British Airways Direct Entry Pilot
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: London
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Are there at any tax advantages when commuting to the UK from Belgium, or is the whole salary fully taxed in the UK, despite not living there. I am aware of the sufficient ties test.
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: London
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Having done EZY, BA short haul & now BA long haul I can honestly say life is immeasurably better now than it ever has been. The key is seniority. It’s an oft quoted saying but you only have to be junior at BA once, after that all the choices you make are your own. Once you get to half way up a seniority list you really start to reap the benefits in terms of lifestyle. Don’t want to work Fridays ever? No problem. Don’t like tours/day trips/4 sector days? No problem. Combine seniority with long haul and life really does start to become pretty good. Seniority is so important to your lifestyle I’d almost rather start on the 320 and race up the list, before moving to a long haul job with some seniority on fleet. But I appreciate not everyone wants to go back to the RHS of a 320.
Everything comes with a trade off and at BA it comes down to money vs lifestyle. You can go and be a short haul skipper but you’ll be working every weekend. Or you can be a long haul FO (or very senior short haul FO) never working weekends and only going places that you want to go. That is why generally there isn’t that much sympathy for people who choose money and then complain about working weekends. They knew what their choice meant for their lifestyle. It’s all very transparent as others have said.
Everything comes with a trade off and at BA it comes down to money vs lifestyle. You can go and be a short haul skipper but you’ll be working every weekend. Or you can be a long haul FO (or very senior short haul FO) never working weekends and only going places that you want to go. That is why generally there isn’t that much sympathy for people who choose money and then complain about working weekends. They knew what their choice meant for their lifestyle. It’s all very transparent as others have said.
And the above posts sums it up for me quite nicely, if I join I’d look to take an earlier short haul command but I know full well what I’m getting into…
Pays your money and takes your choices.
Pays your money and takes your choices.
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Earth
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Having done EZY, BA short haul & now BA long haul I can honestly say life is immeasurably better now than it ever has been. The key is seniority. It’s an oft quoted saying but you only have to be junior at BA once, after that all the choices you make are your own. Once you get to half way up a seniority list you really start to reap the benefits in terms of lifestyle. Don’t want to work Fridays ever? No problem. Don’t like tours/day trips/4 sector days? No problem. Combine seniority with long haul and life really does start to become pretty good. Seniority is so important to your lifestyle I’d almost rather start on the 320 and race up the list, before moving to a long haul job with some seniority on fleet. But I appreciate not everyone wants to go back to the RHS of a 320.
Everything comes with a trade off and at BA it comes down to money vs lifestyle. You can go and be a short haul skipper but you’ll be working every weekend. Or you can be a long haul FO (or very senior short haul FO) never working weekends and only going places that you want to go. That is why generally there isn’t that much sympathy for people who choose money and then complain about working weekends. They knew what their choice meant for their lifestyle. It’s all very transparent as others have said.
Everything comes with a trade off and at BA it comes down to money vs lifestyle. You can go and be a short haul skipper but you’ll be working every weekend. Or you can be a long haul FO (or very senior short haul FO) never working weekends and only going places that you want to go. That is why generally there isn’t that much sympathy for people who choose money and then complain about working weekends. They knew what their choice meant for their lifestyle. It’s all very transparent as others have said.
The first few years SH does involve a bit of luck. A year in and I’m under 65% in RHS. I have just been fortunate in hundreds joined after me. People I know who joined 2018/19 had very little join after and were bottom of the list until late 2022 when recruitment went full steam ahead. Sometimes timing is everything.
Going forward if I go LHS or LH I know it won’t be like that.
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: London
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Very well said.
The first few years SH does involve a bit of luck. A year in and I’m under 65% in RHS. I have just been fortunate in hundreds joined after me. People I know who joined 2018/19 had very little join after and were bottom of the list until late 2022 when recruitment went full steam ahead. Sometimes timing is everything.
Going forward if I go LHS or LH I know it won’t be like that.
The first few years SH does involve a bit of luck. A year in and I’m under 65% in RHS. I have just been fortunate in hundreds joined after me. People I know who joined 2018/19 had very little join after and were bottom of the list until late 2022 when recruitment went full steam ahead. Sometimes timing is everything.
Going forward if I go LHS or LH I know it won’t be like that.
One other final point worth making. Would it be nice if BA gave us a bigger pay rise? Of course it would. But actually who is the biggest enemy of new joiners on PP1 now? It is Jeremy Hunt & Rachel Reeves. Anyone joining on PP1 is almost immediately going to be faced with the £100k tax trap disaster which will be the limiting factor in terms of your take home pay. This is particularly true for anyone with kids who face a frankly ludicrous marginal tax rate once they tip over £100k. You can, of course, put the difference into your pension & don’t forget that pensions contributions are based on the 24PP scale for *all* BA pilots. This isn’t an argument against pushing for bigger pay rises - which ultimately benefit us all in the long run - but it is a big consideration in terms of financial planning.
Join Date: Dec 2020
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Worth noting that in the latest round of bids, short haul command has quite literally been awarded to the most junior Pilot with the required hours. All that means is said Pilot now needs to complete 365 days with the company before obtaining command as per OM-D.
you can join BA on PP1 and at the time of writing, have a short haul command on PP2.
the equivalent pay isn’t the same as EZY but if the LHS is your thing, that’s how quick things are happening.
you can join BA on PP1 and at the time of writing, have a short haul command on PP2.
the equivalent pay isn’t the same as EZY but if the LHS is your thing, that’s how quick things are happening.
