BA Direct Entry Pilot.

[Wireless]

Originally Posted by wiggy

Oh it's not just me then....

No, I call day 3/return home day my "just inching off being single/right, that's it I'm jacking this LH crap in if I live through the night and don't melt or self combust along with the sofa" day.

Day 1 off is "being single immediate threat over/it's ok really, just have a small bit of washing and some chores" day.

Day 2 off is....." more chores/ oh not that bloody suitcase again [insert location of where you live]" day

[applecrumble]

Can someone who knows what's what say roughly how widespread this unpaid leave offer is.
Has it been offered to all fleets?
I thought there were a fair few long haulers knocking up against 900H?

[wiggy]

Can someone who knows what's what say roughly how widespread this unpaid leave offer is.
Has it been offered to all fleets?

Not sure what level of detail it's safe to print here, so forgive me if I simply say it's not across the board; it's targetted to about half a dozen specific combinations of Fleets and seats. It's certainly looks like it's available widely on short/midhaul haul types, it's slightly less available on longhaul....I'll let those with an interest draw their own conclusions.

The 900 hour'ish Longhaulers are separate issue and I'm sure will be dealt with as per the usual longstanding procedure ( i.e. via the monthly bid process by to some extent limiting trip selection), rather than standing down targetted indviduals as part of an unpaid leave process.

[applecrumble]

Thank you Wiggy.

[FlipFlapFlop]

As a swimmer I have not been over encouraged by the posts over the last few days. Suspect I will be hanging around north of London for a bit longer. Still, its better than Doha.

[applecrumble]

With any luck we will be allowed to remain in the pool until there is a requirement. It's not in BA's interest to make us do it all again.
To be fair, the plan changes very quickly so what's happening now doesn't guarantee what's going to happen next year.
Last year there was unpaid voluntary leave offered on short haul. DEP's joined in Jan/Feb. Go figure.

[FlipFlapFlop]

Hope you are right applecrumble but BA do have history here.

[applecrumble]

I know, fingers crossed.
I would hope that it is hard to justify chucking suitable candidates out of the pool when it costs so much. In this day and age of cost cutting and competition.

[Reversethrustset]

Unfortunately they won't bat an eyelid regarding costs and what's sensible, if they want to disband the hold pool again they'll just do it at will.

[skyloone]

BA HR seem pretty good at blowing cash. I suspect it's a sort of "justifying" the jobs/headcount they have. The old mantra..... look busy!

[thetimesreader84]

Realistically though, how much does it cost?

Day 1; A days wage for someone to administer, then mark the written tests. A proportion of the purchase cost of said test (which given that they will be used across the BA organisation, for engineers, clerical etc etc, means that proportion is less), the purchase cost of the computer exams.

Day 2; a days wage for 6 or so pilots, plus 6 or so HR bods. Some money for a round of Tesco sandwiches.

So for the first 2 screening days, the main cost is wages, I'd say. And given that these people are already employed full time, they'd be paying that wage anyway.

Mentally I'm resigned to having to go through the whole rigmarole again.

[PPRuNeUser442803]

Originally Posted by thetimesreader84

Mentally I'm resigned to having to go through the whole rigmarole again.

My expiriation is in exactly 12 months, and from what I read I am fairly convinced that that time will come and go with no offer. Not sure that I will put myself through it all again, I'll be within 2 yrs of a command where I am by then...

A quick vow-pox from people - given the 18 month hold pool time now, when do you sink?

[thetimesreader84]

June '18.

And similar, will be looking at command board at current airline at the end of 2018.

[wiggy]

The old and overly posh HR types working at BA have an archaic view of things and could be the grandmas of most of the pilots BA has hired over the last 3 years.

For the sake of accuracy I'm not sure how many of the actual "HR types" would be BA employees these days ( Waterside has been well and truely denuded of staff over the last few years) , they are described in a lot of the literature as "HR associates", which my guess means they are consultants - though I'm open to correction and in any event accept that BA has to carry the can for any impressions given.

That aside reading the comments here I can accept that overall it may not be perceived as a great experience for many - I think the mad dash to recruit a year or two back has led to expectations which may now not be delivered, but sadly it's also fairly typical of the roller coaster ride that can be the 'BA employee experience' ...

[VJW]

Lots of good points mentioned above. Regarding the cost to BA to run the recruitment process; yes it might not cost a great deal to empty the pool and start again but in this day and age of cost cutting, you do wonder what's the point of incurring any additional unnecessary costs though?

Having failed a couple times prior to being successful this last time I do know for us candidates it's certainly not easy to pass, but I wonder what their logic is regarding our ability to do the job if after 18 months they don't offer us one. Provided we are still working in our current airline and having already passed BA, what exactly do BA think has happened to our ability in this time? As far as I can see we've only gone and gained even more experience and are bringing even more to the table.

It is of course their train set, and while I'm still positive I do know two things;
1. I'm happy I passed and am at least in this situation instead of having failed again, and
2. Having passed I now know then level you need to be at to get through. Should I need to do it all again, while I won't be overly happy, I'm pretty sure I'd pass.

FWIW I expire in early March 2018.

[wiggy]

in this day and age of cost cutting, you do wonder what's the point of incurring any additional unnecessary costs though?

Agreed, dumping the pool and starting again would fly in the face of the increasing frequency of communicatuons we get about the need to cut costs.

[polepilot]

I expire Feb 2018 but am suprised the guys expiring later in 2018 are not more confident of a call seeing that 2018 has all the aircraft deliveries.... I however expect no phone call personally

[PPRuNeUser442803]

It's the glimmer of hope I cling too!

[wiggy]

Remember that roller coaster ride I mentioned earlier? Here's an example - same source for both stories (Bloomberg)

1. Feb 2016: "IAG Seeks to Expand British Airways Fleet "

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...atlantic-gains

2. Nov 2016: "British Airways Pares Fleet Plan, Seeks Job Cuts"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...ve-1-6-billion

[Saab0409]

Still expiring October 2017, so could be worse lads