Is BA still the Holy Grail of airlines?!
 

We generally hear very little about BA and it's terms and conditions or specifically any moaning about them. I can only assume that the money versus lifestyle balance is good OR the BA boys have more exciting things to do than moan on pprune (which in itself tells a story!)!

Just wondering if a few guys from BA would mind sharing their current feelings on the company as a place to work on both short and long haul. I know the pay is around or slightly above industry standards but it is the bits around this that I am most interested in? Do you get quality time off, is morale pretty good, do you feel well looked after and finally any comments or complaints?

We work up to to 900 hours on both long & short. I usually fly between 800-850. I won't talk pay as I'm sure someone will be along in a minute and point you at a link. 4 weeks leave plus 2 'duty free weeks' which you can bid to work in or leave as days off.

Bidline system at LHR means choice of work patterns if you are not in the lower part of the seniority list on that fleet.

We are fairly well looked after, T5 is great, morale is OK, we are all fed up with the cabin crew situation though, my only complaint is having to take a pay-cut recently.

The LGW boys may have their own ideas.

There are many more aspects to life in BA but I have been in a while, my perspective is different from someone very junior.

Would you ever want to go anywhere else?

My better half recently took voluntary redundancy after 25 years at BA. In the early years,he loved it,but latterly he came to hate it. 900 hours a year,limited time at home-and absolutely knackered on your couple of days off. Sims had become a nightmare too. They gave him a lousy 2 days off when his Mum died while he was away on a trip,he'd get phone calls from them within an hour of going to bed on arrival home..hit's not all it's cracked up to be..

S 1.

Do what our American cousins taught us years ago when we were new to the concept of Draft. Have a second line installed and only answer the one Scheduling have when you are contractually obliged to. (Standby and contractual Time Assignability) At other times don't answer it unless you want to.

I guess that depends on where you are from:E

agree with you for the rest though

Holy grail? No.
Nice company? Yes, but have you seen the trouble they have? I like peace and quiet, do the job, go home, no politics.

So I do envy my friends at BA, but just a little bit

As a BA FO, I think there is really only one huge advantage to BA (apart possibly from job security). It is choice you decide your roster, what fleet you fly, even which seat you occupy. BA cannot (if you stay within the rules) assign you anything its entirely up to you and your seniority.

There are other more minor advantages. such as the money eventually been quite good, and you are generally very well looked after. Anyone who has worked for another airline knows that.

Obviously the pension has gone these days, although the new one is ok when compared to other defined contribution schemes.

The best thing for me are the night stops. I am shorthaul but can still work a five day block staying overnight at 4 different European cities. I don't think there are many shorthaul operators that offer both our variety of routes and night stops. Also, in my experience the rosters are very stable, you know what you are doing 6 weeks in advance and it doesn't change.

PENKO...
 

Don't you work for easyJet?!?

Our politics shrink in comaprison :ok:

CW.

Your sources have got the wrong end of the stick!!

It was part of an ongoing training exchange between the RAF and BA. 'They' didn't do a 'presentation', merely shared ideas and discussed training issues. No recruitment 'roadshow'.

I suggest that the CC problems will need to be resolved before recruitment kicks off....

But - there is a lot of talk of BA recruiting within the next 12 months. Is this simply a rumour that has got out of hand, or is there some truth to it?

As someone who was recently made redundant, I look at BA and think it's the only airline in the UK that a) hasn't made anyone redundant, despite the financial issues both the UK and the airline are having and b) isn't employing anyone on either pay to fly, reduced term, summer only or any other stupid contract.

Can you name any other large airline, with respectable terms and conditions and job security in the UK that fits that description?

BB

CW,

It was nearly 6 months ago and recruitment wasn't discussed TBH. No knowledge of holding pool info or timescales, I'm afraid.

As mentioned earlier, they've got other issues that are of concern, so I don't think they'll be offering a recruitment roadshow just yet!!!

BA certainly treated Peter Burkill well, didn't they. :yuk:

Am generally happy with life at BA.

Good DEP salary with yearly increments too that aren't just a token jesture.

No bond.

Good travel perks.

Crew food is good for the most part.

Fly lots of line trips with trainers who are all very approachable.

Standard of training I find to be very good and done at social hours - in my experience.

There's the scope to move onto bigger things and almost everybodys cool with the concept of seniority - meaning all good things to those who wait.

Linked to the above, yes time to command can be a long time - but in which legacy carrier isn't it?

True the atmosphere now what with the CC can be trying at times, but it will come to an end and on the horizon we have more 777s/320s on the order books, in addition to the 787 and 380 to look forward to. Not to mention the new LH routes being considered.

One thing I do think is a bit luke warm is our advertising department. What was that last TV ad campaign all about - wilderbeast running across the African plains etc etc??? How long was it on telly for - six weeks?? Why didn't we highlight all the great things that have happened since our last TV ad - T5, London City to JFK, the new club clsss product, new first class, flying the Olympic team home from Beijing etc!

I'm no advertising guru and by no means do I have satchi and satchi on speed dial but this was a good tv ad - a solid mix of cheesiness, class and patriotism (you need sound and I advise full screen mode).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V64IMaou8lU&NR=1

Advertising rant over, I enjoy going to work each day - is it the company or the people that make that so - probably both. Have got lots of respect for BA.

CB

Chief,

What's a ballpark average time to upgrade?

CW. See CB's post. My impression of them was very favourable. Sounds a good choice to me!!

recruitemnt
 

No recruitment is planned for this year and BA will decide in Nov/Dec about next years numbers. At the moment there IS a plan to recruit next year but we all know how quickly things change in this industry!

They will look at those in the old holding pool first ... not sure what sort of process they will have to go through as I guess it depends how many years they have been in the pool

BA is, for me, the ultimate ambition. It's nice to see that they have fairly good T&C'S for the pilots.

Just a quick few question's;

The Airbus Family guys do they operate out of BOTH LGW&LHR or just LHR or LGW exclusively?

Can anyone fly the LCY-SNN-JFK-LCY flight, or is there only a certain 'pool' of pilots that do this route? Bit like the Concorde Which base operates this flight aswell?

With regards to Short haul/Long Haul -

Could you upgrade into a captain position on Short Haul, then onto Long Haul as captain? Or are you offered a choice of Captain Position Short Haul or SFO Long Haul?

With regards to bases, 747 is at LHR, is 772 at LGW&LHR, or just LHR or LGW exclusively?