BA Direct Entry Pilot.
Join Date: Nov 2013
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BA
Whilst studying for the assessments I only concentrated on Maths and Verbal reasoning. I didn't give any time to the computer based assessments. I think you have either got it or you haven't with them, us 80's babies are fortunately from the playstation generation and believe that if you could play one of them you shouldn't have too many worries when it comes to the tests.
Best of luck to all who have applied.
Anyone on the 11th May intro course? PM me. Looking for friends......
Best of luck to all who have applied.
Anyone on the 11th May intro course? PM me. Looking for friends......
Join Date: Apr 2015
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Wide body,
2 guys I know who simmed recently got Airbus and a 75 rated mate got 76, so there are a few long haul slots available. I think it's luck of the draw but type ratings don't seem to factor usually. My sim is imminent and happy either way should the gods be smiling.
2 guys I know who simmed recently got Airbus and a 75 rated mate got 76, so there are a few long haul slots available. I think it's luck of the draw but type ratings don't seem to factor usually. My sim is imminent and happy either way should the gods be smiling.
Join Date: Sep 2011
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Hi folks,
Looking for some advice on whether I should apply. I've done all the usual lists etc, and it can be taken for a given that there would be a financial gain in moving to BA (assuming I could jump through the requisite hoops), but lifestyle is making me have doubts and I'm wondering if there's anyone who has jumped from a similar position would care to share some thoughts.
Currently on a TP with a base in Scottish home town. Happy with the job (mostly), command ready and not a million miles off happening, and both mine and mrs_drift's majority of family and friends living nearby. The money isn't fantastic, and even LHS will still just be TP money, but not starving, and have a reasonable amount of input into my roster. Moving Mrs_D South would have a significant career impact for her and although she likes the idea of a change, I suspect would result in frequent trips north, so really I'm looking at commuting.
Assuming the rules stay the same and I'm not struck down before retirement, I've a smidge over another 30 years of doing this, and the itch to ditch the TP is growing, but the non-flying life is good just now and I'm certain would suffer.
Anybody jumped in and care to share their thoughts/experience?
Looking for some advice on whether I should apply. I've done all the usual lists etc, and it can be taken for a given that there would be a financial gain in moving to BA (assuming I could jump through the requisite hoops), but lifestyle is making me have doubts and I'm wondering if there's anyone who has jumped from a similar position would care to share some thoughts.
Currently on a TP with a base in Scottish home town. Happy with the job (mostly), command ready and not a million miles off happening, and both mine and mrs_drift's majority of family and friends living nearby. The money isn't fantastic, and even LHS will still just be TP money, but not starving, and have a reasonable amount of input into my roster. Moving Mrs_D South would have a significant career impact for her and although she likes the idea of a change, I suspect would result in frequent trips north, so really I'm looking at commuting.
Assuming the rules stay the same and I'm not struck down before retirement, I've a smidge over another 30 years of doing this, and the itch to ditch the TP is growing, but the non-flying life is good just now and I'm certain would suffer.
Anybody jumped in and care to share their thoughts/experience?
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: England
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Glen King,
No body is coming onto the 767 as it goes out of service in mid 2017. People who are on it are being denied moves to other fleets to avoid wasteful training of new guys for such a short time. This was from a senior manager in the last 7 days.
Max Drift.
Why not apply and give it your all. You will only have a dilemma if you actually get offered a slot. In the meantime use it as an opportunity to keep your interview and selection skills up to date.
Regards
No body is coming onto the 767 as it goes out of service in mid 2017. People who are on it are being denied moves to other fleets to avoid wasteful training of new guys for such a short time. This was from a senior manager in the last 7 days.
Max Drift.
Why not apply and give it your all. You will only have a dilemma if you actually get offered a slot. In the meantime use it as an opportunity to keep your interview and selection skills up to date.
Regards
Why not apply and give it your all. You will only have a dilemma if you actually get offered a slot.
max, you may well get a pay rise by moving to BA, but the other hand don't forget to factor in the cost of buying/living etc etc in the south east in the financial calculations(apologies ahead of time if you've already done that).
As for commuting as an option, yep, certainly possible for Long Haul and certainly possible on a short Haul part time roster....whether it's really possible and sustainable on the sort of rosters full time short haulers are working these days ( and over which you'll have almost zero control) I'll leave for somebody else to answer.