Is it a minimum 12 months in the company for command regardless of previous hours? I understood with 1000 PIC there was no minimum time. Still, 1 year is pretty good… !
Join Date: Aug 2002
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Join Date: May 2018
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Join Date: Nov 2008
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For a comparison what would we be looking at pay wise as a PP2 left seat 320, basic pay plus duty and all the other bits? Is it 30 days leave a year, and how many days in a month do you guys work?
Join Date: Apr 2011
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leave is about 30 day’s worth of actual work. Its the legal minimum plus bank holidays. I say roughly as leave is in 6x 7 day blocks but the credit is worked out based on monthly average days, not days at work. So the idea is that you get no more extra days off than an office worker. It means for each week of leave you get 10 days off in a block roughly (1-4 wrap days off are added depending on the leave type).
So in total on leave you get about 60 days “off” but it works out at about 20 hours credit per leave block, which is on Shorthaul about 25-30 days of actual work at min credit. In practice it means in a month with leave you work dog hard outside of the 10 day off block.
As for days off average credit:day is roughly 5 hours on shorthaul and you need to hit on 86 or 88 hours a month on average (30 or 31 day month) so you should average 13 days off a month in a month with no leave. 17-18 days off in a month with leave.
Join Date: Nov 2008
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About £115-120k including all allowances plus about £14k into pension.
leave is about 30 day’s worth of actual work. Its the legal minimum plus bank holidays. I say roughly as leave is in 6x 7 day blocks but the credit is worked out based on monthly average days, not days at work. So the idea is that you get no more extra days off than an office worker. It means for each week of leave you get 10 days off in a block roughly (1-4 wrap days off are added depending on the leave type).
So in total on leave you get about 60 days “off” but it works out at about 20 hours credit per leave block, which is on Shorthaul about 25-30 days of actual work at min credit. In practice it means in a month with leave you work dog hard outside of the 10 day off block.
As for days off average credit:day is roughly 5 hours on shorthaul and you need to hit on 86 or 88 hours a month on average (30 or 31 day month) so you should average 13 days off a month in a month with no leave. 17-18 days off in a month with leave.
leave is about 30 day’s worth of actual work. Its the legal minimum plus bank holidays. I say roughly as leave is in 6x 7 day blocks but the credit is worked out based on monthly average days, not days at work. So the idea is that you get no more extra days off than an office worker. It means for each week of leave you get 10 days off in a block roughly (1-4 wrap days off are added depending on the leave type).
So in total on leave you get about 60 days “off” but it works out at about 20 hours credit per leave block, which is on Shorthaul about 25-30 days of actual work at min credit. In practice it means in a month with leave you work dog hard outside of the 10 day off block.
As for days off average credit:day is roughly 5 hours on shorthaul and you need to hit on 86 or 88 hours a month on average (30 or 31 day month) so you should average 13 days off a month in a month with no leave. 17-18 days off in a month with leave.
Cool. Thanks bud, that’s really helpful. Good to get an insight to make a meaningful comparison. EZY is 5/3/5/4 pattern with a random month every 4 months or so. 25 leave days which is a bit pitiful, and pension currently 7% 5-10 years with the company, basic, loyalty and sector pay was £155k last year
Join Date: Apr 2011
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Cool. Thanks bud, that’s really helpful. Good to get an insight to make a meaningful comparison. EZY is 5/3/5/4 pattern with a random month every 4 months or so. 25 leave days which is a bit pitiful, and pension currently 7% 5-10 years with the company, basic, loyalty and sector pay was £155k last year
So a year 10+ easyJet skipper in financial terms is probably around a year 15~17 A320
skipper in BA. Its hard to get apples to apples. So the pay is certainly better in easyJet for command on an A320 for those years.
But then factor in the afforementioned night jet ban at LHR (i’m never home that late) plus the option of longhaul (which pays more and has more days off as credit density is higher on average, plus a free sun-tan). Also, after year 17 BA’s pay keeps going up to shy of £200k all-in plus pension money of about £30k from them. That takes 34 years to achieve though! And by then most people are on longhaul. That’s if airplanes still exist in 34 years though!
Join Date: Mar 2024
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Hello,
Just scanned through all the posts and through different forums, couldn't find much information on the 1 hour test stage on site after the video interview.
What do the tests consist of?
Is it still the Instruction test + ECAM monitoring test whilst marking tcas, calcing ROC/TOD. Are there any changes on site as compared to the test prep packages you find?
Sorry for the bombardment, really appreciate any help. Don't want to let this golden opportunity go to waste.
Just scanned through all the posts and through different forums, couldn't find much information on the 1 hour test stage on site after the video interview.
What do the tests consist of?
Is it still the Instruction test + ECAM monitoring test whilst marking tcas, calcing ROC/TOD. Are there any changes on site as compared to the test prep packages you find?
Sorry for the bombardment, really appreciate any help. Don't want to let this golden opportunity go to waste.
I am saying this because they messed up my final assessment, cancellation last minute plus more that I won’t share yet. All I can say is that if you witness something in the sim that shouldn’t be happening, speak up. Also, I think next courses are for end of summer.