So has anyone told recruitment that there is a hiring freeze ? Roles still being advertised and upcoming assessments this week yet to be canned ...

TBH I have only heard of a freeze by way of that one post upthread, nothing elsewhere that corroborates that..

Being charitable one can only guess the situation is evolving so quickly, and it’s still only Monday PM............

Then again AFAIK nobody on the line pilot side of things has been informed about the widely reported route cutting that SKY and BBC have reported this evening...(rumour has it cabin crew were told details by e-mail within minutes.)

Sounds like “ Ops normal” as far as communication between pilots and their management goes.

To be fair I did have a notification in eMaestro when I updated my roster for times for my logbook. What more could I possibly want ?

:E..........

Just gave them a call and they said they’ve not been told anything new so expect the course to remain the same date etc. If anything changes we’ll get emailed.
Apparently they’re honouring contract offers already been made according to a BALPA source. That being said if anyone hears anything to the contrary please share, still considering begging my current company to accept a notice withdrawal...

Nervous times, keep the faith and worry about it if/when it happens

If the email that I’ve seen is genuine (seen, not sent, crucial difference) and I’ve no reason at the moment to think it’s not, then anyone with a confirmed start date is as secure now as they were before Corona Virus.

And Given the the amount of uncovered trips in March for 320 FO, At this stage I can’t see why we’d stop recruitment. We’re a long way undercrewed.

Perhaps we’ve seen different emails, but as far as I’m aware there’s definitely a recruitment freeze (operational and non-operational) for the time being.

But you’re right, we certainly were massively undercrewed, who knows now with the reduction/redistribution of flights

From a CC perspective a trainer I was flying with told me that all training other than non essential training was cancelled. Recruitment and promotions were suspended.

From a flight crew perspective there has been no official word. The rumour is the 320 fleet is going to have to work harder to ensure the slots are flown as long haul flights are reduced. I believe we have to fly the slot 80% of the time?

Is this all a overreaction? Hopefully summer and a level head will see a cautious but more measured response from the public

The only freeze message I am currently aware of is that Mixed Fleet Customer Service Managers (CSMs) have allegedly been told there is a freeze..now that’s only anecdotal since I haven’t seen the message myself and if it does exist the context might be a freeze only on Mixed Fleet Recruitment.

(edit to add: Whilst was typing bex seems to have possibly confirmed that’s the story)

Re slots - I believe given the circumstances there’s a move Internationally to produce an agreement to protect airport slots (any airport) regardless of whether they are flown or not....frankly it wouldn’t look good if aircraft were flown around empty simply to slot sit. I think such agreements have been made in the past (possibly post 9/11).

http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/2020/...-lose-it-rule/

I have a start date in May. Contract signed and notice given. I rang recruitment line this afternoon who advised me that my start date will still go ahead. I do have a mate who has been told he was successful through sim and placed in hold pool but there will be no more start dates given for the foreseeable.
I fully understand my response from recruitment today is only valid for as long as it’s not.

If there is a freeze it’s a bizarre way of going about it. Roles continue to be advertised on the external website (including a new role advertised today for DEC at CityFlyer) and assessments for DEP going ahead tomorrow as planned!

What does CityFlyer recruitment have to do with proving or disproving a freeze on BA recruitment though?

As far as I am aware, BA have never failed to honour a signed employment contract, so I wouldn’t be at all worried if I had given my notice to a previous employer after signing a contract with BA.

I wasn’t trying to prove or disprove anything, just adding my tuppence’ worth to the discussion on a rumours forum. The facts are BA are still advertising externally for a number of roles, and assessments (for DEP at least) continue to run. Of course that could change in 24 hours...

what’s the old disclaimer, past performance is no guarantee of future performance? There’s nothing remotely honourable about our current management. At any level. The simple fact is though that we’re undercrewed, there’s no doubt about that. It remains to be seen how much the flying schedule changes will affect that. You’d certainly hope/expect that the guys given start dates are fairly safe and that most of the internal courses will go ahead as planned. As far as I’m aware the new aircraft are still coming this year, even if the 787-10 is being continually pushed back (that was the case pre Coronavirus).

From what I’ve heard all current offers remain,
no change there. If you have an offer you are safe. Future opportunities have to be signed off via CEO/CFO.

This rings true from what I’ve seen

Reuters report a snip interview with WW regarding aircraft orders. They remain firm on all orders and see the coronavirus as a temporary issue, and won't do anything to jeopardize the long term business direction. I would presume this would include making sure the crews are ready as planned.

