BA Direct Entry Pilot.
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Early retirements will increase due to the extreme amount of flying current day pilots do. It's too much and the love is lost. I predict many pilots bailing out early on the career.
Yes because BA pilots work more hours for less money and worse T&C's then those of us at the Loco's.
Have to bite my tongue sometimes, but the above is simply ridiculous until the day there's an exodus of BA pilots back to the Loco's.
Those type of comments and/or views sound like they come from someone who has either never worked for RYR or completely forgotten what it's like, either way it's pretty naive to think someone doesn't know what they want having jumped through all the BA recruitment process hoops.
When's the last time HMRC audited a BA pilot?!
Have to bite my tongue sometimes, but the above is simply ridiculous until the day there's an exodus of BA pilots back to the Loco's.
Those type of comments and/or views sound like they come from someone who has either never worked for RYR or completely forgotten what it's like, either way it's pretty naive to think someone doesn't know what they want having jumped through all the BA recruitment process hoops.
When's the last time HMRC audited a BA pilot?!
What VJW said.
I suspect there's as much/little whinging at BA as anywhere else, though some make more noise than others, and TBH I think a few of the previous posts have been motivated by (perhaps understandable) wishful thinking .
I personally don't see a rush to the door caused by "high flying hours" - in the cold light of day where are these individuals going to jump to? FR, the Gulf, Tescos, the Job Exchange? There is however considerable demand for part time.
FWIW it happens, certainly amongst those non resident in the UK.................................
I suspect there's as much/little whinging at BA as anywhere else, though some make more noise than others, and TBH I think a few of the previous posts have been motivated by (perhaps understandable) wishful thinking .
I personally don't see a rush to the door caused by "high flying hours" - in the cold light of day where are these individuals going to jump to? FR, the Gulf, Tescos, the Job Exchange? There is however considerable demand for part time.
When's the last time HMRC audited a BA pilot?!
Last edited by wiggy; 24th Apr 2017 at 08:55.
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Was there any substance to this in the end? As you say it would be nice to have a few of these rumours straightened out by the horse's mouth. Especially as they apparently aren't replying to people's emails.
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"Floodgates" of retirement are an illusion. With advancing age, the natural attrition smooths out the process. In the last 5-10 years of any pilot groups working life, a greater proportion will become medically unfit. Some will reduce their working footprint by such vehicles as part time working. A few will avail themselves of other opportunities. By the time that group reaches age 65 any projection of a " flood" or "bulge" is usually little more than a trickle.
Despite the perceived lure of retirement, for many people it focuses the mind on the limited timescale to achieve one final fiscal sprint. There is also the realisation that The job forces you to keep active, and for many that becomes an important motivator. Pilots at this end of their careers are also likely to be enjoying the best of the respective terms & conditions on offer, and would likely want to enjoy that for as long as possible.
When retirement was typically 55 it was more likely that a greater proportion of any given group would achieve that milestone. A retirement bulge (although still rare) was more conceivable. A decade of more gradual attrition simply provides for a much more gradual slope. Add to that improvements in maintaining medical certification standards, and the process becomes even smoother still.
In summary, retirements are a false hope. The real opportunities are going to come from economic growth.
Despite the perceived lure of retirement, for many people it focuses the mind on the limited timescale to achieve one final fiscal sprint. There is also the realisation that The job forces you to keep active, and for many that becomes an important motivator. Pilots at this end of their careers are also likely to be enjoying the best of the respective terms & conditions on offer, and would likely want to enjoy that for as long as possible.
When retirement was typically 55 it was more likely that a greater proportion of any given group would achieve that milestone. A retirement bulge (although still rare) was more conceivable. A decade of more gradual attrition simply provides for a much more gradual slope. Add to that improvements in maintaining medical certification standards, and the process becomes even smoother still.
In summary, retirements are a false hope. The real opportunities are going to come from economic growth.
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Do you foresee BA LH commands coming down from the nearly double decades?
Just as we move out of one period of 'stagnation', another is about to begin.
So I would guess around 2030 before much changes from what we see today? The chance at that time, of BA looking anything like it does now, is highly questionable.
We definitely have a surplus of pilots at the moment!
There was a very significant spike in recruitment of cadets in the early 90s.
