Virgin hasn't removed anything for new joiners!

Ok I'll rephrase, Virgin hasn't and won't be changing anything regarding pension for new joiners!

What sort of fringe benefits are there exactly?

wearing a Hat ? .......

Sorry if this is not strictly on the topic but has anyone any idea how long the swim is in the BACF hold pool? Any chaps or chapesses on here in this pool? The recruitment process was the exact same as the DEP and done at waterside, just thought i'd ask here...

Scatter gun reply whilst you wait for a junior pilot to reply:

Firstly for those that are wondering about the specifics - Reserve period (Long Haul) is a 28 day block, first 7 days clear of work then 21 available days during which you can be assigned a duty, either flying or a "Home Standby" (HSB). You normally get notified of a trip or HSB the evening before the duty and when on HSB the requirement is to be able to get to the Crew car Park at LHR in two hours or less. You can be assigned HSB's on multiple consecutive days...FWIW first 6 days of the period HSB on the trot for me last time around, then, finally, some trips...

Whether you have to live at LHR for the reserve block depends on timings and frequency of commuting flights. The reason for the "depends" is that on Longhaul reserve the general rule is (with the exception of the day of return from a trip) you are "contactable" in an evening for duties the next day ( e.g. flights or a stand-by block)...So you can get a phone call as late as 2000 UK LT informing you of a trip/ standby period the next AM and because of that many Longhaul commuters I know of plan on living around LHR/LGW for the 21 days and grab days off at home as a bonus.

Getting home after a trip on reserve? You are free on the day of arrival back into London (day 1) so you could nip home, but (FTLs allowing) you are then "contactable" the next evening (of day 2) for a duty AM next day (day 3).....it's a personal preference thing.

Plenty still commuting, but the company will still audit. Lifetsyle probably depends on number of trips per-month, gap between trips.

Min time between trips? Driven by bidding and FTLs now, whether you are willing to waive Industrial agreements to pack the work in/get enough work on your line to reach the hours target...You could probably plan on 2 days (3 local nights, longer for some trips with big time zone change elements) but it might suit you to reduce when bidding...

Can staff travel be used for commuting? ATM yes, but watch out trying to commute from somewhere with lots of more senior commuters and not many flights. Other option is slightly (and I means slightly) discounted commercial tickets ("hotlines").

Swapping trips in the general scheme of things when not on reserve is still possible when legal.

Swapping standbys ( when on reserve) with a trip is v tricky...You can tell "crewing" perhaps at the start of the Reserve period that you would prefer trips to standby's, but they are meant to equalise trips and standbys across all those on reserve. Once you actually get nobbled (the evening before) with a standby period for the next day crewing will have run their plan and are unlikely to want to change it...and they do like to keep their standby's intact "just in case".

Examples - East coast states and a bit further ( up to and including ORD, sometimes even MIA) 2 pilot, the Gulf, Central Africa (LOS, ABV) 2 pilot...other extreme such as SIN/EZE is 4 pilot, stuff in between generally 3 pilot.

HTH

BA Pension contributions are based on a seperate 'Pensionable pay' payscale however, which for me is nominally £12k higher than my basic pay.
I'd suggest that the current BA workforce are pretty united at the moment though, given the most recent ballot!

Good for Virgin. I still won't be applying to join.

For every year after PP1, it;s higher than the basic pay, all the way up to £40k more on the P1 payscale.
BARP doesn't exist any more, and only one pension scheme now for us all. In fact the only differing thing for us now is PP24 vs PP34 but that's hardly going to affect new joiners is it?

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

A friend sent me a chunk of sample rosters of junior FO rosters off a cross section of long haul fleets fleets. From some very rough calculations it seems like weekend days off are going to be at a premium.

