BA s/haul

[Dozza2k]

Couple of questions if possible on the 73 vs bus if I may.....


annual/ monthly hours, do you tend to get maxed out on both or is one fleet a little harder working?

Do you bid for rosters as in longhaul, or is it just allocated every month?

For a new joiner with no seniority is it true that you'll hardly see a weekend off for a little while?

Is it relativly easy to get certain days off if you are at the bottom of the list?

Are there any night stops on either fleet?


Cheers in advance.
D2K

[Carnage Matey!]

Both fleets working very hard now, 737 does (I think) about 800 hours per years with Airbus on 750ish but rising.

Rosters are bid for on both fleets. LHR uses Bidline which, with seniority can guarantee you days off. LGW uses the inferior Carmen system which is a bit more vague. Management would sell their mothers rather than introduce Bidline to LGW.

Yes. Absolutely.

No, unless they are midweek. Preferences can be expressed but more often than not are ignored. Really important days can be requested from the management but generally they've got to be along the line of some sort of compassionate requirement, in which case they're pretty good.

Airbus has nightstops galore. LGW has about 5 or 6.

[Da Dog]

At last count LGW had about 11 nightstops, At LGW you will work your balls of in the summer months, with just a slightly easier winter. That said the working environment at LGW is way easier than at LHR! Where it seems everybody is against you.

CARMEN whilst not as good as bidline ,is belive me better for Junior trash, if you bid for every weekend off in a month you are likley to get one.

[Dozza2k]

thanks for the info guys.
Is it true that they are gradually pulling out nightstops?

Also, BA aren't ordering 737's, only airbus' so putting two and two, does that mean in 7/8 yrs or whatever theres going to be no more 737's with BA only the bus in the short haul fleet? How old is the 73 fleet?


thanks
D2K

[Carnage Matey!]

Don't know about LGW but it would be very difficult for BA to pull out of nightstops at LHR. Early morning flights bring in a lot of revenue and transfer pax which would be lost to competitors, plus there's nowhere to park an extra 25 short haul hulls overnight. As for the 737s, don't know how old they are but if the 737s are replaced by 319s (as was the original plan) you'll get to do another conversion course or bid off the fleet. No job jeopardy involved.

[Dozza2k]

excellent, thanks for the info.
D2k

[Tandemrotor]

Their are (a few) B737s at LGW that can't be more than 6 years old. Obviously that won't be true for the majority of the fleet.

[DC10FAN]

All remaining 737s were built and first introduced into service between 1988 and 1995. The 733/735s are the oldest as they were operated by other carriers before BA.