Virgin on regret
 

Gentlemen,may I throw this one into the ring.I fly for one of the UK charter operators and was considering in applying to Virgin.As time has gone on terms & conditions have been eroded and I was wondering if anybody had made the leap of faith to Virgin and if they had any regrets about leaving their previous employer.Answers on a post card please!:ok:

No regrets. The holding pool is quite deep though. If you are considering taking the plunge then be aware that it could be over a year from the time you apply until you get an interview and another six months until you get a start date giving you at least three months notice. No shortage of applicants.

Everybody's personal take on their circumstances at Virgin will be different.
But for what it's worth as a married no kids, there 6 years, it's been quite an interesting ride! Up and down, laid off, but overall it's the people I fly with front and back that's been the undoubted deciding factor. A really nice bunch of people to work with makes all the difference. The package has really improved over the last couple of years, but it's still the enjoyment of good destinations and the great working environment between the crew themselves that keeps the buzz going.
Personally, I would not want to be anywhere else and keep clocking up some fantastic trips to add to the catalogue of great memories already in the bank.
It's an overall lifestyle that's important to my well-being and on that front, coming to Virgin has been the right move. No regrets.
Good luck to you
FF

P.S. Cue Scroggins,.................come on, unlike you to be late on these!

Charter for 6 years before joining VS.
Lifestyle is far superior now, absolutely no regrets.

Military for 16 years prior to joining Virgin. Joined just prior to 11 Sept 2001 - not good timing! Was caught up in the redundancy thing and often threatened with being thrown out, but as I was on the 744 it was fairly obvious that I was not going to be made redundant after a while. Morale was low, worked very hard and no command prospects. Good people, a few good trips but generally a fairly depressing time.

So I took the voluntary redundancy after 18 months. No regrets about leaving. One thing to remember is that Virgin didn't hesitate to get rid of 40% of the pilot workforce at the drop of a hat. They could do it again if there was more trouble in the future.

But so would any other company.....

Dan,

I was one of the guys that was Bus rated and really affected by the downturn - unlike the Boeing guys at the time!! I'm still with Virgin having weathered the storm - and pleased to be so.

I am bemused by your 2-3 years of anti VS rantings, surely it is time to move on???

No, this is about individuals' feelings and opinions. This isn't one for me; I try and keep purely to information - at least, re. Virgin in this forum!

I'm not actually anti-VS. I recommended several mates to the company while I was in the process of leaving - two joined and are very happy. My posts in the last 3 years have merely been to offer an alternative to the 'everything is rosy at VS' point of view which seems to prevail in this forum, because as with any company you have to take off the rose tints eventually. I remeber the rhetoric on the Voice (is that still going?) post 9/11 and I seem to remember that even Scroggs was far from happy when the redundancies looked like they were going to be done out of seniority.

I probably would have stayed if I had been on the 340 which seems to have much better routes - except for the fact I woulkd have been made redundant! The 5 or 6 East coast trips we were doing a month on the 744 were killing me and I wasn't enjoying it much.

Anyway, I left and am much happier and much better off.

Dan,Thank-you for your kind honest comments.This seems to be the general opinion of alot of people that the long trips do finally take their toll and takes the plessures of the job away.

Dan,
It was probably the old boys net that got you into vs staight from the scouts so what goes around comes around eh.

Who are the scouts in this context?

OK, I will bite - well, nibble!

Dan's right, I was incensed when it was suggested that redundancies would be carried out in non-seniority order - and with one or two other aspects of the way the post-9/11 restructuring was carried out. However, several good things came out of that period; the main one (which resulted in the others) being that BALPA became very strong within the company, and the pilots' collective voice was, at last, listened to and acted on. While there are still some issues between the company and the pilots, they are being addressed. The relationship between the pilots and the company is still a little wary at times (but is improving), but the balance of power is now much more even, and the employment and redundancy issues which caused all that ill-feeling back in 2001 are now the subject of binding agreements and procedures which would make any (God forbid) future similar event much more equitably managed.

Most of the factors which made Virgin a great place to work still apply, but we can't alter the fact that this is no longer a little airline with a flying-club feel. It's big business, with a large workforce, and it shows. Indeed, the transition from a small airline run by amateurs to a big one run by professionals was very much precipitated by 9/11. The transition isn't yet complete, and it hasn't been pain-free, but our working conditions have been remarkably lightly affected by this transition - and we are far from being the world's worst-paid longhaul airline we once were. As all you hopefuls have no doubt realised!

One thing which was true before 9/11, and is still true now, is that this is an exclusively longhaul job. That has significant ramifications for family life, and it will suit some but not others. You need to think about this before you elect to go this route; job satisfaction is not necessarily proportional to the size of aeroplane you fly!

The vast majority of Virgin pilots are very happy and wouldn't go anywhere else. That doesn't mean we wouldn't change anything here - but now we know how to get things changed, and we are using that knowledge - to the benefit of both the company and ourselves.

Scroggs

I'm glad to see that BALPA is doing more for the guys. Immeditely post 9/11, they were seriously lacking in help, just leaving most of the work to be done by the VACC.

I think the 'Scouts' reference is about the RAF. Although I have to admit that I didn't quite make the connection immediately - as the main difference between the Scouts and the RAF is that the Scouts are run by grown ups! :D

Good answer dan.

They both have a lot of little boys in shorts with a funny salute though!!:}

Hey Farty: I guess that means you didn't get in either the "scouts" or VS-oh well-I did!