Percentage of weekends with either a Saturdays or Sundays clear of any duty: 24% (35% Including leave)
Percentage of weekends with either a Saturdays or Sundays was partially off (Allowing for approximately 8 hours of leisure time after a duty) : 16%
Percentage of weekends where both Saturdays and Sundays where spent on duty or away in trip: 59%
Percentage of weekends when the whole weekend was clear of duty: 17% (30% including leave)

Is there anyone who can tell me if these figures are realistic?

Thanks again for any input.

24% would suggest one in four week ends off , which I find hard to believe - having been over 12 months personally without a week end off - and I am not quite at the bottom of the pile.

Sorry, my post was poorly worded. I have corrected it now. Looking through the rosters, only 17% of weekends were off while 24% percent of weekends had a duty either starting or ending on a Saturday or Sunday. 59% of the weekends where were completely taken up by trips.

Your reply does seem to tie into what I was which was an awful lot of people could go through a whole month without having even one Saturday or Sunday off.

" a whole month" - try 12 months +

Not had a weekend off besides leave on SH... been here nearly 12 months.

Could someone give me some more information about this requirement? What exactly is it?

5 GCSE’s including Math’s, English and Science (excluding General studies and Critical
Thinking) grade C and above plus 112 UCAS points according to the 2017 UCAS point
system or equivalent.

Not sure which figures you're looking at but for every year on the PP34 P1 Mainline scale, every pensionable pay point is higher than the basic with the exception of PP1, some of PP2, PP33 and PP34. The figure I chose for the biggest difference is SH PP24 where the difference is over 40k.

LGW doesn't have a lower payscale though, it's identical to LHR SH, just with a cap.

In the context of Longhaul as was mentioned upthread the first 7 days are days free of duty which will include a weekend off.

You bid for reserve but there's an associated points system and also tier/banding system tied into time in the company so your "time to time" can be fairly often though you can't be "assigned" (i.e. forced) to do two reserves in consecutive months.

As hunterboy has correctly pointed out if you live within 2 hours of the airport Reserve can work to your advantage if you are prepared to live with a bit of uncertainty.

I'm looking right now at some Longhaul (very new) DEP rosters ( middle 4000 seniority) and FWIW there are a few some with single weekend days off (i.e; the Saturday or the Sunday completely clear)..but certainly not many, and there a lot of rosters where every weekend day of the month (April)is touched by work.

There are very very few who can guarantee regularly getting a particular specific weekend day off, to do that on a regular basis you need to be extremely senior (left or right seat). That was certainly the case under Bidline and looks like being the case underJSS.

..and it is tough on family life, hence the attractiveness of the various part time contracts

I get the impression that the issue that might be raising eyebrows for some at the moment is the difficulty (or not) in getting a specific day off on a regular basis, perhaps to tie in with domestic issues such as a partner's working arrangements or children's activities..

I'm inclined to say it can't be done without going part time, but as you say the newly introduced Golden Days might provide a solution 6 days of the year.

The vast majority of the most junior Capts and FOs are doing plenty of 2 - 5 day tours though, so its something in your bid that's putting you in fallback not a fundamental result of JSS.

By limiting JSS even in your lowest BG to 4 day trips in a month on a short haul fleet you are seriously harming JSSs ability to create a roster. Surely it would be better gradually relaxing that limit and not going into fallback and at least getting some of what you want?

I wouldnt have thought that requesting a maximum of 4 day trips in a month to be unreasonable ?, especially for some one who is perhaps a commuter or someone who just prefers night stops and doesnt mind where / when / with whom ? I agree JSS just doesnt work when your near the bottom ( by near I mean less than 50%)

No, its not. I'm not saying don't bid for only 4, but, if JSS needs to give you 5 for whatever reason do you really want lose every other preference? Just gradually release the requirement until JSS can produce a roster. Limiting day trips to 4 is a very powerful bid.

Its not a bidding issue 100% guarantee. Even the JSS trainers are powerless to help. It’s a JSS issue

Are you in the ex bmi bubble? Could have something to do with it

It shouldnt be, but it is.........