Flybe Recruiting and Ts & Cs
Join Date: Jun 1999
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Info request
Thanks for your comments/replies re my original request - much appreciated. It's always useful to get a 'feel' for a company, as far as possible, before going to see them. I'm a bit wiser now than before; anyway I think I'll go today and see what sort of reception we receive - assuming, of course, I'm not there on my own!! I'll post again tomorrow to give my opinion on the day's events.....
Está servira para distraerle.
One waits with bated breath and panting anticipation!
Jersey European's jet fleet used to consist of that flying tractor affair, the BA146. Not that long ago the stepping stone to a jet type rating from the F27 necessitated a long period of baseing in Belfast. There is nothing wrong with that per se, and those who moved from the UK to Northern Ireland and took their families with them were, by and large, pretty happy I think. Those who went on their own and tried to commute were miserable. I believe that the company got so tired of pilots jump seating back and forth from Belfast to the mainland that they banned the practice.
Perhaps the jet type rating/qualification carrot does not come with the strings it used to but there were many in the days of JEA who who had problems with this aspect and the concurrent issues raised by the matters of seniority and salary.
Good luck!
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Perhaps with this in mind, some bright spark at Exeter, might decide to formulate a pilot profile for recruitment more in keeping with the company's long term prospects.
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Penzance, Penzance.
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Seniority! your avin a Larf ain't ya?
Virtually all terms and conditions have been thrown out the window. They do just as they please for the moment but as smokie says they will be in for a wake up call pretty shortly.
Virtually all terms and conditions have been thrown out the window. They do just as they please for the moment but as smokie says they will be in for a wake up call pretty shortly.
Está servira para distraerle.
It is amazing that, in a market which would seem to be more pilot orientated than has been the case for many years, companies can still use and abuse their crews to the extent that they seem to do. The inevitable conclusion must be that in reality the pilot supply market is still pretty well fixed in favour of the airlines.
Presumably any pilots who form a Flybe intake from today's little excercise in Birmingham, will join up under a contract which will predate and thus presumably escape any future wake up call? It would be in the company's best interests to bond as many potential employees as it can. By the same token, it should take inexperienced boys and girls whose financial situation will be so precarious that they will not be able to contemplate flying the Flybe coop until perhaps the market forces have changed again, presenting pilots with another downturn?
Join Date: May 2005
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The latest ploy is to Bond for 3 years NON REDUCING.
I don't know the legalities of that one but recent feed back indicates that it is unenforceable.
So sign up and jump ship when you can as you will more than likely get away with it.
I don't know the legalities of that one but recent feed back indicates that it is unenforceable.
So sign up and jump ship when you can as you will more than likely get away with it.
Está servira para distraerle.
A non reducing loan sounds rather like a balloon payment? In which case why should it not be enforceable?
It might be vainglorious to think that one could jump ship unscathed but it would probably be worth doing anyway.
One can fairly soon save a lot of money on what one was earning with a loco propellor operator and what one would earn with a jet operator. In addition to this differential in saving, there used to be some form of tax relief offered on self improver training costs which might apply to what would effectively have become a self funded type rating.
Air UK used to get the pilot to take out a loan with Nat West which the airline guarenteed to repay during the course of employment. The loan was a reducing one but on leaving earlier than the two year bond term, the pilot picked up the remainder of the debt with the bank. He then had the option of either clearing or continuing the debt until its logical conclusion. Clever little ploy that!
Join Date: Jun 1999
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Recruitment day
Just got back and, to be honest, feeling a bit disappointed with the much vaunted Pilot Recruitment Day.
I'm very keen to return to professional aviation after a 3 year 'lay off' but I don't think it will be with Flybe. I'm sure it will suit some people but at my grand age (50++) I don't really relish the idea of 4 and 5 sector days starting at some Godforsaken hour in the morning preceded by an hour or so of commuting from **** to Birmingham (assuming I was given Bhx).
Anyway all the right people were there saying all the right things (mostly), though the Flybe management team were never outnumbered by pilots, at least not whilst I was there!
Money and Ts and Cs were as previously quoted on this thread; by the way they're just looking for Q400 Captains at the moment. (Little hope of flying the 195 jet in anything less than about 5 years!).
Lots of talk about an imminent pay rise - but they would say that I suppose. Also several people saying how hard we would be working but that it will improve as time goes on, etc., etc. (Think I've heard that a few times over the last 25 years or so!).
