I'm just interested that's all.

Rex, the most logical and fair way I can think of deciding the seniority is by the start of your Type Rating date.

I had the same as Jumbo and had absolutely no regrets. I joined on the 757/767 (from a 757 operator) while almost all my former company colleagues got to go to the 744. I was initially a bit cheesed off and thought about delaying my joining date (it was an option then) in order to join them but, in the end, was convinced by a BA mate to just get in as quickly as possible. I'm extremely glad I did and very pleased that I didn't go the Jumbo straight away. While I went whizzing up the 757/767 seniority list and got to, very quickly, a position where I could get decent lines of work, my mates on the 744 were stuck at the bottom of the list with very few people entering below them but a lot, transferring from other fleets, sliding in above them.

BA is all about lifestyle and that means seniority. Being more senior on a junior fleet is much better than the other way round and gives you many more options for controlling your work and days off. Don't be in a huge rush to jump onto an aircraft just because it's bigger than another one in the Company armoury; they're all the same once you close the flight deck door and nobody gives a damn that you fly a BA widebody....that it's important is just your over-inflated ego speaking.

End of the day, do what my mate said; get in as soon as you can and if you're offered shorthaul, grab it and enjoy the control of your life that you'll have compared to the bloke/blokess on your course who went to the 777.

Max Age
 

What's the apper age bracket generally seen in new hires? I'm 46 and by the time I might be hired would have a 17 - 18 year career, not chasing command more stability and QOL.

I rather understand Rex's interest. Since entering the hold pool 3 months ago, there has been absolutely no information beyond an email sent to some asking them to clarify their hours and 2016 offers are being contemplated.

For those of us at regionals and low costs this is a massive move for us, our wives (or husbands) and families. I think a lot of us are understandably nervous and attempting to clarify the process given that all we really have to go on at the moment are rumours posted on here. Recent world events have reminded us that despite BA's recruitment plans, nothing is certain and all we really want is information to soothe our nerves!

Your hypothetical new A320 joiner may need to prepare to be miffed, from what I hear...

Re: sim slots. Mate had interview Monday, telephone call Tuesday with sim date early December.

Miffed? Having recently joined on the 320! :mad:

Try telling that to guys who have been on the bus for more than 5 years and by the latest indications will be denied any transfer whilst DEP go straight to LH.

The feeling of entitlement by some is amazing.

:bored:

Because of the internet and certainly the info available here BA's ruleset(s) should be well known. On and off, feast, then famine, only entries on one fleet..then everything opens up...or doesn't......

Because of this some were miffed when they misjudged things in the early 90's and got stuck on the classic 747 for years, some got stuck and miffed at LGW, most Flight Engineers got very miffed after 9/11........... One thing is for sure, you're not even in the game until you've got a seniority number, and you only get that by signing for the seat you've been offered.....

fly4more..if you think that selection strategy, if true, is an example BA being devious I've got news for you.......they can be much more devious than that :ooh:

Hold pool update went out today:

- If you have 2000tt incl 1000 Jet>25t or Tp>50t you may expect a long haul call

- If you have an A320 rating expect a call for that, even if you meet above requirements. All A320 slots are FPP or type rated recruitment at the moment

No offers will be made to anyone who does not meet either of the above criteria at this time. Given BA were publicly stating to all who went through selection this summer that jobs would be available to all who passed this is another boot for anyone flying regional or turboprop types!

"at this time" does not mean "for the forseeable future" though...

Oh the irony......


Why on earth has the airline industry got itself into the position that length of time in a job has somehow equated to worth of an individual?

Because you have been in BA for a while does that make you better?

How childish.

Tourist to be fair on this one - and I am one of the hold pool guys who is wanting to take advantage of this situation and get a long haul slot - I actually fully agree with Bex. If a type rated guy (and regardless of their number of hours on type) is coming in and taking a slot ahead of someone who's now completed their engagement freeze and making an aspirational bid for long haul then (possibly) fair enough. But this is potentially not what is going on.

You could have two guys with the same type rating (or not, neither is type rated on the fleet being recruited for - it doesn't matter) and the same number of hours, the only difference being one is a DEP and one is someone who is a company employee and has served the company for five years. Both applying for a long haul slot. The external guy gets it.

