There was a slot that opened up on the 29th of Jan for a microsecond .

Hi everybody,

I just got the invitation to be assessed. Can anyone be kind enough to let me know what Stage 1 consists of? What about Stage 2?

I have the option of doing only a Stage 1 day or a date that comprises both Stage 1 and Stage 2 on the same day. Does it make sense to take a day where you can do both? Or from your experience you would avoid the extra work?

Thank you in advance.

Cheers!

Stage 1 - Maths paper, verbal reasoning paper and a 'capacity test' style game on a computer
Stage 2 - Interview and Group Ex.

Personally, I'd have definitely elected to do Stage 1 and 2 on the same day if given the choice. I don't think theres much you can do to prep for Stage 1 - and you'll be out in a couple of hours if you do it on its own. Also, as you'll see from other comments on here, there are limited days available and it can be hard to get one that coincides with time off work. All told, I had nearly 2 months between stage 1 and 2 which will cost you a good number of places on the seniority list with the current level of recruitment.

Good luck!

As others have said above don't come here for SH. You'd have to be somewhere pretty bad to better off. FTL's are targets and I've never been so close to 60 hours duty/ 7 days more than I have been here. I made the mistake of leaving ezy for BA short haul and IMHO you're not better off. More work for similar pay. Fatigue isn't a recognised concept here and you'll get patronising comments from management telling you to bid for more days off.

As always its each to their own- long term there is more variety and yes the staff travel for Long Haul is a nice addition. Come here for short haul and you will probably be on the airbus for at least 5 years and with all the Long haul DEP possibly even longer. Even when your freeze is up you still need seniority for it. That currently sits about 3400 and as a new joiner you will be somewhere about 4400. Who knows how long it will take. What is long haul even going to look like in 5/6/7 years? BA are after productivity and you bet the workforce here will give it. Never seen so many people offering days off at a pretty embarrassing market rate (330£/day LGW FO) and coming in on days off to 'help-out' when we get extended none of it back.

You can blame BALPA for the huge decline in T&C's here but we are the only ones to blame from what I've seen in a short period of time IMHO. Its look after number 1- the division amongst us as a work force is genuinely quite depressing at times. LHR/LGW SH/LH PP24/34 BARP/NAPS just to name a few. Company have cleverly manipulated the pilots into this position where will they pick away until there is very little left with almost little to no response from us. I remember reading about what people were willing to do to defend NAPS, Bidline e.t.c but surprise surprise where are they both now?

I'm sure there will be plenty along to tell you how great 24 hours in Cairo/Beirut/Tel-Aviv is (:E) and spending every weekend sat in Pret at T5.. at least you can wear your hat and tell everyone you work for BA! :D If you're lucky enough you might even get to come in unpaid on days off to be a pilot ambassador ;)

Ok, I'll stop now. Its each to their own- I don't see why you would leave other UK (stable) SH operators to come here and I suppose I'd like people to know what I now know about lifestyle on BA short haul. Probably just bitter and don't want to work 85 hours in February when LGW winter is 'Quiet'.

Yes you can. And you'd be right to do so.

There's not much I can add to this, other than to say I'm afraid this has been my experience entirely. In a vain attempt to be positive, I do enjoy the trips/night stops, and some of the hotels are truly fantastic. But unfortunately this is almost totally eclipsed by the rest of the job.

As always, perspectives vary, and they'll invariably do so depending on where you came from. If your airline is dying or has been abusing you somehow, join. If not, I'd personally avoid it like the plague - unless you're desperate for long haul. Bear in mind though that JSS now destroys any kind of roster control for the juniors, irrespective of fleet. Short haul can be truly appalling - you'll have no control over days off and you'll find yourself switching between earlies and lates relentlessly, often with only one or two days off between. Equally some junior long haul rosters now appear to feature 6 full trips per month, again regularly with only a single day off between trips. How you manage any kind of home life with that kind of roster really is a mystery to me.

As I've seen mentioned before - don't get drawn in by being able to say you work for BA, calling yourself speedbird, or just going there because everyone else is. Think long and hard about it and ask yourself if it's really worth it.