There it is in a nutshell. Like I say it may well suit some but it doesn't really suit my own circumstances.
Anyway it's not all negative - I did get a cup of tea and a glass of still water!
Hope the inflight service is a bit more generous....!
I'm very keen to return to professional aviation after a 3 year 'lay off' but I don't think it will be with Flybe. I'm sure it will suit some people but at my grand age (50++) I don't really relish the idea of 4 and 5 sector days starting at some Godforsaken hour in the morning preceded by an hour or so of commuting from **** to Birmingham (assuming I was given Bhx).
Anyway all the right people were there saying all the right things (mostly), though the Flybe management team were never outnumbered by pilots, at least not whilst I was there!
Money and Ts and Cs were as previously quoted on this thread; by the way they're just looking for Q400 Captains at the moment. (Little hope of flying the 195 jet in anything less than about 5 years!).
Lots of talk about an imminent pay rise - but they would say that I suppose. Also several people saying how hard we would be working but that it will improve as time goes on, etc., etc. (Think I've heard that a few times over the last 25 years or so!).
There it is in a nutshell. Like I say it may well suit some but it doesn't really suit my own circumstances.
Anyway it's not all negative - I did get a cup of tea and a glass of still water!
Hope the inflight service is a bit more generous....!
Está servira para distraerle.
Sounds rather familiar, four year lay off, 60-, and no inclination whatsoever to enter again that dreadful winter wonderland of UK short haul flying. It will never, ever get better because the airline will never, ever, employ enough pilots to operate a proper Standby system and it is the chronic failure to operate such a Standby system, especially for Captains, that is the cause of the chronic fatigue and company FTL abuse circular connundrum.
Join Date: May 2005
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Why would anyone want to join a company that continually:
1) Takes the p1ss out of the FTL's,
2) Tries to rob you of your leave,
3) Feeds you foul crew food with maggots in,
4) Spends a small fortune employing Union Busters to prevent the cabin crews from joining the Transport and General Workers Union?
The link below to "The Burke Group" says it all really
http://www.djburke.com/services.aspx?cid=5
72jetjok, I hope you didn't have any of the sandwhiches
1) Takes the p1ss out of the FTL's,
2) Tries to rob you of your leave,
3) Feeds you foul crew food with maggots in,
4) Spends a small fortune employing Union Busters to prevent the cabin crews from joining the Transport and General Workers Union?
The link below to "The Burke Group" says it all really
http://www.djburke.com/services.aspx?cid=5
72jetjok, I hope you didn't have any of the sandwhiches
Está servira para distraerle.
One very senior partner in one smaller airline once told a Captain of my acqaintance that he should not bother with FTLs because her husband, the chief pilot, had written them anyway, having been asked to do so by the CAA!
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Why would anyone join? Sadly my application to Dreamworld airlines where they pay for the type rating, re-imburse your flying training fees from PPL to ATPL, pay 50% more salary each year, final salary pension scheme and only work 3 days a week must have got lost in the post! Get a life!
How about because we have loans to pay back, have invested years and thousands of pounds towards the training and fancy lots of flying hours in a new turbo prop! It does pi$$ me off when those already flying forget just how hard it is to get that first job on the airline ladder the minute they get the job! They may not be the best paying airline but compared to Southwest they pay a fortune!
Sadly my application to Dreamworld airlines where they pay for the type rating, re-imburse your flying training fees from PPL to ATPL, pay 50% more salary each year, final salary pension scheme and only work 3 days a week must have got lost in the post! Get a life!How about because we have loans to pay back, have invested years and thousands of pounds towards the training and fancy lots of flying hours in a new turbo prop! It does pi$$ me off when those already flying forget just how hard it is to get that first job on the airline ladder the minute they get the job! They may not be the best paying airline but compared to Southwest they pay a fortune!
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Flybe
MVE, calm down mate! Although I agree with you that slagging off an airline for the sake of it is not constructive, you have to realise that this thread has the title: "Flybe Pilot Recruitment Day" and as such it is geared towards the experienced applicant, Captains and high time F/O's.
Someone mentioned that as they work as hard as other low cost carriers they should be paid the same, well it does not work that way! If you want 737 or 320 salary go and fly one...