Last edited by wiggy; 24th Apr 2015 at 12:20.
Join Date: Apr 2015
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Binsleepin
Must be a breakdown in communication then as another friend has been given a July start date on the 767 as well. Must have their wires crossed. I don't think SH or LH matters that much to either.
Must be a breakdown in communication then as another friend has been given a July start date on the 767 as well. Must have their wires crossed. I don't think SH or LH matters that much to either.
Join Date: Feb 1999
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I'd say that commuting on a full time SH roster would be almost impossible. The early starts at LHR would often mean you coming in the night before. There are a few "commuting" lines in the bid pack, but they are always going to the mega senior guys.
The real pain in the ass are the long times spent sitting in the canteen (particularly at weekends) waiting 2, 3, or even 4 hours for the next flight. This has no impact on credit for the trip and it makes the days very long. It's totally inefficient and certainly no low cost airline ( which we are compared to when it suits BA for cost comparison) has that. As a result, you spend a long time at work, for not a lot of credit in many lines of work. This has the by-product of allowing you to come in to work for another day, bcoz the 10 hour day you just worked only counts for 6 hours of credit. BALPA completely missed the ball on that one, and I'd suspect the very few SH reps there are on the BACC don't tend to experience those lines of work, so it's not on the radar. Perhaps the reps could pop into the canteen in T5 and gauge opinion from the many crews sat around waiting on any given day.
We can't get back what we gave up, or purposely chose not to negotiate for the 'greater good', so it ain't going to change for the better. BALPA sold EASA as allowing us to spend more time at home bcoz we can work harder when at work, but the reality is we are working harder and spending more days at work. Commuting for a new joiner would be very difficult.
The real pain in the ass are the long times spent sitting in the canteen (particularly at weekends) waiting 2, 3, or even 4 hours for the next flight. This has no impact on credit for the trip and it makes the days very long. It's totally inefficient and certainly no low cost airline ( which we are compared to when it suits BA for cost comparison) has that. As a result, you spend a long time at work, for not a lot of credit in many lines of work. This has the by-product of allowing you to come in to work for another day, bcoz the 10 hour day you just worked only counts for 6 hours of credit. BALPA completely missed the ball on that one, and I'd suspect the very few SH reps there are on the BACC don't tend to experience those lines of work, so it's not on the radar. Perhaps the reps could pop into the canteen in T5 and gauge opinion from the many crews sat around waiting on any given day.
We can't get back what we gave up, or purposely chose not to negotiate for the 'greater good', so it ain't going to change for the better. BALPA sold EASA as allowing us to spend more time at home bcoz we can work harder when at work, but the reality is we are working harder and spending more days at work. Commuting for a new joiner would be very difficult.
I commuted from Glasgow for 5 years whilst on short and, although I wouldn't describe it as a fun experience, it was (4 years ago) manageable. I can't comment on the feasibility of commuting on current rosters but it depends how determined you are to leave your family where they are. It does cost to commute and I eventually got fed up forking out cash for b & b's and the generally soulless existence. On the other hand, if you're playing the long game and are young enough, it might be worth it in the short term while you hold out for long haul.
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Just out of interest, how does the LCY-SNN-JFK operation work for Airbus crews? Is it a separate sub-fleet with crew assigned to doing that and nothing else? I've read various conflicting reports. I know it's relatively senior, but I was wondering how the nuts and bolts of it work for LCY trained crews? Do they tend to operate a normal short haul schedule out of LHR, with one or two JFK trips thrown in for good measure? Do LCY crews have to go through an internal selection process, or is it purely seniority driven?
Join Date: Oct 2004
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LCY-JFK fleet is, like EVERYTHING else in BA, based on seniority alone. Nothing else. It's a sub-fleet, and won't be available to any new joiner with less than 7-8 years in the company as it's a very cushy number.
Full time commuting from Scotland on SH sounds like quite a challenge at the moment. So max_drift, don't underestimate happiness!
Full time commuting from Scotland on SH sounds like quite a challenge at the moment. So max_drift, don't underestimate happiness!
Join Date: Oct 2013
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Interesting reading about the viability of commuting BA short haul. I'm a bit too old for BA and frankly not interested anyway. I doubt I would fit their profile, they probably wouldnt want me and thats fine as it doesn't (hard to belive I know) appeal to me anyway in absolute truth.
