No it has nothing to do with the trippling of the weekend points. The graph was from just before the weekend points got trippled.

Since the first day of the introduction of JSS I’ve had 3 weekends off and 2 of those were because of holidays, the other one I worked every other weekend that month I already made cap during those trips.

I’m with you wiggy, I don’t think it has any effect. But as somebody who rather does his shopping during the week and were the other half works shifts as well it is a nice added bonus to avoid the reserve periods.

I’ve definitely changed my bid to allow more weekend work, top 10% on my fleet so have the choice fortunately. Its been emphasised it’s a temporary measure, so if I don’t need a weekend off specifically over the summer I’m working to gain the points before the rules change again.

Would be very surprised if that’s true. More people due to leave the fleet later in the year to the A350 and Heathrow especially is already undermanned in the RHS. Maybe that’s for non type rated perhaps?

Last comms from AK on the Yammer recruitment forum suggested short haul start dates in the autumn.

Don’t take my words as gospel but the manpower situation would suggest that Airbus FOs are going to be needed sooner rather than later. Remember seeing that yammer post a couple of months ago now that start dates would not be issued over the summer but would recommence in the Autumn.

As far as the bases go I’m in a good position to comment as I did three years up the road in Heathrow and started at Gatwick in January. It depends what you’re after really, I came down to Gatwick for very specific reasons because I live in and commute from Jersey and was tired of trudging up and down the M25 prior to and after a block of work plus we nightstop in Jersey so, with my seniority here, am spending a lot more nights in my own bed nowadays.

Gatwick is hands down a friendlier and more welcoming base. The Eurofleet anti pilot agenda does not exist here so cabin crew do go out of their way to keep you fed and watered (has led to me putting on more than a few pounds though!) and actually start conversations with you. It’s amazing that something as trifling as that raised eyebrows in my first couple of weeks in Gatwick. The base is much smaller so it’s more of a community, you always see people you know and can say hello to in the FOB (briefing room).

The Captains are generally lovely to fly with and a bit more chilled out here than up the road, probably because they fly with guys with no experience all the time here so aren’t immediately on the defensive as soon as they see a two striper. It’s a more seasonal base so summers are manic and winters much quieter (although with reference to a previous post I didn’t experience that this winter due to the work that I bid for, Jersey nightstops which are all two day sixes with long links usually). As there’s only three nightstops time away from base is limited and therefore take home pay can be significantly lower than Heathrow where there are more nightstops and tours available.

Heathrow has JSS for bidding and Gatwick has Carmen. Carmen is a bit kinder to junior pilots so I gather, it tries to give at least some satisfaction to the junior guys and girls. It does have some serious flaws and limitations though and you have to get to know the ways to trick it into giving you what you what, but it will almost always be at the expense of something you want less. Life in a nutshell I guess!

So it really depends what you want. Gatwick only has three nightstops; JER, GLA & EDI (rumours of more coming possibly NAP and TFS but I’ll believe that when I see it). So if you want to be experiencing cities in Europe, nightstopping and earning better money go to Heathrow. You’ll have more nights in your own bed in Gatwick for sure.

Be aware though that reserve periods are much longer in LHR (21 days) and you’ll do them frequently for your first couple of years. The longest reserve period in Gatwick is 6 days. The flying in Gatwick can be a bit more challenging too if you like that as Heathrow is mainly ILS to ILS whereas there’s more destinations with non precision circling stuff in LGW, having said that a lot of them are now replaced by RNAV visuals with coded waypoints which is great for safety but has taken a lot of the fun and challenge out of it (I’m looking at you, Nice).

Best of luck with it whatever you decide and maybe see you on the line one day.

For 350/380 you would need to be current Airbus. 320 experience is most common for DEP’s on those fleets.

With hundreds of P2s being unfrozen next year and obviously airbus qualified it would be an interesting move by BA to take DEPs onto the 380 or 350...

Personally my bid is to remain shorthaul (top 20 percent) but I imagine there would be a lot of gnashing of teeth if there are large numbers of DEPs long haul.

heard the same last night from an easyJet skipper who has been flying with a load who are working their notice with start dates on the A350. I’ll withhold my true feelings on that due to pprunes policy on profanity. This company just gets worse and worse.

If you are frozen on type, you are frozen on type. How can you say the company is getting worse and worse when so many hundreds of long haul DEPs have been recruited onto long haul ahead of frozen internal pilots just in the last few years alone? As far as I am aware, there has been no change in policy.

