I have to agree with all the comments made about the BA management culture above. I wanted to add a word of warning for people reading this thread from continental Europe and willing to commute : be aware that BA is pretty much an anti-commuter company. They will treat you as a child and dig up into your commuting habits (if they believe you have arrived at Heathrow in the evening too late before an early report the next day, you’ll get a phone call). If you are unlucky and the flight you are commuting on is cancelled for any reason and you miss your report, they will have a go at you (which is very much unfair - what’s the difference between a commuter missing report due to cancelled flight VS a local pilot missing report due to an accident on the motorway...). As a result, most commuters would rather call sick rather than phoning ops to let them know they will be late for report due to an issue with their commuting flight... Add to that management of fear the whole Brexit disaster and the uncertainties it creates for non-UK citizen and now you know why I can’t wait to find a job elsewhere!

Class Clown Cruz has told The Training Department to reduce ‘its simulator footprint’
Klaus addressed Standards Training Captains meeting and told them they are placing too much emphasis on safety.
These are very worrying statements.

The same Klaus who failed his 787 proficiency check? 😂

Any new on when to expect sim dates to become available?

That’s not really true though, is it? BA have a number of pilots who commute from as far away as Australia, South Africa, and the West Coast of Canada and the USA. Plus very many other countries. Many union reps do! Provided they are sensible, there isn’t really a problem. Comparing those travel arrangements to people who commute by car is also a bit lop-sided. Those who commute by air, generally do so almost exclusively facilitated by British Airways themselves. These arrangements leave a footprint, easily audited by BA. Indeed not doing so, may lead to BA leaving themselves open to criticism. Is it any surprise in the post Colgan world, that BA occasionally peruse a small sample of employees’ arrangements? Of course all employees should never forget they work for a London based airline.

Incidentally. I thought the rumour was that recruitment is being significantly scaled back for 2020, and potentially beyond. Make of that what you will.

Does anyone know how much truth there is in this? Or about the implications for those of us currently in the SH holdpool? Last update I had was to expect Jan/Feb start.

So not at all to do with the fact that your own national flag carrier were recruiting from non KLM Flight School then?

Toolonginthisjob stop trying to defend BA on this issue. Colgan Air for starters had virtually nothing to do with commuting, as an ex Dash 8 Pilot and having read the report it is pretty clear what happened. Two unfit pilots (both reported to work unfit through illness rather than fatigue - you can hear them coughing and spluttering on the CVR) and both less than competent aviators (not my opinion look at the training record of the Captain prior to the accident) managed to react completely inappropriately to a stall warning that was set at an artificially high speed. In addition to the captain pulling back on the stick in response to a stall warning (huh?) the First Officer inexplicably decided out of nowhere to dump the flaps at the same time as the nose high attitude.

Why the hell should a short commuting flight (by which I’m talking one of an hour or so) be included in the FTL’s for the duty in question? You’re a passenger and you’re not part of the operating crew, sitting there as pax is far less tiring than doing the equivalent time on a motorway as a driver which many people do every day. I fail to see the distinction here as to why one activity has to be factored into FTL’s but one doesn’t despite being scientifically more tiring.

Anyway we’re rehashing old ground. I just wanted to put the record straight as regards to Colgan because the commuting thing gets trotted out every time we talk about that accident but it wasn’t contributory.

Very sadly, a few BA pilots were taking the proverbial, when it came to commuting by air. This was often brought to BA’s attention by the operating crew of the miscreants commuting flight. BA have the ability to monitor the arrangements of people who’s travel BA themselves facilitate. Indeed, they may be deemed negligent if they do not. So on occasion (once?) BA have sampled a few colleagues’ arrangements. A mere phone call, if necessary, is the only result.

Rex Banner. I’m not defending BA. I’m ‘defending’ safety. Some of the stories of which I am aware, were blatant, arrogant and outrageous!

It’s often the case that a few, spoil things for the many. But here we are!

I think the sampling is now planned to be done at the very least on an annual basis, and TBH being risk averse I've assumed for a while now it's an ongoing process and arranged my travel accordingly.

As for your second point - I have been led to believe that for a small number of our colleagues the result was more than just a phone call.

Fundamentally anyone who flies into LGW/LHR prior to duty ( on the day or even the day before) shouldn't be surprised if their travel arrangements and their rest arrangements are scrutinised by the company.