BA recruitment
 

Spoke to a senior Flt Ops Manager today. He said recruitment will have to be undertaken in order to fly the future program. This is especially the case now the Company are maintaining 57 744 hulls vice 53.

Rumour or News, whatever you like.:)

Well....

Can anyone confirm...
One can not apply to Brymon or Bral, City Flyer as all hiring for these regional bases are undertaken by BA with all interviews etc done at Cranebank.

Big K. Burger,

Any more details on the lack of pension provision for new joiners please? A more specific source would be very useful.

My understanding was that all new joiners must be a part of, and pay for 'NAPS 2'.

It would surprise me if this had changed for DEP's etc., as without this it would be very difficult for BA to recruit anybody at all.


Regards
Exeng

So lets get this right. Join BA and:

1. Start on a lower salary than you would at EasyJet, Go or Ryanair.

2. Then stay on that salary for five or so years.

3. Then wait at least another two years for a command, when you could have been left hand seat in Easy four years ago.

4. Whilst in the meantime that salary in point 1 is reduced in real terms by constant attacks on pilots terms and conditions.

5. Plus you have to move to the South East and find a home in the most overheated housing market in the nation.

6. Then find some spare cash to pay into a pension because the final salary scheme is gone.

Doesn't sound very attractive, does it? In fact you'd better hope that the worry doesn't make you sick because if you can't fly you don't get allowances, which means you can't afford to pay the mortgage. Mind you, its all you deserve because pilots are lazy and overpaid, and even if you're logging 900hrs per year its not enough and you must work harder. That must be true because it practically says so in the company newspaper every fortnight.

Oh, did I mention you'll spend your working day locked behind a metal door with no human contact and you'll have to request a babysitter from the cabin crew come up if you need to go for a leak in flight.

It's really very sad to see how what was once the gold standard of pilot employment has totally gone to the dogs, and how this is symptomatic of the conditions of the profession as a whole.

The few remaining companies of merit, (in my book, Monarch, Emirates, and some others outside Europe) put BA totally in the shade, as does my company, but I like to keep that to myself as too many applications would make the management think we're on to too much of a good thing!

you guys think you got it bad? try engineering!!

I didn't think we were talking about engineering, trapped, go and find another topic to whinge about that - we're slagging off BA pilot T's & C's here!

Hand Solo - as ever you have hit the nail squarely on the head.

For non-BA people: hand solo is a genuine BA pilot and his posting above accurately summarises the employment situation in BA.

not sure about overstress-think meltdown might be better!

Big Kahuna Burger - absolutely true!
I pointed it out here a while ago - but no one believed me then!

Hand Solo - and Dontdoit - I concur with your observations.

Company caring more about the crew? Not sure about that one!

Where is your union while all this is going on!!!? If I was paying as much as you guys do I'd want to see some action. I thought BALPA was pretty strong? Or is that just was it says in it's newsletters?

>>The few remaining companies of merit, (in my book, Monarch, Emirates, and some others outside Europe) put BA totally in the shade<<

Sick, I quite agree with you. Ultimately it is the pilot body who have let this happen. Collectively we have allowed airline management to regard us as a cost. Of course, our job demands more respect these days than it ever did.

It is not a career that you can now recommend to a young person. Good for life experience and then move on to something sensible.

I originally applied for DEP at BA in 1988 and didn't get through the final hurdle - I was extremely disappointed.

Due to a big change in company circumstances I applied again last year for BA and, I believe, failed the interview. Everything else went as well as, or better than, I could expect.

Apart from the initial disappointment at not being selected I have not lost any sleep over it since.

The interviewers were dreadful and inexperienced.
"Have you handed your notice in to your present employer yet?"
"Er, no, on the grounds I haven't passed this stage and the sim ride yet!"

The youngish 73 Captain from the regions who was doing the other interviews was also a gold medal winner in sarcasm and being patronising while checking our logbooks with me and a couple of RAF applicants.

I have many very able friends in BA but their selection procedures (or more importantly some of the people involved) are way off the mark.

Happy where I am.

C'mon guys - everybodys being shafted at BA at the moment, not just the Flight Crew. The Flight Crew are part of the same struggling, badly managed airline as every other employee, you just have to hang on in there and hope that it will get better someday.

Seems like the ones winging on this forum are the same ones who didn't want to give up their cheese board.

:D

Cheeseboard sucked anyway!! F.D. never wanted it (apart from those who took it home!!!!) and crew ended up giving to veg pax who had no meal loaded!!! What happened to the jacket potatoes? No-one complained when they went.:eek:

Never had a cheese board jet II, but did see one once and I certainly wouldn't spend my money on it! We are well aware that a lot of people are being shafted at BA at the moment, it's all part of managements grand 'pain sharing' exercise. However, very few people have been shafted so consistently over recent years, delivering so much more for the company yet receiving so little recognition for it. Over recent years BA pilots have increased productivity by a large, double-digit percentage. There are few, if any, other areas in BA that have matched this, yet the company actively seeks flight crew as its first target in any cost saving round. In longhaul so many crew are now in danger of exceeding the 900hrs/year limit that the company has approached the CAA for an alleviation to the rules, falsely claiming that we support it.

A few of managers thanks us in our departmental newletter for our hardwork, commitment and professionalism, yet each week they demand further concessions and the company newspaper carries a thinly-veiled attack on pilots in its letters page. This morning I received a mailshot from a very senior manager explaining that a certain low cost carrier was outperforming us because they paid their pilots less (which is untrue), a clear implication that once again its all our fault and not the fault of the tens of thousands of middle managers and executives that are notably absent in a low cost airline. This is the kind of company that BA is today. If you think it sounds good, then by all means try your luck and apply. If you prefer to work for a company which values you as a memeber of staff and doesn't seek to stir up resentment against you, then go elsewehere.

Have any of you whinging gits thought you might be part of the morale problem?? You're all so sour. If Easy and Ryan are so great GO THERE! The more of you moaners that leave BA the better it'll be for the rest of us. 'B Calm' - I hope you're right in that new recruitment will happen soon. The more fresh faces the sooner, the better.

Quid has ever occured to you that many of the "whingers" had actually joined BA from other commercial companies and therefore have a a very realistic view of commercial aviation both good and bad?

I did, and I can assure you that the previous post was spot on. I joined BA with high hopes and yet from the first day was appalled by the way in which the flightcrew were treated by the management.

Despite years of productivity improvements we have not seen a pay rise in excess of RPI. At the same time house prices have risen 10% or more year on year. In short we work hard and have suffered cuts in pay for our efforts.

I strongly suspect from the tone of your post that you are perhaps one of the management and to answer your last point....at least a couple of pilots have left BA at BHX and others are considering their options.

BA sucks but don't take my word for it come on in and get shafted along with the rest of us!

Is there any chance that some of you might actually know anything concerning BA recruitment. Sitting here having been made redundant with precious little on the horizon i would be more than grateful to have your jobs, so would my other half, the kids, bank mgr etc etc.....Being shafted and employed is one thing being shafted and losing your job for no good reason is another.

Hand Solo

Once again your posting lays an accurate blow on target

<a mailshot from a very senior manager explaining that a certain low cost carrier was outperforming us because they paid their pilots less >

I sat reading that missive over my cornflakes and couldn't believe what I saw.

Do you reckon that our Lord Protector believes the carp he writes, in which case God help him, or does he think that we'll believe what he writes, in which case God help us!!!

I don't recall my peers at Easy, Go etc being paid less than me. What on earth is he on about?