I’m not talking about myself (indeed I’m frozen) I’m talking about the many people ahead of me who have valid bids this year (and as Icanseeclearly and Jaffo320 have said it’s in the hundreds) and are being bypassed again by Long Haul DEP. This has an inevitable knock on to the RHS of the Airbus where the people sitting there may well be moving up the MSL but are stagnating in their current position on the P2 Airbus list. Post JSS this is incredibly important. Hence my comments.

Are we saying there are currently unfrozen FOs who meet all the current requirements for the A350, being denied moves? As for the hundreds unfreezing next year; I do not believe any current offers will be for next year’s intake, so we will have to wait a while yet before worrying about that.

It does indeed cost money, but agreements cost money, as do salaries. Training will probably be a nightmare next year with lots of jumbos leaving and A350s arriving. Plenty of shorthaul FOs will be denied moves to long haul, but if I were a betting man, I would wager it will be because the vast majority of P350s will come from current 747 FOs.

Extra crews will be required for 4x 777-300 due to crewing ratio. At some stage fleet numbers will also have to be expanded above break even to account for arrival of 777-9 in 2021 timelines. My bet is both 78 and 77 will be overcrewed at some point to allow rapid re-training due to type similarities between 77/78 and 777-9. My guess is most of this will come from 747 and DEP, with a350 moves coming from SH. Cross training has to be much cheaper than a full type rating, both in training costs and salary.

Not sure whether there is a shorter course for 320/321 to 350 but if there is, costs alone indicate it makes sense for a shorter more productive course to be allocated?

I believe the A320 to A350 conversion is a smaller training footprint so that could indeed result in the company preferring to send people from shorthaul to the A350 as you say. I’d also say generally, the more senior 747 SFOs prefer to stick with Boeing so that too would have them preferring the 777 courses you predict. However, the surplus 747 guys will have to go somewhere and they definitely won’t be favouring short haul. I’m sure the vast majority of those released from short haul will indeed be destined for the A350 and A380, simply because the more senior 747 guys moving will have bids in for the Boeing courses. However, the less senior 747 guys (once Boeing courses are filled) will end up on A350 and A380 ahead of short haul. I think this will all happen naturally as a result of general bidding tendencies though, and will have very little to do with training costs, even though the two drivers correlate. Basically as a generalisation, the more senior who haven’t already headed to Airbus prefer to stay Boeing, which will result in those courses filling up first.

Can’t be many seats available on the 380, my friend. Pretty surprised that we’ve got 2 DEP’s in training, tbh.

Cheers

Buter

many of the senior FOs are actually electing for SH command... especially those a ways off LH command but with enough seniority to have a cushy lifestyle on SH, with the extra Moolah command brings.

Yep, agree with the Ferret. I wanted LH when I joined, was A320 rated and was offered and accepted a start date for SH as “no LH places available”. The next week 4 guys from my base at ezy got offered DEP 747. Just the way it is. Get a start date, get your seniority number and after 5 years you have a lot options.

A LH DEP will be disproportionately junior for much longer than someone who does the initial freeze on SH. Whether that is a price worth paying to bypass the A320 rostering is down to personal circumstance/prior experience and, most importantly, perspective. Seniority is everything in BA. I can’t see that changing any time soon.

I know the recruitment cycle finished on 30th June, but any idea if recruitment will reopen later this year?

Full? Yet we have bronze command due to a shortage of flight crew. I understand if they upgrade to a silver command call that a tray of sandwiches is delivered so watch this space.

Good Evening All

I've got a Day 1 Assesment coming up, in a couple of weeks. (2nd try). I’ve been reviewing with “Job Test Prep”, and was wondering if anyone who had been through Day 1 recently would be willing to share their experience or have any advice on other sources for revision material.

Thanks in advance.

Ladies & Gents, good evening,

Just got the invitation to come over to LHR next month for the 1st stage. Any tips on a good prep? Thanks in advance!

Stephan

Tips: broadening your question to include Ladies?

better..;)?

Anyone in the pool know when the last job offers went out? Heard there were some recent 350 offers sent out

Anyone considering applying to this company under the current Leadership team, have a good hard look at this post, talk to a few people on the inside and have a good hard think about whether this is the kind of company you want to work for. The intimidatory tactics used on pilots including potentially illegal salary deductions and the complete lack of a duty of care towards its employees (there are stories floating around of non striking pilots who are sole carers for their children being stuck downroute, who have now been told to make their own way home). The behaviour of the company at this point is disgusting and where are the CAA in all this when pilots are being coerced with threats of massive pay deductions way in excess of one day’s worth of strike action? The impact on the mental health of its workforce cannot be understated and is a flight safety risk when they come back to work.

I wouldn’t wish this company on my worst enemy right now.