Anyway, it's interesting reading, especially off the back of the nightstop thread.
I commute currently on long haul. It's too easy to gloss over commuting and how it'll work with say 2 days off. It's tempting to think it'll work out but the reality is if you live over a few hours drive away any longer is a simple plain nightmare and down right impossible/pointless if you have to fly up to Scotland or Ireland. Reading of short haul guys on BA it seems it's mostly 2 days off. If you're in Scotland/Eire. How you going to do that? Honestly it'll be 1 local night at home. Maybe 5 nights a month. I do a block of 10-14 days at home in a go which is nice but downside is you're away for a stretch but prefer that to dabbing my toes into home for 24 hours before being away all week again. Just food for thought. As a commuter myself, if you've home/family more than a few hours drive away think carefully about your lifestyle. My rambling point being don't gloss over the commuting details like I did years back. It's actually the most important point unless you plan to up sticks and move.
Anyway, it's interesting reading, especially off the back of the nightstop thread.
I commute currently on long haul. It's too easy to gloss over commuting and how it'll work with say 2 days off. It's tempting to think it'll work out but the reality is if you live over a few hours drive away any longer is a simple plain nightmare and down right impossible/pointless if you have to fly up to Scotland or Ireland. Reading of short haul guys on BA it seems it's mostly 2 days off. If you're in Scotland/Eire. How you going to do that? Honestly it'll be 1 local night at home. Maybe 5 nights a month. I do a block of 10-14 days at home in a go which is nice but downside is you're away for a stretch but prefer that to dabbing my toes into home for 24 hours before being away all week again. Just food for thought. As a commuter myself, if you've home/family more than a few hours drive away think carefully about your lifestyle. My rambling point being don't gloss over the commuting details like I did years back. It's actually the most important point unless you plan to up sticks and move.
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As a short haul LCC commuter I'll give you my tuppence worth. First if I were you I would stay where you are. I can't comment on how things work for BA but I work the similar non fixed pattern as BA.
When you finish late you have to go back to your accommodation for a 3/4 hours sleep then get the first flight out in the morning. By the time you commute home, faff about getting home from the airport you're nearly at lunch time. You also have to try being civil to your loved ones when you're shattered having had next to no sleep and been up since 0500 to get that first flight Northbound. Red bull will your new best mate.
If you've just got 2 days off then it's likely 24 hours at home, 48 if you have three days off. You'll spend your life looking up flights, living out of a case. Then what if there's no seats on the plane? I live a 5 hour car or train ride back to base and that'll likely be worse for you being north or the border. Sometimes when I have two days off finishing on a late and starting back on an early, I just stay down in base as its not worth the trip back as there's no time to account for rest and recovering from the previous work week and preparing for the coming week.
Family events will become a thing if the past, your social life will tumble, you'll go long periods without seeing friends and even your family. If you've got relatives who aren't in the best of health either then it's really no fun being miles away from them.
It's all well and good flying a shiny jet and the wage that goes with it, but you can't put a price of being at home with your loved ones and friends and that alone is worth sticking at the TP gig for. I know I would.
Either that or you both move. Commuting without a fixed pattern for a short haul airline is not sustainable long term.
When you finish late you have to go back to your accommodation for a 3/4 hours sleep then get the first flight out in the morning. By the time you commute home, faff about getting home from the airport you're nearly at lunch time. You also have to try being civil to your loved ones when you're shattered having had next to no sleep and been up since 0500 to get that first flight Northbound. Red bull will your new best mate.
If you've just got 2 days off then it's likely 24 hours at home, 48 if you have three days off. You'll spend your life looking up flights, living out of a case. Then what if there's no seats on the plane? I live a 5 hour car or train ride back to base and that'll likely be worse for you being north or the border. Sometimes when I have two days off finishing on a late and starting back on an early, I just stay down in base as its not worth the trip back as there's no time to account for rest and recovering from the previous work week and preparing for the coming week.
Family events will become a thing if the past, your social life will tumble, you'll go long periods without seeing friends and even your family. If you've got relatives who aren't in the best of health either then it's really no fun being miles away from them.
