The paranoia around Level is both unmerited and unbelievable. The premium cabins of the “beach fleet” are almost always packed and make BA (/IAG) an absolute fortune. Rhetorical question on the way, why are IAG going to destroy all that yield and cannibalise BA simply to give punters cheap tickets and thus reduce their profit margin significantly? Last time I checked businesses were in operation to make money not to be charities..

BA are continuing to focus on the commutes to work of pilots. More pilots were contacted by management last week about their journey time during an audit completed in April. BA seem to be going beyond EASA rules and requiring pilots to have a minimum of 8 hours rest in a hotel room before report, even if they travel to an airport hotel on their day off before starting a duty day.

Once BA management start a drive towards a goal they generally get what they want in the end. It potentially means more time away from home if you live more than about 2 hours from LHR. Think carefully about how this may impact you in the long term. The practicality of being able to comfortably fly for BA whilst living wherever you choose is under threat, particularly for junior pilots.

I’d very much second what Pickled has posted..all of it.

When the company decided to audit commuting earlier this year the stated intent was supposedly to stop those “who took the p***” (e.g. commuting overnight immediately prior to a Longhaul report) and according to most sources (union and even one or two management) those who indulged in sensible travel arrangements would have nothing to worry about...


Unfortunately it now seems the company, having now got a mechanism in place to monitor in minute detail aircrew “commuting” by staff travel are going back through the data and now some on short haul are being clobbered. It appears BA management have been ringing up and interrogating anyone up who they suspect might have flown into base by staff travel (e.g. in an evening) and then might have had marginally less than 8 hours available in a room for rest prior to a shorthaul report (e.g.the next A.M.).

I gather a short haul pilot who had a nominal < 1 hour drive into LHR but who allowed himself 90 minutes on occasions to be safe was told by management that if his journey really took 90 minutes he ought to consider taking a hotel at base between duty days.

As Pickled says, once BA management get their teeth into something, and get an agenda, they keep screwing things down as far as they can.....so at interview the answer is “ ......living in Hounslow, Longford or Colnbrook”

Thats a good question skaterboi. A pilot on LH reserve is allowed 2 hours to reach the car park, that would seem a reasonable start point. There may be a notice from BA soon clarifying their expectations.

It must be very hard to determine rules because we are all different. Many believe that being a passenger on a shorthaul flight to LHR is a heck of a lot less stressful than driving on the M25, fighting to find a car park space within BA’s creaking parking system and then taking a bus to the report centre.

This has been a “grey” area, allowing each pilot to determine whether his/her journey allowed them to report for work sufficiently rested to able to fulfill their legal obligations. That is similar to ensuring adequate rest is taken during the day before a night flight (no matter what pressures might exist at home), or determining whether fit enough to operate, or whether fatigued.

It would seem that BA now feel required to be much more specific about journey times to work.

But it doesn’t trouble them quite so much if you’re on a night stop and don’t get eight hours. Just sayin’.

I know, similar for a night flight/day stop/night flight......

It’s been educational (putting it politely) seeing the effort that seems to have gone into micro monitoring and micro managing potential rest time at base outside of company time.

They’ll be insisting flight crew wear Fitbits 24/7 before long...

Ultimately it’s unenforceable. They have no way to monitor which hotel room you have stayed in, the Premier Inn, Ibis, take your pick are not going to release information to BA of room bookings and when you arrived/checked in therefore you can tell them what they want to hear, they have no facility or ability to check. Let’s not make a mountain out of a molehill folks.

That maybe but the whole continuing saga is indicative of the “BA way” and certainly something to be aware of.

I’d agree that management can’t track hotel rooms but from what I have heard they are looking at the time the inbound flight arrived, next days report time, making an assumption about travel time to/from accommodation and if it is less than the magic number then phone calls have resulted.

Of course if you use surface transport or fly in with an operator other than BA .........

Exactly Wiggy and that, coupled with some ultra hardcore driving commutes (I’m aware of crew and not just cabin crew driving down from Manchester same day for an early LHR report) makes a mockery of the whole thing. Easyjet staff travel a very precious commodity nowadays.

DEP opening again anytime soon? Anyone heard any rumours or have any idea?

Don’t recall easyJet ever spying on their staff tbf

Barcli, I deleted my post because I was getting involved in something I don’t need too. I am pretty fed up right now and I only seem to be adding negative fuel to the fire. I need to be a little more balanced......well at least until Dec 11th when I will no doubt be up in arms over my first JSS roster.

I hope that makes sense. I am not as miserable in person as I appear on here.

Student88, with my new balanced view unless you are still in the honeymoon period or are on long haul I doubt you can back up your statement. EZY, RYR......better in pay and rostering. (For my status at least)

Depends what you are looking for ......
cant wait for my 1.5% pay rise . Which will no doubt be reduced to 0.5% !!!! Takes the pi&&

..But I think it’s best people planning on joining BA are at least aware of some aspects of the company culture before hand, rather than realising, once the honeymoon period has worn off and the filtering has stopped, that sometimes things are done in an interesting manner, perhaps not replicated elsewhere.

A few examples:
After months (years?) of investigation nobody seems to be able to solve the problem of “lost”/abandoned cargo dollies being dumped behind stands, frequently causing pushback delays out of T5, No-one seems to be able to solve the crew car parking problems or provide a robust bus service back to the car park late at night...all of which adds hassle to the working day, especially for those on short haul.

OTOH it seems time, effort and no doubt money must be spent chasing down individuals to see if they might have only spent 7 hours and 59 minutes in a hotel room that they as private individuals have booked and paid for and have used whilst off duty.

It’s a funny old company sometimes....

Out of curiosity, am I right to infer there is a lack of spaces? If so, are there any contigencies available?

Lack of spaces and thousands of pounds worth of damage to the cars that do miraculously find a space due to leaking corrosive materials..

It’s all good though as Alex and Willie don’t have to park there.