Tell that to all the cabin crew that signed "world class" contracts for start dates this year, only to be told a month before starting that they would be on mixed fleet contracts instead (on a much lower basic pay). BA certainly have form in not honouring signed employment contracts.

The only time I’ve heard of airlines pulling job offers in the last few years, is before a contract is signed and from people practically in hold pools. I know a few cadets who had offers from RYR withdrawn last year due to their “restructuring” late summer. However, this was shortly after the assessment outcome, and as far as I know it was a pre-offer with a “rough” start date and no contract at that time. Given the typical “we’ll keep you on file, and let you know when we start running courses again” lip service. A regional airline did the same with cadets when they hit a bit of rough air, except they were told to PFO.

I’m very confident those with signed contracts and start dates have nothing to worry about whatsoever. And I think the odds of those in the pool are just as well. It will just be a few anxious months of waiting for BA to pull their finger out and get back on track after this fiasco.

I’m still waiting for the sim, so can’t see that happening until the Summer. No response from recruitment.

Got to stay positive. Just not tested positive for Coronavirus.

The company have just sent out an email saying there is now a blanket ban on all external recruitment with immediate effect. Temporary part time and voluntary unpaid leave are also being offered. Fingers crossed none of this lasts too long. As I said above, on the A320 we seem to be chronically under crewed at the moment.

Is it true now that all future assessments have been cancelled?

All future assessment dates have been removed, but candidates are frozen at their current stage and will be able to continue through the process from where they left off when recruitment reopens.

Thanks for clarifying; I guess we’re fully crewed for the time being then 🤔

Well we were all wrong... just had an phone call from someone in flight ops to tell me theyve retracted my offer of employment and stuck me at the top of the hold pool until further notice.

Coming classes cancelled and everyone back in the hold pool is what i'm hearing!

Everyone affected is too busy trying to stop their lives falling apart to post here. Correct me if i'm wrong.

Best of luck to those caught up in this heinous act of cruelty.

An absolute disgrace if this is true.

Afraid so. 3 weeks to go on my notice from current job and back in the pool. Just had a call from flt ops.

I can confirm this... Got the call that my course has been cancelled.. 4 weeks to go with current employer. Tried to cancel my resignation and base manager has been told not to take back any pilots who have had courses cancelled by BA

Yup just had the call as well, same time frame, 3 weeks until start date. Unlikely that my current employer will keep me on any longer than my notice period. Pretty gutted.

This is appalling. If you have a signed job offer you have legal protections - at the minimum you're entitled to the pay for the three month notice period (+ the accrued holiday pay).

I hope there are legal options available for breach of contract for those of you in such an awful position.

I certainly hope so; or BALPA take a strong position on it.

Terrible news for those involved, not a nice thing to have to tackle with your soon to be employer

I'm in the same boat, May 11th course 'postponed'. Cheeky bugger who called me said he 'hoped it would be months rather than years' before I get a course.

Problem I can see with BALPA/those involved kicking up a fuss is them cancelling the courses indefinitely as punishment, I really wouldn't put it past them to make an example of those to seek legal action based on their recently cold heartedness.

This corona virus is serious. As soon as I heard you could be infectious before presenting symptoms, I knew it was a serious problem and I couldn’t see the world treating it seriously enough. I still do not think it is being treated seriously enough, even with clear examples of heath services being crippled by the demand. A coordinated global effort is required to nip it in the bud, but the worlds leaders are hoping they can avoid economic damage by getting lucky with pussyfooting around.

That being said, whilst I am pleased the company are recognising the seriousness of this outbreak, I am both saddened and surprised that they are choosing to display their true colours to all future pilot applicants by cancelling signed contracts.

Good luck to you all.

I don't think there are any - until you start, you don't have a contract in force, therefore there is no breach!

Quote from my friend who is a BALPA rep:

"It stinks. It’s also unexpected. They’ve always honoured signed contracts even after 9/11 and in 2008"

Cheers union, makes all those union subs worth it.

What's the point in signing it before day one then?

Rams home the point I made earlier about our management. God knows what they’re dreaming up now by way of salary reductions/redundancies. Sincere apologies and commiserations to those who are affected by all this. If anything it’s a heads up and eye opener as to the true nature of the company you would have been joining. Fingers crossed you can get things sorted out ASAP. I get the feeling all of us are going to need good luck over the next few months.

Existing case law disagrees with you.