From what I can see if you only have turbo prop command time then the salary for a Q400 Skipper works out better than joining a loco as an F/O. Jets are not the be all and end all so a reasonable wage and home every night might suit some, rather than going orange or Irish...
72jetjok, thanks for your input, was anything mentioned about basing policy? Did anyone else go to the presentation?
Someone mentioned that as they work as hard as other low cost carriers they should be paid the same, well it does not work that way! If you want 737 or 320 salary go and fly one...
From what I can see if you only have turbo prop command time then the salary for a Q400 Skipper works out better than joining a loco as an F/O. Jets are not the be all and end all so a reasonable wage and home every night might suit some, rather than going orange or Irish...
72jetjok, thanks for your input, was anything mentioned about basing policy? Did anyone else go to the presentation?
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Seems like they need lots of people in all of their bases; I enquired about Birmingham and was told 'no prob'.
I was there for about 2 hours and it appeared to be very poorly attended...
not sure whether to throw an application at them or not (I'm not flying at the mo' and am keen to get back again, though I'm not very enthralled about a 3 year non-reducing bond for £13500!!).
I was there for about 2 hours and it appeared to be very poorly attended...
not sure whether to throw an application at them or not (I'm not flying at the mo' and am keen to get back again, though I'm not very enthralled about a 3 year non-reducing bond for £13500!!).
I REALLY SHOULDN'T BE HERE
Even if you are intent on moving onto a jet carrier before the three years has expired, two years of the pay difference should amply cover the cost in most cases.
What do you expect if leave fourteen months after joining? A pat on the back and a thank you? In these days of SSTRs and people paying for hours on type, this bond seems a fair, transparent scheme.
sr
Last edited by speedrestriction; 16th Sep 2006 at 19:38. Reason: fat fingers again
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Slightly off topic I know, but I'm just curious about the mechanics of the 3 year non-reducing bond.
At present, the pilots effectively have a personal loan agreement with Barclays for the £13500, and each month the company pays the repayment plus interest into your account on pay day, to be transferred 3 days later to Barclays. If you leave before your bond is up, you repay Barclays whatever the sum remaining happens to be. Fairly simple.
However, if the bond is now non-reducing, does this mean it is repayable to Flybe? Have Barclays been dropped? If not, then I can't see how you can be making monthly loan repayments and then be asked to repay £13500 at any point within 3 years should you move on.
At present, the pilots effectively have a personal loan agreement with Barclays for the £13500, and each month the company pays the repayment plus interest into your account on pay day, to be transferred 3 days later to Barclays. If you leave before your bond is up, you repay Barclays whatever the sum remaining happens to be. Fairly simple.
However, if the bond is now non-reducing, does this mean it is repayable to Flybe? Have Barclays been dropped? If not, then I can't see how you can be making monthly loan repayments and then be asked to repay £13500 at any point within 3 years should you move on.
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My understanding is you are bonded for the £13.5K for three years (as I am), and if you leave before then, you are liable for the rest of the payments until the balance is paid off in full....
eg. if you leave after 18 months you have to continue the (£406.22pm) payments for the remainding 18 months.....
Now a few of my friends are leaving, (I'm trying) before the 3 years are up, and what most are doing is paying the balance back in full, as the interest on the Barclays (flybe arrangement) bond is pretty high, getting themselves another loan with MUCH lower interest, paying the remainder back, and flying for another airline that pays normal wages = being much better off!
ESCAPE IS IMMINENT!
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endofeng
eg. if you leave after 18 months you have to continue the (£406.22pm) payments for the remainding 18 months.....
Now a few of my friends are leaving, (I'm trying) before the 3 years are up, and what most are doing is paying the balance back in full, as the interest on the Barclays (flybe arrangement) bond is pretty high, getting themselves another loan with MUCH lower interest, paying the remainder back, and flying for another airline that pays normal wages = being much better off!
ESCAPE IS IMMINENT!
-------------------
endofeng
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I think endofeng misunderstood the question. As far as I am aware, the guys with a non-reducing bond merely have a contractual agreement with the company. No payments are made over the three year period, if you leave then the entire sum is still owed.
Win - win for flybe. They don't pay any interest on loans and they get more cash back when people leave. Disgraceful!
Win - win for flybe. They don't pay any interest on loans and they get more cash back when people leave. Disgraceful!