Yep, they know they'll get double the pay they had during the lower ranks of EZY. How about leaving for future prospects? You're only ever going to do day trips at EZY, for the rest of time, on the 320. Admittedly for good money and potentially at regional bases. Some aspire to more though.

Sadly of course things at BA have deteriorated so drastically that the above is actually becoming the more appealing option. You only have to look at the current recruitment options to see what BA are having to do to entice people in these days.

Spot on MikeAlpha

I left EZY to join BA before EASA FTL's kicked in (3 years ago) and pre-Brexit. When I joined BA £1,- was worth €1,40. And then some -(fill in yourself)- decided to leave the EU.

First year in BA was actually quite good but then someone decided we should stop recruiting..

Basically, 3 years ago things were different. Would I make the move to BA now? Definitely not.

That and with the bubble they where in at BA, having been part of the take-over a few years back, they were never going to be happy at BA. Some were promised a LBA base by Jet2 before they signed. However when the inkt on the contract was dry they were based in NCL.

I'm Shorthaul myself and coming from an airline different then EasyJet a few years back, I don't find BA SH that harsh. Maybe that was because I did my homework before I joined or maybe was it because with my previous airline the roster was not worth the paper it was written on (in the summer at the end of the month looking back at the given roster 89% of the rostered duties were completely different duties/flights compared to the original roster given) and with the BA rosters I manage to have a life outside work. During the JSS trail runs I was shocked by the rosters it produced, however now it has gone live it ain't that bad (pretty good actually). Looking at some of the junior ibid rosters they look very similar, if not better, as what I had when I was that junior. Some of the swap comments in iBid do make me laugh though. Being in the bottom 20% of the list complaining that you didn't get every weekend off (only 1). Maybe that has more to do with expectation management then JSS :8 or a generation thing; I want it all and I want it now!!:eek:

Dutch pilots at BA are leaving for KLM, with 6 gone so far and more resignations from BA in the pipeline. There are many reasons for making such a move, but BA's audit of pilots who spend more than 90 minutes travelling to LHR can not have helped. Not many can afford to live comfortably in the south east of England these days.

Maybe the Norwegian crews based in AMS will join them now the AMS base is closing...
BA would be wise to speak to the UK AOC's with approved FRMS and how they handle the C word. You only need to talk to the sleepy folk that driving a car for 4 hours to work can be the same as sitting watching TV for 2hrs 30 mins and then driving in for 90 mins. It all depends on how (each) crewmembers manage their rest and how BA manage the % that take the pi$$.

It's 7 I believe and I hope to be nr 8

Yes that's what I heard as well. I'm sure there will be a sensible solution, but it might take time

Is that just from UK CAA to EU state or from EU to UK as well? I found the 'eu exit' microsite on the CAA website that shows the recommended date to start the process from UK to EU but not vice versa

then I am 9

Because it's fashionable to badmouth the company whenever possible.

The best flying job is flying for a legacy in your home country. Dutch pilots going to KLM isn't an accurate reflection of "deterioration" in BA as some would have you believe.

You haven't bothered to read much of this thread have you?

And here is the reason why we end up in the state we do. I love it. People here have genuine gripes & issues. A lot of us have come from other airlines (are you at BA? were you a cadet?) and have had other experiences- some good, some bad. I am NOT badmouthing BA. I am simply relating my previous experience to my current one. Flying SH airbus from LGW/LHR. I am trying to give people my opinion on the actual reality of working here. Not someone on Instagram/Facebook trying to impress everyone with their fabulous rosters and wonderful work life.

If I was really 'Bad mouthing' them my posts would be far longer and would probably be removed by mods for my colourful language :E. Why is the best job legacy in your home country? I have plenty of friends working 4 on 4 off home every night at their regional base on part time contracts earning far more than I do in their loco, but I suppose BA is better because its a legacy, right?

