BA Direct Entry Pilot.
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,729
Likes: 104
From: The Winchester
No, not as such..in basic terms for guaranteed days off you have your 4 weeks leave, plus ,if you opt not to work in them you have a handful off wrap ( buffer) days associated with the leave,, plus 2 Duty Free weeks, and up to 6 Golden days you can also opt to take. Outside of that It's down to EASA.
How far in advance is the roster published?
Once published can the days worked be adjusted without consent?
Last edited by wiggy; 5th July 2019 at 13:45.
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 724
Likes: 24
From: UK
Not wanting to distract from what is a BA thread but comparisons can be useful and the point made was that the red and yellow machine has weekends off as part of a scheduling agreement rather than being miserable for a number of years until seniority becomes your friend.
The problem is BA doesn’t work like that, and in a seniority system you have to accept a period at the bottom. Which means years of majority weekend working.
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,729
Likes: 104
From: The Winchester
I'll emphasise that I don't agree that there should be a situation where somebody is forced to work every weekend outside of leave for years on end but we need to be careful of creating an impression that weekend working is very much more biased towards juniority than perhaps is actually the case.
Last edited by wiggy; 5th July 2019 at 18:50.
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 239
Likes: 0
From: FL370
I've just had a look at the rosters at the top of a longhaul senority list ( numbers < 100) and a significant number are working 2 or 3 weekends in July, and at least one is working 4. I'm not at that stratospheric level of seniority but I've just come a run of three weekends on the trot ( albeit by choice, to get the trips then subsequent days off I needed).
I'll emphasise that I don't agree that there should be a situation where somebody is forced to work every weekend outside of leave for years on end but we need to be careful of creating an impression that weekend working is very much more biased towards juniority than perhaps is actually the case.
I'll emphasise that I don't agree that there should be a situation where somebody is forced to work every weekend outside of leave for years on end but we need to be careful of creating an impression that weekend working is very much more biased towards juniority than perhaps is actually the case.
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 138
Likes: 0
From: London
Absolutely agree with the above. I’m in the top third on my fleet. In May I worked two weekends (my choice), June I worked every weekend (definitely not my choice!), July I’m working one weekend (my choice) and by using leave and golden days I already know I won’t be working any weekends in August.
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 204
Likes: 13
From: UK
The anecdote above, that senior people are working lots of weekends in July, is because BALPA/BA have recently incentivised weekend work that enables you to accumulate points that result in you not having to do 21 days of standby in a row (called ‘Reserve’)
So now if you’re junior you might get a few more weekends off than you used to, but you’re going to do a little more reserve as a consequence.
So now if you’re junior you might get a few more weekends off than you used to, but you’re going to do a little more reserve as a consequence.
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,729
Likes: 104
From: The Winchester
The anecdote above, that senior people are working lots of weekends in July, is because BALPA/BA have recently incentivised weekend work that enables you to accumulate points that result in you not having to do 21 days of standby in a row (called ‘Reserve’)
So now if you’re junior you might get a few more weekends off than you used to, but you’re going to do a little more reserve as a consequence.
So now if you’re junior you might get a few more weekends off than you used to, but you’re going to do a little more reserve as a consequence.
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 138
Likes: 0
From: London
The anecdote above, that senior people are working lots of weekends in July, is because BALPA/BA have recently incentivised weekend work that enables you to accumulate points that result in you not having to do 21 days of standby in a row (called ‘Reserve’)
So now if you’re junior you might get a few more weekends off than you used to, but you’re going to do a little more reserve as a consequence.
So now if you’re junior you might get a few more weekends off than you used to, but you’re going to do a little more reserve as a consequence.
Since the first day of the introduction of JSS I’ve had 3 weekends off and 2 of those were because of holidays, the other one I worked every other weekend that month I already made cap during those trips.
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 138
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From: London
I’m with you wiggy, I don’t think it has any effect. But as somebody who rather does his shopping during the week and were the other half works shifts as well it is a nice added bonus to avoid the reserve periods.
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 285
Likes: 0
From: UK
I’ve definitely changed my bid to allow more weekend work, top 10% on my fleet so have the choice fortunately. Its been emphasised it’s a temporary measure, so if I don’t need a weekend off specifically over the summer I’m working to gain the points before the rules change again.