It's all well and good flying a shiny jet and the wage that goes with it, but you can't put a price of being at home with your loved ones and friends and that alone is worth sticking at the TP gig for. I know I would.
Either that or you both move. Commuting without a fixed pattern for a short haul airline is not sustainable long term.
Last edited by fa2fi; 24th Apr 2015 at 22:12.
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Aerowhisperer,
Congratulations, I have to say though that I am very surprised as it flies in the face of everything I have been told as recently as Wednesday lunchtime. It just shows that the latest plan in BA is only valid for 24 hours, after that its anyones guess.
Regards
I was offered 767 just yesterday.
Regards
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binsleepen,
I guess that puts it in the same league as most other airlines in the UK then! ;-)
For info, my timeline from start to finish was:
Applied early Oct 14 (A)
Invitation to assessment 15 days later (A+15 days)
Assessment day one in Jan 15 (A+15 weeks)
Assessment day one result four days later
Assessment day two in Mar 15 (A+22 weeks)
Assessment day two result next day
Simulator assessment two weeks later (A+24 weeks)
Simulator result (by email) 11 days later
Offer in April (A+29 weeks)
I guess that puts it in the same league as most other airlines in the UK then! ;-)
For info, my timeline from start to finish was:
Applied early Oct 14 (A)
Invitation to assessment 15 days later (A+15 days)
Assessment day one in Jan 15 (A+15 weeks)
Assessment day one result four days later
Assessment day two in Mar 15 (A+22 weeks)
Assessment day two result next day
Simulator assessment two weeks later (A+24 weeks)
Simulator result (by email) 11 days later
Offer in April (A+29 weeks)
Re the 767....I think the plan depends on who you talk to.
AFAIK the '76 is in the fleet plan until at least 2018 and hence are not formally (in BA speak) a dying fleet.I know many of the present P2s on the '76 are being denied a move elsewhere (the subject of yet another heated debate elsewhere), being told that's down to a lack training capacity and/or lack of P2s on the type - which is credible if BA are indeed recruiting on to the aircraft.
aerowhisperer - firstly congratulations....secondly just be aware that since the '76, whilst not dead yet, is slowly running down, you may well have to do another conversion course before your engagement/initial freeze times out, and that might not be on to a type of your choice......
AFAIK the '76 is in the fleet plan until at least 2018 and hence are not formally (in BA speak) a dying fleet.I know many of the present P2s on the '76 are being denied a move elsewhere (the subject of yet another heated debate elsewhere), being told that's down to a lack training capacity and/or lack of P2s on the type - which is credible if BA are indeed recruiting on to the aircraft.
aerowhisperer - firstly congratulations....secondly just be aware that since the '76, whilst not dead yet, is slowly running down, you may well have to do another conversion course before your engagement/initial freeze times out, and that might not be on to a type of your choice......
Last edited by wiggy; 25th Apr 2015 at 18:14. Reason: emphasis added to the "if"..questions are being asked..
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Fa2fi
Has hit the nail on the head for commuting on SH if you are junior and full time. Everyone I know who is a commuter has or is just going 75%. A friend of mine had in the past been on the phone to me almost in tears because he could not cope. The strain was pulling his family apart and he was in no state of mind to fly so had to take a few days off. The guys flying 75% seem to cope much better because they can always ensure some family time each month.
Max drift: I would apply and go for it. If you get through then you have some serious talking to do with the family. I would have reservations about commuting but if you want a fresh start then it could be for you. Once an hour or so outside of London house prices really do drop off and lifestyle improves. The BA package is good by industry standards in the UK and with 30 odd years to go I thing you would be throwing a career option away for short term comfort.
Has hit the nail on the head for commuting on SH if you are junior and full time. Everyone I know who is a commuter has or is just going 75%. A friend of mine had in the past been on the phone to me almost in tears because he could not cope. The strain was pulling his family apart and he was in no state of mind to fly so had to take a few days off. The guys flying 75% seem to cope much better because they can always ensure some family time each month.
Max drift: I would apply and go for it. If you get through then you have some serious talking to do with the family. I would have reservations about commuting but if you want a fresh start then it could be for you. Once an hour or so outside of London house prices really do drop off and lifestyle improves. The BA package is good by industry standards in the UK and with 30 odd years to go I thing you would be throwing a career option away for short term comfort.