As you rightly say:" I wouldn't foresee them going anywhere, anytime soon."
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BAs T&Cs are on a slippery slope , it does not take a genius to figure that out !
Greedy shareholders at the top and ever increasing pressure from the likes of Norwegian etc..
BA is an un streamlined beast compared to the ruthless efficiency of today's Locos .
One of the Best ways to make more profit margin is to reduce T&Cs
Greedy shareholders at the top and ever increasing pressure from the likes of Norwegian etc..
BA is an un streamlined beast compared to the ruthless efficiency of today's Locos .
One of the Best ways to make more profit margin is to reduce T&Cs
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Do we really need to start going down this path? This site is overwhelmingly negative as it is. The thing is all of these observations would be great if aviation as an industry was in isolation but tell me one industry that is immune to the overall trend nowadays. Hell I was even speaking to a lawyer a while back who was complaining about the exact same trends that we observe.
The other problem is people always remember the past with rose tinted spectacles and have a serious lack of perspective. To illustrate, I heard someone on the train the other day talking about the terror zeitgeist of today and seriously describing the 1990's as peaceful and carefree! Presumably they were living under a rock during the WTC Bombing, Luxor Massacre, Rwandan Genocide, Bosnian conflict and genocide, Gulf War, Columbine Massacre, Manchester Bombing, Paris Metro Bombings, Air France Algiers Hijack, Tokyo Subway Sarin gas attack, bomb attack on the 1996 Olympics and Oklahoma bombing etc etc.
Snapper5 you don't even work for us so how you can be party to what's going on re Terms and Conditions to start chipping in I don't know.
The other problem is people always remember the past with rose tinted spectacles and have a serious lack of perspective. To illustrate, I heard someone on the train the other day talking about the terror zeitgeist of today and seriously describing the 1990's as peaceful and carefree! Presumably they were living under a rock during the WTC Bombing, Luxor Massacre, Rwandan Genocide, Bosnian conflict and genocide, Gulf War, Columbine Massacre, Manchester Bombing, Paris Metro Bombings, Air France Algiers Hijack, Tokyo Subway Sarin gas attack, bomb attack on the 1996 Olympics and Oklahoma bombing etc etc.
Snapper5 you don't even work for us so how you can be party to what's going on re Terms and Conditions to start chipping in I don't know.
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VJW........I think you believe the hype. I could go to EZY and gain a pay rise in the region of 25k right now. A few of my colleague recently took EZY offers DEC. There have been a recent handful of LH FO's who have given notice. Simple truth is BA is good, it's average and really really crap, it just depends what you want from it.
Snapper......your probably right but flight ops has changed a lot over the past few years. T&C have not been squeezed but we have been asked to do more for the same. LOCO guys bang out 4 sectors out of a regional base but we bang out three from LHR. The truth is we are working to EASA FTL's and more trip combinations will work us close to the maximum hours. I don't think we come up against the 900hr limit easily but the duty time is more of an issue. BA has a lot of modernising to do but flight ops is a long way down that road. Will we see T&C's reduce? Probably indirectly and probably for new joiners in the future but we are never going to be a LOCO and if we were then actually some of use would get a pay rise.
Snapper......your probably right but flight ops has changed a lot over the past few years. T&C have not been squeezed but we have been asked to do more for the same. LOCO guys bang out 4 sectors out of a regional base but we bang out three from LHR. The truth is we are working to EASA FTL's and more trip combinations will work us close to the maximum hours. I don't think we come up against the 900hr limit easily but the duty time is more of an issue. BA has a lot of modernising to do but flight ops is a long way down that road. Will we see T&C's reduce? Probably indirectly and probably for new joiners in the future but we are never going to be a LOCO and if we were then actually some of use would get a pay rise.
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Back to the LOCOs where they came from. I don't think it speaks volumes either way it just highlights that BA is not for everyone. If you want to be at home at night, close to home etc then I guess you would hate BA at the bottom of any list.
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Yeah that's a fair point. Isn't your fabled bid system being changed? Seems pretty drastic given a lot of the pluses on here seem regarding obtaining chunks of time off from using the system. I'd ask if this new thing would be a positive but if a company agrees to something it usually has glaring catches in my experience 