Plastic 787, cant you hurry up now and resign from Norwegian and let some others have a go ;)

Roughly how many guys are now swimming in the pool? Is there any indication when they will start 2016 courses for theses guys?

Best of luck

It has been mentioned internally by the recruitment team that as things stand most offers up until the end of the year have been made. For those that are still in the hold pool they have been told to expect more information on 2016 courses in the autumn. BA is planning to take a short break from any new recruitment campaigns. This will allow them to process everyone with a live application. Apparently over 100 people are still awaiting their simulator assessments with a similar number at the interview stage.

The plan for 2016 is being looked at and it is likely that course information (for both internal conversions and external candidates) will be available in mid Oct. So expect wild conjecture and speculation till then - oh and after then too.

Rough idea of the current recruitment timeframe:

Applied 14th June.
Invitation to Day 1 +1 Day
Day 1 +5 days (lucky empty slot)
Invitation to day 2 +2 days
Day 2 +22 days
Invitation to sim +2 days
Sim +44 days (earliest available slot)
Success/Hold Pool +7 days

So just under 3 months in total.

Any more being said to those swimming regarding when courses are likely to be offered. Out of interest how are people fished out? Is it based on when you entered the pool first in first out or can it be random based on who can start a particular course on that date etc.

On my day 2 they said they call approximately 3.5 months ahead and the only remaining slots were for Airbus rated bods, so if this year's courses are full Juan's suggestion seems reasonable.

How long have you been swimming?

Update
 

Hi,

Last Summer people were complaining about the work load and force draft. How has the recent recruitment changed this?

I also noticed that a lot of people were predicting the end of Bidline with the introduction of the EASA FTL's. Have these been implemented yet? If so, has there been many changes?

I appreciate any input on life at BA, and changes from the mirage of information above.

Thanks!
TT

Any further news from the swimmers regarding how long you will be waiting?

Hold Pool Update
 

This posted yesterday on our Recruitment forum on Yammer....

8 Airbus rated pilots will be getting made offers in next 7days for Jan 2016 start, followed by 8 more very soon after. Crystal run in a few weeks time will determine the length of the wait for others when it creates the 2016 recruitment plan.

Hope this helps.... I believe at least 350 pilots needed next year so good news for all in the pool & those who wish to apply in the next round!

Rgds,

BASHLH

Is it all for short haul or any recruitment still required onto 74 etc?

Thanks for the update BASHLH, sounds good.

Are there many still swimming in the pool and if so, are these all rated guys or are there still non-rated people swimming? Surely there can't be that many left now waiting?

Anyone know how non-rated guys may get on in the next round of recruitment or is it likely that only rated or those with jet time that get a look in?

Fingers crossed!

Thanks for the heads up. Is 8 per course the normal intake? I think there were about 40 swimmers ( rumoured ) and I presume not all destined for the Airbus so possibly was the plugs pulled the pool could empty very quickly.

Best of luck to all swimming, floating and applying.

HP

Thanks BASHLH - I guess us non-rated swimmers will be waiting for type rating courses rather than just OCC slots to become available. Was there any indication how many are in the pool?

I guess they pick you out of the pool based on when you started swimming and whether you're rated or not.

Depends entirely upon training commitment/load and sim availability/serviceability during the relocation.

I would assume that those who are swimming and have the qualifications for ZFT etc. would be pulled as and when capacity for specific fleets dictates, not upon date of entering the pool.

All IMVHO of course.

Non-Rated swimmers
 

Thanks for update BASHLH.

Any ideas when they may plan courses for the non-rated swimmers amongst us?

Hi Everyone,

Unfortunately I don't know anything about numbers, types & waiting times. Only what every other BA pilot knows from Yammer etc. As soon as I see any more information then I shall post it (as long as it's public knowledge).

It has been said many times on Yammer that the end of October will be when information will hopefully come flooding out. Until then BA don't even know numbers. I was in this position 5 years ago waiting for a course. The thirst for information is frustrating which is why I post as many facts as possible. What is real is that BA need pilots & there will be plenty of opportunity for all, and for those in the pool it's not a case of 'if' but 'when' a course gets offered. 16 320 guys are already getting offers for 2016.

Kind RGDS,

BASHLH

Tricia T

Bidline still exits in name, in an interim form pending major changes in a year or two.

Partial EASA FTLs been in force on shorthaul for a while. The effect of that's for a Shorthauler to comment on. EASA FTLS or parts thereof not yet implemented in Longhaul, but coming soon.

