Re the 767....I think the plan depends on who you talk to.

AFAIK the '76 is in the fleet plan until at least 2018 and hence are not formally (in BA speak) a dying fleet.I know many of the present P2s on the '76 are being denied a move elsewhere (the subject of yet another heated debate elsewhere), being told that's down to a lack training capacity and/or lack of P2s on the type - which is credible if BA are indeed recruiting on to the aircraft.

aerowhisperer - firstly congratulations....secondly just be aware that since the '76, whilst not dead yet, is slowly running down, you may well have to do another conversion course before your engagement/initial freeze times out, and that might not be on to a type of your choice......

Fa2fi

Has hit the nail on the head for commuting on SH if you are junior and full time. Everyone I know who is a commuter has or is just going 75%. A friend of mine had in the past been on the phone to me almost in tears because he could not cope. The strain was pulling his family apart and he was in no state of mind to fly so had to take a few days off. The guys flying 75% seem to cope much better because they can always ensure some family time each month.

Max drift: I would apply and go for it. If you get through then you have some serious talking to do with the family. I would have reservations about commuting but if you want a fresh start then it could be for you. Once an hour or so outside of London house prices really do drop off and lifestyle improves. The BA package is good by industry standards in the UK and with 30 odd years to go I thing you would be throwing a career option away for short term comfort.

Part time
 

Part-time has been mentioned a few times now. Out of curiosity, how easy is it to go part-time as a new joiner?

A colleague of mine just got it after three years

Does anyone know, how many questions you need to get right on the numerical and verbal reasoning part? Ish?

I have Sky Test Prep for Middle East, any ideas what parts of this are relevant to BA DEP computer tests ??
Thanks

Can anyone tell me what PD means on a BA roster?

If it is some kind of leave, is it included in the 6 weeks you get from the company?

Cheers.

I believe PD means 'Right to request' part time days off.

To those that have applied! how long from date of application to the first assessment day? trying to get an idea of the average...

I have gone through the info on here, highly appreciated.
Got the books. Just wondering if the cockpitweb software is of any use as it's not really a bargain.

Anyone been swimming in pool for sometime?
My arms are starting to ache, was never that good at wet drills anyway!
I'm gonna need a life jacket at this rate!
Back to the assessment, people argue whether it is suited to choosing the best pilots. Well, I wouldn't want to answer that but it is suited I'd say to those that put the hard work in. I've applied twice before and got knocked back at the screening stage, but this time my mental attitude was different. You have to buy into the concept and accept it's their show and you must prove to them you really want it!
This time I worked meticulously over a 5 month period leaving no stone unturned..did my research and prepped, it paid off! Ask yourself how much you want it and how much you are willing to work for it. It's been the hardest airline assessment I've ever done but I believe it's worth it!
Best of luck to those applying.

'Rumour' is that the pool could well be empty of swimmers by this summer. :ok:

747 Downind, how long have you been swimming for? My course date was offered exactly one month after getting the email to say I'd passed the sim. Fingers crossed you'll get a call soon.

Does anyone have a copy of the latest PP34 pay scale? PPJN used to have a full breakdown, but it's since disappeared.

James Herriot

Only the multidimensional aspect of it. None of the others are used!

EMB 145-LR: It's been 5 weeks now, I'm grateful to know the pool will be emptied..the waiting is tender hook stuff though!! Ring ring...will it be BA..oh no more PPI sales foke!!!:*

Emb 145-LR

I have got a file of the pay scales. What do you want to know? Starting? Top? SH, MH, LH, pensionable pay, OT hourly rate?

Any BA BALPA member can access it but i would not want to just publish it

Thanks Bex88. I'm just trying to work out roughly how much my salary will go up each year after my first year as an Airbus LHR FO with the company?

It's about £1400 odd pounds a year. If/when you choose to go LH its approx 2k increments

Start year one is £54k. You will then get your FPA at £597 a month (I think that's the current rate on Airbus) and duty pay @ £3.50 per duty hour from check in to clear.

Fantastic info, thanks very much!

For all those asking about timescales, I hope this helps:


http://www.pprune.org/terms-endearme...ml#post8955102

Just got the second Dear John letter in a year; before bidding is closed (May 10th, 2015) I got knocked back and for the second time in a row not even invited for the first round, having prepared screening questions and texts of 600 and 300 words, with plenty of motivation music. So how can one 'meticulously' prepare for this? Is there a secret password that opens Sesame? Reason for rejection surely can't be my experience (I'm type rated on 787 , and TRI on 737, 14000 h total and 10000 PIC on wide body...). Age perhaps? (48) So what's the magic word that opens the gates?

Hoping to get a second shot at BA later this year.

It seems that all recruitment is now on to the A320 with a few exceptions.

What is the lifestyle like now on the Airbus at LHR? How many nightstops per month for a junior FO? Are they long enough to see the city your staying in any more? How many days off average per month? How many sectors per day? Is a take home of around £4000-4200 realistic first year? Is trip trading possible and easy to do, or do the company discourage swaps?

Sorry for asking so many questions, it now just seems hard to get up to date information on this stuff.

You beat me to it, twicehold. I'm hearing lots of rumours of how hard A320 FOs are working but little first-hand. Grateful for any info.

