BA Direct Entry Pilot.
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 898
Likes: 73
From: UK
Right to request (RTR) part time is either 75% or 50% and works 3 weeks on then one week off, or two weeks on and two weeks off.
Several years ago, it was determined to be illegal to discriminate between someone just wanting more time off for whatever reason, and someone wanting more time off for childcare or what have you. BA have indeed given right to request part time to people who have no childcare or other caring roles, and the reason for the request was given as “I’m working too hard”. Saying that, part time is considered on an order of application basis, and granted or rejected case by case. There is often a long wait of about a year from date of request to actually working part time, in order to fit in around the needs of the business. Requests are often rejected outright, and some requests for RTR part time are granted on a purely temporary basis.
At the moment, you can get back from a trip on the last day of your available days, and the industrial or EASA required days off are within your unpaid part time days off. (The cabin crew have to have their industrial/EASA days off contained within their available to work days for both part time and leave, whereas the pilots have never had that). Pilots do have wrap days attached to leave, which may have been designed to account for that, but they do not currently exist attached to part time days off). BALPA have apparently compared part time rosters and full time rosters and determined that typically, part time pilots are working harder than their adjusted full time equivalents. ie a 75%RTR pilot is doing more than 75% of a full time pilot’s workload. However recent legal findings elsewhere suggest this might need to change.
With all of the above in mind, a request for part time does not require seniority, and your request will not be rejected simply because you are junior. That being said, whether junior or senior, you cannot assume your request will be granted.
Several years ago, it was determined to be illegal to discriminate between someone just wanting more time off for whatever reason, and someone wanting more time off for childcare or what have you. BA have indeed given right to request part time to people who have no childcare or other caring roles, and the reason for the request was given as “I’m working too hard”. Saying that, part time is considered on an order of application basis, and granted or rejected case by case. There is often a long wait of about a year from date of request to actually working part time, in order to fit in around the needs of the business. Requests are often rejected outright, and some requests for RTR part time are granted on a purely temporary basis.
At the moment, you can get back from a trip on the last day of your available days, and the industrial or EASA required days off are within your unpaid part time days off. (The cabin crew have to have their industrial/EASA days off contained within their available to work days for both part time and leave, whereas the pilots have never had that). Pilots do have wrap days attached to leave, which may have been designed to account for that, but they do not currently exist attached to part time days off). BALPA have apparently compared part time rosters and full time rosters and determined that typically, part time pilots are working harder than their adjusted full time equivalents. ie a 75%RTR pilot is doing more than 75% of a full time pilot’s workload. However recent legal findings elsewhere suggest this might need to change.
With all of the above in mind, a request for part time does not require seniority, and your request will not be rejected simply because you are junior. That being said, whether junior or senior, you cannot assume your request will be granted.
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 995
Likes: 103
From: Botswana
Totally agree Jwscud, now the older people are being discriminated against when they end up junior to someone X years younger than them who will thus be ahead of them in career progression for the entirety of their career however, if the roles were reversed, the younger pilot would have X years not even worrying about the older guy because they’ve retired from the MSL. If it’s a discrimination issue I fail to see how that’s not been raised.
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 0
Likes: 0
From: Germany
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
From: surrey
[QUOTE =VinRouge;10633711]
Names out of a hat. Done by the recruitment team prior to joining. I thought it would be more fun to do it when you arrived day one at Waterside![/QUOTE]
Would you be able to know who was higher?
Names out of a hat. Done by the recruitment team prior to joining. I thought it would be more fun to do it when you arrived day one at Waterside!
Would you be able to know who was higher?
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
From: uk
It's very straightforward to commute from Central London. Heathrow workers get a 50% (pretty sure it's 50% but either way it's heavily discounted) on the Heathrow Express. You've also got the tube and the "TFL Train" which used to be known as Heathrow Connect. Plenty of people do it on short and long haul.
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 0
Likes: 0
From: Germany
Yep. You can see everyone’s seniority from pretty much day one.
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,729
Likes: 104
From: The Winchester
Every month when the bidding cycle starts as part of the published bidding package you get a status list of with the names on your fleet and their seniority number on the Master Senority List, the smaller the number the more senior they are...so yes, you would know.
FWIW you don’t actually see the seniority numbers changing on a monthly basis (due to people leaving), they only get recalculated/reallocated once a year.
FWIW you don’t actually see the seniority numbers changing on a monthly basis (due to people leaving), they only get recalculated/reallocated once a year.
Last edited by wiggy; 7th December 2019 at 16:40.
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
From: surrey
Every month when the bidding cycle starts as part of the published bidding package you get a status list of with the names on your fleet and their seniority number on the Master Senority List, the smaller the number the more senior they are...so yes, you would know.
FWIW you don’t actually see the seniority numbers changing on a monthly basis (due to people leaving), they only get recalculated/reallocated once a year.
Pretty neat you can actually see nonetheless!
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 336
Likes: 3
From: somewhere in the middle
FWIW you don’t actually see the seniority numbers changing on a monthly basis (due to people leaving), they only get recalculated/reallocated once a year.
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 6,729
Likes: 104
From: The Winchester
The official number (that’s used for fleet changes etc) only gets updated once per year, but there’s a third party app (rhymes with “ShyKid”) that uses the monthly bid pack and some voodoo magic to guesstimate your current actual seniority. I’m led to believe if you’re in the bottom 2/3rds or so (as most of us are) it’s pretty accurate.
Of course most months it's probably more important to know where roughly you stand on a fleet, rather than where you are on the MSL. Back in the days of paper bid packs it was usually a question of "what page are you on"?
Nowadays I know the app(s) often tell you how many bidders on your fleet are senior to you but when you then hear that Global Constraints has clobbered the roster of somebody who is 97% off the bottom/3% off the top of their list you wonder if even that info is worth having ..
Last edited by wiggy; 8th December 2019 at 07:41. Reason: of..
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 1,092
Likes: 48
Global constraints ?
...
GS-A wrote -
Is 'Global Constraints' a posh name for 'Optimisation' or are they separate processes ?
Doesn't sound very transparent either way.
...
GS-A wrote -
Global constraints is a particularly brutal part of JSS, and yet was hardly even mentioned during the which bidding program debate.
Doesn't sound very transparent either way.
...
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
From: UK
Applied last June, request came through this month. Start LGW next month. Very quick and unexpected so soon. Looking forward to it.
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 71
Likes: 0
From: Timba Hold
Got my transfer approved about 2 months after I requested it- moved the next month. Best decision you can make whilst on SH.
Last edited by MikeAlpha320; 9th December 2019 at 03:30. Reason: spelling