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 995
Likes: 103
From: Botswana
Would be very surprised if that’s true. More people due to leave the fleet later in the year to the A350 and Heathrow especially is already undermanned in the RHS. Maybe that’s for non type rated perhaps?
Last comms from AK on the Yammer recruitment forum suggested short haul start dates in the autumn.
Last comms from AK on the Yammer recruitment forum suggested short haul start dates in the autumn.
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 86
Likes: 0
From: England
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 995
Likes: 103
From: Botswana
As far as the bases go I’m in a good position to comment as I did three years up the road in Heathrow and started at Gatwick in January. It depends what you’re after really, I came down to Gatwick for very specific reasons because I live in and commute from Jersey and was tired of trudging up and down the M25 prior to and after a block of work plus we nightstop in Jersey so, with my seniority here, am spending a lot more nights in my own bed nowadays.
Gatwick is hands down a friendlier and more welcoming base. The Eurofleet anti pilot agenda does not exist here so cabin crew do go out of their way to keep you fed and watered (has led to me putting on more than a few pounds though!) and actually start conversations with you. It’s amazing that something as trifling as that raised eyebrows in my first couple of weeks in Gatwick. The base is much smaller so it’s more of a community, you always see people you know and can say hello to in the FOB (briefing room).
The Captains are generally lovely to fly with and a bit more chilled out here than up the road, probably because they fly with guys with no experience all the time here so aren’t immediately on the defensive as soon as they see a two striper. It’s a more seasonal base so summers are manic and winters much quieter (although with reference to a previous post I didn’t experience that this winter due to the work that I bid for, Jersey nightstops which are all two day sixes with long links usually). As there’s only three nightstops time away from base is limited and therefore take home pay can be significantly lower than Heathrow where there are more nightstops and tours available.
Heathrow has JSS for bidding and Gatwick has Carmen. Carmen is a bit kinder to junior pilots so I gather, it tries to give at least some satisfaction to the junior guys and girls. It does have some serious flaws and limitations though and you have to get to know the ways to trick it into giving you what you what, but it will almost always be at the expense of something you want less. Life in a nutshell I guess!
So it really depends what you want. Gatwick only has three nightstops; JER, GLA & EDI (rumours of more coming possibly NAP and TFS but I’ll believe that when I see it). So if you want to be experiencing cities in Europe, nightstopping and earning better money go to Heathrow. You’ll have more nights in your own bed in Gatwick for sure.
Be aware though that reserve periods are much longer in LHR (21 days) and you’ll do them frequently for your first couple of years. The longest reserve period in Gatwick is 6 days. The flying in Gatwick can be a bit more challenging too if you like that as Heathrow is mainly ILS to ILS whereas there’s more destinations with non precision circling stuff in LGW, having said that a lot of them are now replaced by RNAV visuals with coded waypoints which is great for safety but has taken a lot of the fun and challenge out of it (I’m looking at you, Nice).
Best of luck with it whatever you decide and maybe see you on the line one day.
Joined: May 2018
Posts: 276
Likes: 1
From: South of the North pole
For those interested in Long Haul what are the chances of getting straight onto the A350 or A380 as a non type rate DEP? Also if short haul has no class dates until Q1 2020 then what about class dates for Long Haul on any fleet?
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
From: Europe
Anyone here applied on the NQPP earlier this year and had any success booking their assessment day? I was invited to the stage 1 assessment over a month ago but had no joy getting a date out of recruitment
Joined: May 2018
Posts: 276
Likes: 1
From: South of the North pole
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 118
Likes: 0
From: uk
With hundreds of P2s being unfrozen next year and obviously airbus qualified it would be an interesting move by BA to take DEPs onto the 380 or 350...
Personally my bid is to remain shorthaul (top 20 percent) but I imagine there would be a lot of gnashing of teeth if there are large numbers of DEPs long haul.
Personally my bid is to remain shorthaul (top 20 percent) but I imagine there would be a lot of gnashing of teeth if there are large numbers of DEPs long haul.