You are crazy if you can't see the decline in T&C's at BA. People are leaving, back to where they came from. They are struggling to fill LGW commands. They are getting SH offers refused left right and centre. It has got nothing to do with being fashionable and in all honesty I think you are just insulting those of us that actually go against the grain and don't pretend BA is this utopia that some love to pretend. Ill leave that to the centenary pin wearers :ok:

it wasn't a personal attack on you but seeing as you've taken it that way yes I am at BA, I haven't been a cadet for many many years and when I were a lad my first flying job wasn't a shiny A320 with a loco. In other words I've done enough rubbish jobs for enough airlines long gone to know that what we have here is actually very good. You voiced your opinion. I've voiced mine.

We have worked for the same loco. I don't see unhealthy crew food here, max FTL days followed by min rest night stops in the airport Novotel using the hotel provided shuttle because the company is too tight to pay for crew transport followed by a day with an aircraft with a U/S oven so the crew food replacement is a pot noodle! If that's your experience of BA then I take it all back and those guys going to KLM are mad when they should be applying for easyJet Amsterdam, Transavia or Ryanair.

I flew for easyJet long enough to see the carton of orange juice and the cakes taken away from the crew food, 2 hour early standbys removed and fatigue go up. Or have you forgotten about their near walk out a couple of years ago? Everywhere is in decline. Us, the sand pit, Lufthansa, Doctors, teachers, etc. It is the new norm.

Allegedly.

No they're not. Feel free to ask those in the know.

Allegedly. All I know is my position on the master seniority list continues to go up as a percentage.

I think I'm the one against the grain on this thread actually trying to say it's quite nice here. Of course it's not perfect. Please find me the employer that is and I'll join you in applying.

In the mean time I have the opportunity to fly long haul for an airline making money and I'm in my home country. I'm a simple person. That makes me happy.

Speedfreek : "Allegedly. All I know is my position on the master seniority list continues to go up as a percentage."
Surely the number (%) must be getting smaller ?

Speed Freek:

Crew food is almost identical. Just as unhealthy and arguably less variety (LGW). I didn't eat it at easy and try not to at BA.

In Almost 3.5 years I had the oven u/s twice. Went into terminal and got hot food which we then charged back to the company.

Night stops weren't min rest LIN is currently 16 hours, INV 17 hours and MAD 16 hours (on lates) . Some long links in the summer but when they tried to pair RAK with INV it lasted about 2 weeks before people kept going fatigued and it got canned. Jersey night stop is paired with Marrakech and Tirana at BA. In summer landing about 0230.

Max FTL days were there in the summer but when you'd had too much you went fatigued and weren't bothered with ridiculous emails in response. After 2016 Balpa got significant alleviations at the planning stage to avoid max FTLs. I was there during the 'near walk out' and it was a horrendous summer. 17 was far better and from what I hear 18 was a similar story. I didn't do single days off, I didn't do 6 day blocks, when enough was enough I made the professional and legally correct decision to report fatigued. I wasn't interrogated about my commute, I wasn't told I had to bid for more days off, I wasn't told I shouldn't do things before work on lates. I wasn't told I was 'simply tired' and that it was 'hard to see what was fatiguing about my roster construction'.

People are leaving - check iBid rosters.

Why did they have to do a supplementary bid then? Why did the command go all the way to the bottom of seniority list? Hardly strikes me as a particularly popular position.

Post on yammer says several people failing to turn up for courses and lots of refusals. Had several friends refuse SH from ezy alone.

SH BA is a long way from EJ SH in my experience. I work far harder and get far more hassle for the privilege. Cant speak for LH but as my previous post states- I wouldn't join here for SH knowing what I know now.

Red 9, yes quite right. Yet more clear evidence I can't multi task :}

MikeAlpha, it's very clear both our experiences of both companies are widely different, such is the nature of this job. But to help the people on the outside make an informed decision - if it's that bad here why don't you leave? It seems, like myself, you're junior enough it's non-jeopardy and you could be on a part time command contract earning more money like your mates before too long.

Couldn't give you numbers but many get in touch and apply.

username checks out r/Reddit

Who is to say that I'm not? LGW commands have gone very junior ... back for DEC easy for a 30k payrise and fixed roster 5/4/5/3.... :ok:

Think Riskybis went to Virgin. Know of a few guys/girls that have gone BA to VS and vice versa.