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.