Plastic 787, cant you hurry up now and resign from Norwegian and let some others have a go ;)

Roughly how many guys are now swimming in the pool? Is there any indication when they will start 2016 courses for theses guys?

Best of luck

It has been mentioned internally by the recruitment team that as things stand most offers up until the end of the year have been made. For those that are still in the hold pool they have been told to expect more information on 2016 courses in the autumn. BA is planning to take a short break from any new recruitment campaigns. This will allow them to process everyone with a live application. Apparently over 100 people are still awaiting their simulator assessments with a similar number at the interview stage.

The plan for 2016 is being looked at and it is likely that course information (for both internal conversions and external candidates) will be available in mid Oct. So expect wild conjecture and speculation till then - oh and after then too.

Rough idea of the current recruitment timeframe:

Applied 14th June.
Invitation to Day 1 +1 Day
Day 1 +5 days (lucky empty slot)
Invitation to day 2 +2 days
Day 2 +22 days
Invitation to sim +2 days
Sim +44 days (earliest available slot)
Success/Hold Pool +7 days

So just under 3 months in total.

Any more being said to those swimming regarding when courses are likely to be offered. Out of interest how are people fished out? Is it based on when you entered the pool first in first out or can it be random based on who can start a particular course on that date etc.

On my day 2 they said they call approximately 3.5 months ahead and the only remaining slots were for Airbus rated bods, so if this year's courses are full Juan's suggestion seems reasonable.

How long have you been swimming?

Update
 

Hi,

Last Summer people were complaining about the work load and force draft. How has the recent recruitment changed this?

I also noticed that a lot of people were predicting the end of Bidline with the introduction of the EASA FTL's. Have these been implemented yet? If so, has there been many changes?

I appreciate any input on life at BA, and changes from the mirage of information above.

Thanks!
TT

Any further news from the swimmers regarding how long you will be waiting?

Hold Pool Update
 

This posted yesterday on our Recruitment forum on Yammer....

8 Airbus rated pilots will be getting made offers in next 7days for Jan 2016 start, followed by 8 more very soon after. Crystal run in a few weeks time will determine the length of the wait for others when it creates the 2016 recruitment plan.

Hope this helps.... I believe at least 350 pilots needed next year so good news for all in the pool & those who wish to apply in the next round!

Rgds,

BASHLH

Is it all for short haul or any recruitment still required onto 74 etc?

Thanks for the update BASHLH, sounds good.

Are there many still swimming in the pool and if so, are these all rated guys or are there still non-rated people swimming? Surely there can't be that many left now waiting?

Anyone know how non-rated guys may get on in the next round of recruitment or is it likely that only rated or those with jet time that get a look in?

Fingers crossed!

Thanks for the heads up. Is 8 per course the normal intake? I think there were about 40 swimmers ( rumoured ) and I presume not all destined for the Airbus so possibly was the plugs pulled the pool could empty very quickly.

Best of luck to all swimming, floating and applying.

HP

Thanks BASHLH - I guess us non-rated swimmers will be waiting for type rating courses rather than just OCC slots to become available. Was there any indication how many are in the pool?

I guess they pick you out of the pool based on when you started swimming and whether you're rated or not.

Depends entirely upon training commitment/load and sim availability/serviceability during the relocation.

I would assume that those who are swimming and have the qualifications for ZFT etc. would be pulled as and when capacity for specific fleets dictates, not upon date of entering the pool.

All IMVHO of course.

Non-Rated swimmers
 

Thanks for update BASHLH.

Any ideas when they may plan courses for the non-rated swimmers amongst us?

Hi Everyone,

Unfortunately I don't know anything about numbers, types & waiting times. Only what every other BA pilot knows from Yammer etc. As soon as I see any more information then I shall post it (as long as it's public knowledge).

It has been said many times on Yammer that the end of October will be when information will hopefully come flooding out. Until then BA don't even know numbers. I was in this position 5 years ago waiting for a course. The thirst for information is frustrating which is why I post as many facts as possible. What is real is that BA need pilots & there will be plenty of opportunity for all, and for those in the pool it's not a case of 'if' but 'when' a course gets offered. 16 320 guys are already getting offers for 2016.

Kind RGDS,

BASHLH

Tricia T

Bidline still exits in name, in an interim form pending major changes in a year or two.

Partial EASA FTLs been in force on shorthaul for a while. The effect of that's for a Shorthauler to comment on. EASA FTLS or parts thereof not yet implemented in Longhaul, but coming soon.

Force Draft has gone ( so no more being ordered to come to work at 24 hours notice) but not because of recruitment. It has been replaced by Roster Assign, where the company can (and do) drop extra work into any days off you think you've cunningly left in your month just before your final final roster is published. In effect it's Force Draft but with much more notice, which might just allow you to sell/swap the offending trip off to somebody else if you really really needed a particular day(s) off.

I don't get the impression the overall workload has dropped, and for tripline holders it's now more difficult to bid to work high one month and then safely be able to bid to work low the next (i.e. run a "bank" and use banked hours) because of the risk of work being Roster Assigned.

Thank you Wiggy

Recent BALPA newsletter article re Bidline 2017....



Bidline 2017

When BIdline 2017 is in place, Final Assign (FA) and Draft Assign (DA) will be REMOVED from the rules completely. Your final roster, when published, will be unchanged by any further assignments. The publication date of final rosters will be a lot earlier than now - approximately 14 days before the start of the month.

We have listed below a number of significant BLR 2017 headlines:



No Final Assign / Draft Assign

Final rosters- at least 14 days before the start of the month

Stage 1 bidding process unchanged



IB2a bidding- fully automated process - more powerful than the current “one trip at a time”

IB2a bid

- bids for trips AND days off

- “generalised” bids (e.g. “any 3 day trip”, “any day trip”, “prefer late starts”, “prefer destination XXX")

- “avoid” bids (e.g. “avoid early starts”, “avoid trips greater than 3 days”, “avoid destination XXX”)

- “offer” parts of your IB1 tripline into the IB2a process to seek a better trip / days off outcome at IB2a

- bids to protect certain trips / days off


Blindline bidding:

- fully automatic “optimising" blindline builder

- same range of bids allowed as IB2a (see above)