Are you seriously telling me you'd be happy with that or that anyone in any other industry or workplace would be happy if the external (and equal) candidate denies someone in the company their promotion???

Really???

I don't think I mentioned anywhere that time served meant you were better or worse than anyone else.

The one thing these guys all have is a seniority number a track record within BA and an investment in the company. If you don't agree with the way we do things then don't come.

The truth is this. Pilots on SH with valid bids are having their career aspirations suppressed. Yes it's temporary and in our system they will be more senior than the new guys on LH so it will balance out in time.

BA has a way of working and when you join you accept that. You start at the bottom and work your way up. That gives you the right to then prove you are suitable for a position, not the right to that position. Many of these guys getting held on the bus have spent years close to or at the bottom taking the the crap. Now it's turning around these same guys are being excluded from the benefits. It is then when you hear about new guys just in or guys yet to join talking about being miffed that you can't help but :rolleyes:. Yes you will say how hard it's been elsewhere but we are not talking about elsewhere we are talking about here. DEP onto LH is only supposed to occur when there are a lack of suitable internal candidates. That is not the case. There is a problem with training capacity and finding enough Airbus pilots of a suitable standard to BA to allow these guys to move fleet.

De furmo in flammam. Please do come air your views on our way of doing things in the crew room. I am sure it will be listened to with great interest

My advice to hold pool swimmers would be to get your foot in the door and your name on the seniority list, then worry about your fleet later (if it's not the one you want from day one). Nowhere's perfect, BA included, but if you're joining for a specific fleet then you're missing the big picture of what BA offers.

Just to add to what Bex has said above, if you don't like the way BA does things then don't apply. It's a big seniority machine where the computers have names and the people have numbers. But despite its downsides, BA is still better than most airlines out there. If you don't agree then save your days off for something more pleasant than computer tests and interviews.

You do make a fair point but it's a system to which you choose to join or not. I am no defender of our rostering and have had a worse deal than most in that respect. What I would say is this. Under normal circumstances you quickly achieve some choice and control over your life and that is far far better than any system I know. The stories of champagne lines of work being picked by the most senior is not strictly true. Lines are pre constructed at stage one so you can't pick with 100% control.

If you want to complain and be vocal about it once your here then do it quietly because you won't find any support to change it and you will probably come round to its merits after a little while.

Those with a very much nicer roster than mine have served their time with years of crap rosters and little control over their lives. Ever seen 'Layer Cake"? in the words of Eddie Temple.....

"You're born, you take ****. You get out in the world, you take more ****. You climb a little higher, you take less ****. Till one day you're up in the rarefied atmosphere and you've forgotten what **** even looks like. Welcome to the layer cake son."

I say the above as someone planted firmly at the bottom of the master seniority list, currently taking said s***.

I am under the impression that the seniority numbers for fleet transfers in 2016 include all eligible un-frozen SH pilots with a bid in. That number isn't sufficient to fill the LH seats so there has to be DEP LH recruitment. I don't quite know how the land lies on the 767 but I believe un-frozen pilots on that fleet are being held back, in my view unfairly, from fleet moves.

Not sure if anything is being done this year that's been done any different any other year.

DVR6K, this isn't about sticking to their freeze guns. Just ask the guys who had their freezes waived this year to get SH commands. They could easily choose to waive Engagement freezes, and recruit all newbies onto the 320, which would please all those SH P2 who are waiting patiently LH and massively boost morale in the same blow. It wouldn't please the training dept though, who then potentially have to do two courses instead of one.

Make no mistake, this is not about choosing to get the best pilot or the most experienced, or the most anything into BA Longhaul, nor is it a way of sticking to the freeze promise. This is a cost game, nothing more, nothing less.

You're absolutely right. Cost is King as the march towards record profits continues. It ain't right but it's the IAG way. If they don't have to unfreeze people they won't. It's not rewarding company loyalty but when did that ever matter to them?

Ex-BMI Airbus guys leapfrogging frozen Airbus guys onto LH. Now we're talking unfair. But what can you do?