I wouldn't get too excited about any rumours floating around at the moment. The Crystal output is due soon and it is at this stage that rumours breed like rabbits. Many are fuelled by desire and mischief rather than anything solid. Wait and see but don't pin your hopes on rumours.

The latest thing to emerge from a semi-reliable source (BALPA PnP reps) is that DECs or a supplementary bid for SH Command now looks unlikely. In the light of my previous paragraph make of that what you will!

Should have written them down at the presentation, but could someone post the pay scale for first 8 years (that's what the slide had) for SH and LH FO?

Thanks!

The latest on the rumour front is they are now starting to plan the 2016 DEP courses and getting in touch with a few people to check their hours and eligibility for Long Haul.

Fingers crossed the phonecalls with offers of courses won't be too far behind :ok:

toplux - at the roadshows they said you would be picked out of the hold pool based solely on date of joining and eligibility for the slot they are looking to recruit for - so for 777 say, they pick the person longest in the hold pool with LH min hours. Similar obviously for those with appropriate type ratings.

following up on the above, I received an email recently asking for my type rating and hours on type plus a few other questions...

The finger is being pointed in the wrong direction here, as it stands within the IAG Group the profits have to go up at Vueling and Iberia as they are the lame ducks at the moment. BA are massively profitable - more profitable than easyJet indeed even with the legacy T's & C's - and are responsible for the vast majority of the profits of the entire IAG Group. At Vueling, with their staff on binman wages, even then they struggle to make the tiniest levels of profit.

There have been criticisms about the veracity and effectiveness of Balpa recently but even the weakest union would struggle not be able to defend their position given these circumstances. The issue of pay is a red herring and, in such a profitable organisation, you're not going to be able to reduce wages for existing employees. New contracts for new joiners maybe? Well that remains to be seen. (Better sign that contract soon in case!) But bear in mind that it is not quite as simple as replacing short haul wholesale with Vueling. It has been said elsewhere that would be massively damaging to the BA brand, business model and operation and I tend to agree with that.

Whenever I hear people talking about Vueling replacing BA on short haul I think that a lot of people have forgotten the amount of trimming BA has already done to its short haul model and the steps that competing legacy carriers have taken.

Many forget that it was BA who made wholesale changes in the first decade of this century, long before Lufthansa, Air France et al did. BA closed its entire regional operation, both at mainline and at BA Citiexpress/Connect. The airline now only really concentrates on its core London market. They are not going to dilute their brand at Heathrow and I very much doubt they will at Gatwick either.

Look at Lufthansa, they have followed BA's lead, albeit taking a slightly different direction. They have cut their short haul branded flights from all but Munich and Frankfurt. Elsewhere it is now Germanwings/Eurowings that operate their short haul services. However, they have retained their core brand in their primary markets because they realise it would do more damage than good for the flag carrier to withdraw from short haul in their main hubs.

Air France have done the same, retreating from the regions and introducing Hop, but ultimately maintaining their core brand in Paris.

Rather than following the crowd via Vueling, I would argue that BA actually led the way with the 'Future Size and Shape' programme under Rod Eddington after 9/11. BA cut the majority of the fat from the regions retreating to Fortress Heathrow.

With the recent cost savings and increased labour productivity in short haul, BA are making record profits. A core short haul product has to remain to feed our long haul services. A huge number of our passengers are merely transferring at Heathrow to/from other European cities. We are expanding short haul, in the few months that I've been here we've already announced a variety of new routes, most recently Inverness.

BA may not be the Mecca it once was. You will fly 80+ hours a month, but it's got a solid future and many varied options for your career.

Umm...From the pilot side of short haul - yes.

Pin removed, retiring to a safe distance.:hmm:

Have people started getting calls for courses in 2016?

I haven't heard of any NTR swimmers receiving offers for next year yet. It seems like we have all had the same email stating that they are beginning to plan 2016 offers.

Fingers crossed this means that phone calls will follow shortly!

There is a rumour going around that offers are starting to be made again, starting with Long Haul types. Anybody got any firm knowledge to share?

Only that there may be direct entry onto the A380 for the first time.

Hi Hotel Mode,

Can I ask where did you hear this rumour of DEP's to A380. I'm not for one second inferring your wrong but as someone who's hoping to go to it next year I'm selfishly interested.... I'm sure BA in the past have said no to DEP's on the 380 so will be a large change of policy if so....

All, we are Still waiting for the PRIAM/CRYSTAL results so I'm sure when they are eventually published hold poolers will get coursed fairly quickly.

BASHLH; Applications are now being accepted via the official website.

kirungi: Which official website? I'm not sure you've ever been able to apply directly to join BA on a specific type.

There are a heck of a lot of rumours flying around at the moment but like BASHLH I'm a bit sceptical about the DEP to 380 claim but then again maybe I'm not as well connected as Hotel Mode....It seems only 5 minutes ago BA required umpteen hours in BA and umpteen hours on Airbus to even look at the 380....

Then again, never say never.....

Anyone doing a sim check AM on the 27th please get in touch.

British Airways - Careers - Job Details

Link above to the DEP (longhaul) application page (taken from the recruitment manager's LinkedIn feed).

I know for a fact that an ezy colleague, SFO, got on to the A380 directly. The offer was accepted earlier this week I believe. Well done to her!

nowind

Blimey, many thanks, as I said.."never say never"...or something more appropriate !!

Must go off to buy some pop corn - I suspect there's going to be a bit of comment here and more so elsewhere from those FO's already in and "frozen" in a short haul seat....

I haven't got any skin in the game - but I wonder if anyone inside BA can shed light on the veracity of the claim I heard which was that there is a shortage of internal applicants for the A380 as the failure rate is relatively high for the course which has a serious impact on your future career with BA.

Sounded like total BS to me.

If they're talking about people coming off the A320 transferring onto the A380 and failing I'd be very surprised by that, it's only a CCQ after all. If it's people coming off the 747 then perhaps less so.

But from the people I've spoken to at EK, the A380 is very easy to operate. Except perhaps once on the ground!