye contact or a smile.it doesnt hurt,were all going to be working together.nothing to be embarassed about!

I work for Bacon out of MAN but have worked out of BHX quite a lot + the crew are fabulous - BHX crew are so nice + down to earth :)

ok well i will try and say hi to whomever i see.

Nice to hear some positive comments for a change! So looking forward to starting my training sometime soon....PLEASE!! Has anyone heard anything about training dates for March or April?

AND a new uniform as well? I so hope the double breasted jacket goes, its like a reject out of Howards Way!:yuk:

The double breasted jacket has gone. Guys have a single breasted navy jacket now. Yet more positivity!!!!

I have applied for City Flyer...has to be better than easyJet...no cabin 'tidies' or emptying loo bins?

Cityflyer will have to do Cabin Tidies....
Im sure there are people on here going to Cityflyer,why not set up a seperate thread for that

uniform fittings
 

Well, here at Brum uniform fittings have started, the 'uniform' PM is running around encouraging all to try on stuff! Must be happening then!:hmm:

Still no idea about part time rosters, any flybe posters out there with this info please???:ugh:

whats this long haul rumour thats been mentioned in the Merger thread in terms & conditions?

reply
 

tiggerific,

Its in the flybe thread in cabincrew.com 'forum' section. Basically its a 'friend' of a stewardess who works in 'head office' saying she had heard it was a rumour and like a good confidential employee had wacked it onto the wwweb!:ugh:

Hi BACON/Flybe guys

finding this thread very interesting, Being an ex Jersey European/British European and Flybe guy I still like to catch up on goss with Flybe, and it helps still having friends in Flybe. So when news surfaced about Flybe/Bacon merger I was most suprised yet intrigued. From starting with flybe in the good old Jersey European days I saw a hell of alot change through BE to flybe, so now the merger has come up it is yet another juicy story.

Anyway just wanted to say to both Flybe and BACON guys I hope all goes well for you all and everything goes reletively smoothly, though if flybe ops, crewwing, management ect has not changed much in 2 years it could make for a interesting initial few months (NO OFFENCE to flybe crewing i got on with them very well and undewrstood the crap they had to deal with).

I will be interested to know what the story is with the BACON Flt Deck, Are they happy with the merger? or are the running?

Oh and Flybe guys what is the story with you lot operating on a/c types? you guys just sticking with dash and 146 or are you conversion training for BACON's fleet?

To this comment I am sure you meant no offence to easyjet (Thats where Iam living now) But to be fair its no where near as bad as you think. In fairness I belive many airlines (apart from the big boys) are now getting crew to do cabin tidies ect as it is a massive cost saver and I would not be suprised id City Flyer will be the same. End of that I could easily rabbit on about easyjet life but thats another story

Godd Luck with everything Flybe/BACON ;)