Ladies and Gents,

Joining BA as a junior pilot, you will find yourself in blind line territory, so you can put in preferences for the trips that you want, however on saying that last month I noticed a hell of a lot of junior guys on trip lines.

I typically find myself with anything from 11 to 15 days off a month, depending on leave duty free weeks etc.

Trips now range from single day trips, to 5 day trips if that is what you desire. There appear to be more and more 4 sector days kicking around, with early reports and late finishes.

Night stopping these days will provide you enough time to go out and about if you would like to go and see the cities. However, there are rumours kicking around that IAG are looking to change hotel locations, mainly airport hotels.

Yes there is an electronic swapping facilities through the intranet and one bid line program. The beauty of this system is there is so much uncovered work you often find yourself with the ability to re-write your own roster if what you get on a blind line doesnt suit you, and it always gives you options to pick up overtime if you would like to earn extra bunce.

I personally, am enjoying BA I have been there 3 years, its a great place to be, with lots of options and is a stable environment. Even in the time I have been there there has been lots of movement and change with commands, guys moving to long haul, new routes, new aeroplanes.

Hope that helps.

All the best.

Very helpful, CAT3C, thank you.

Funnily enough the reason for that has come up in debate elsewhere about the short haul life style, and might be worth knowing.

Blindline=company writes your complete roster - their job to get you to CAP.

At the moment under the current rule set the company is quite constrained on how it "builds" the lines - result is lots of blindlines end up under CAP, possibly bulked out with a day/days Time Assignability ( sort of home stand-by), nevertheless a Blindline holder is "pay protected", i.e. always paid as if they had worked to CAP.

Tripline= Trip line holder tries to build their own roster. Their own job to make CAP - don't make it they may lose pay in certain circumstances,

You may have sacrifice days off to avoid losing cash, or these days increasingly risk having extra work that gets dropped on the line during the Roster Assign process....

It seems to be becoming increasingly common to see the very junior guys working like the clappers on carp triplines whilst the guys just above them are picking up blindlines in order to try to get some time off - which works well if you don't mind a few days uncertainty over any Time Assignable days.

However...I'll also add the heads up that some of the constraints on the company regarding blindline build are being removed later this year, more controls may well come off in a couple of years under Bidline 2017, so blindlines are going to be more efficient, which certainly won't mean working less... :oh:

Hi Wiggy

I know quite a lot has changed since I took VR back in '09, but are junior guys 'forced' to pick up a Trip Line now even if they don't bid for it? If so, that's quite a change as back in the day they became Blind Line holders and all unallocated Trip Lines were broken up with the individual trips going back into the Stage 2 pot.

TopBunk

AFAIK that's still the case but I know some are still reluctant to effectively "nil bid" because of the loss of any control over days off and so would rather chance things with a poor trip line. I rather suspect that might start to change over the next few months - which might make things interesting for the company.

Given the levels of recruitment over the next 12-24 months would it be fair to conclude new joiners will move up the 320 seniority list at rates faster then previously seen in BA?

Is it possible to explain how different life is for someone in the bottom 20% of the LHR 320 fleet compared to say someone sitting half way up. Would it be described as marginal or substantial? Is it possible to compare the life of a senior A320 pilot to that of a junior pilot who will remain junior for years as a DEP onto a longhaul fleet?

Who knows?..That depends on the whole host of unknowns that determine whether recruiting continues...as I'm sure you realise.

In general recruiting at BA has always been stop and start since they started (?restarted) DEP recruitment in the late 80's. In any event the nearer the front end of a recruitment bulge you are the better, so I suspect the likes of CAT3C is probably well placed, whereas someone joining in a year or two might end up stuck at the bottom of a list if for unknown reasons recruitment dries up again.

Here is how it goes. In the last three years I have moved up about 75 places on the MSL. Then suddenly whilst not really moving up the list you find that you are 300-350 places off the bottom and shooting up the Airbus list. It will then probably slow and become stagnant again for a while with just the normal attrition rates etc. What is causing this movement at the moment is the result of the BMI slots starting to transfer to LH and BA expanding into new markets. If your offered a place on the A320 today or the 747 next month for Christ sake take the A320 now because your position on the MSL determines everything. If you don't believe me you should see the number of shoes that have been left for me to polish :}

Your logic's sound re the MSL, as long as both the MSL and the company continues in it's current form. TBH though if they really were both guaranteed slots (and there's no such thing I know), I know which I would be inclined take....

So - what is the MTOW / seating config of your rating as this is the primary consideration

Just out curiosity: does anybody know if there a non british nationals (non Commonwealth as well) flying for BA?

Well apart from lot and lots of Europeans there's at least one of our American friends.

I can think of Americans, Lebanese, Colombian as well as loads of Australian, Canadian and European pilots.

So do I... another 9/11 and I know which type/role is more likely to be secure :oh:

The Texan doesn't even have a British passport!
;)

The nationality question and questions about the number of Brits as BA seems to crop up on a regular basis...BA's requirements are pretty clear:

"A valid passport (with minimum of 12 months before expiry date) allowing unrestricted worldwide travel

The unrestricted right to live and work in the UK".

Remember the unrestricted right to live and work in the UK can be gained through family ties/links, not just nationality (e.g being an EU national).

Given what we see on the Flight Deck every day I'd say (as previously stated) there's a wide spread of nationalities.

Are pension contributions based on the old 24pp or the new 34pp salary?