Force Draft has gone ( so no more being ordered to come to work at 24 hours notice) but not because of recruitment. It has been replaced by Roster Assign, where the company can (and do) drop extra work into any days off you think you've cunningly left in your month just before your final final roster is published. In effect it's Force Draft but with much more notice, which might just allow you to sell/swap the offending trip off to somebody else if you really really needed a particular day(s) off.

I don't get the impression the overall workload has dropped, and for tripline holders it's now more difficult to bid to work high one month and then safely be able to bid to work low the next (i.e. run a "bank" and use banked hours) because of the risk of work being Roster Assigned.

Thank you Wiggy

Recent BALPA newsletter article re Bidline 2017....



Bidline 2017

When BIdline 2017 is in place, Final Assign (FA) and Draft Assign (DA) will be REMOVED from the rules completely. Your final roster, when published, will be unchanged by any further assignments. The publication date of final rosters will be a lot earlier than now - approximately 14 days before the start of the month.

We have listed below a number of significant BLR 2017 headlines:



No Final Assign / Draft Assign

Final rosters- at least 14 days before the start of the month

Stage 1 bidding process unchanged



IB2a bidding- fully automated process - more powerful than the current “one trip at a time”

IB2a bid

- bids for trips AND days off

- “generalised” bids (e.g. “any 3 day trip”, “any day trip”, “prefer late starts”, “prefer destination XXX")

- “avoid” bids (e.g. “avoid early starts”, “avoid trips greater than 3 days”, “avoid destination XXX”)

- “offer” parts of your IB1 tripline into the IB2a process to seek a better trip / days off outcome at IB2a

- bids to protect certain trips / days off


Blindline bidding:

- fully automatic “optimising" blindline builder

- same range of bids allowed as IB2a (see above)

Chief B,

For the unitiated it might be worth putting a bit of meat on that, this is my no doubt flawed model of how it works/will work, you may well see it/describe it differently:

Present system:

Stage 1 - "pick your line" out of the published list, which may or not have anough work on it to be a complete roster. Fail to get a line you'll be rostered ("Blindline") or on Reserve. If you have a line then move to Stage 2

Stage 2 - Pick trip(s) to fit your line to make up the hours. On seeing Stage 2 results you may have an vague or not so vague idea of your final roster.

"Stage 3" (my term, newish process): Final Assign (FA) - Company Assigns work into gaps or even re-jigs your roster to optimise (maximise?) your work. You're most vulnerable if post Stage 2 you're a bit low on hours and/or have left big gaps on your line, so you can get a bit of a feel beforehand of whether you're likely to get extra work assigned or not.

All in all a lengthy process.

Under one of the possible 2017 systems:

Stage 1 stays as is.

Stage 2 and "Stage 3" are combined. You may get what you ask for but the company may also optimise the roster (i.e. change what you had before). So whilst it's correct to say there will be "No Final Assign/Draft Assign" the assignment of work is almost certainly going to happen, but it now takes place in the combined Stage 2/3 process. It's a much quicker way of doing things for sure but many have concerns that the process is more than somewhat opaque, to say the very least, because so much can be hidden in the name of "optimisation". If you end up with a roster far far removed from your bid it will be almost impossible to analyse why you got what you got and whether you have been miss-handled or not, because it may have taken umpteen iterations of optimisation to get there.

How it works out in reality you'll see, personally I hope out of Dodge by then :p.

(BTW folks a Health Warning - the full rule set is so complex it's possible only one person in BA understands how it all works, and is contained in a document the size of a small novel...the above precis is very definitely a precis of a precis of a precis)

And that one person will write an app and make a small fortune!

Let's hope he can soon. :ok:

The new stage 2 will also swap trips between pilots so should have a lot of flexibility. For example, if you want to go to a particular destination on a given date and another pilot who has that trip wishes to get rid of it in favour of something else, in theory that trip will go to the first pilot as it will be released by the second pilot who will then pick up from the third pilot, etc.

My understanding is it will be significantly better than the current position.

As you say " in theory"....the worry some of the more clever grown ups have is that if the company wind "optimisation" up to 11 :E pilot A could see their trip being changed but pilot B not getting it, and ultimately neither of them being satisfied because the company have intervened and dumped different trips of their choice on both pilots lines.

It's perhaps worth pointing out the current system already has a fairly good trip swapping mechanism, albeit the swap happens much later in the process, but is negotiated, agreed and actioned in the system directly by the pilot(s) involved. That said complex multiple swaps are tricky.

Sorry if I/we are perhaps drifting off the core intent of the thread, in defence I know the rostering system (and it's future) is of interest to some prospective joiners.

Update... apparently a few folks have been offered A320 at LGW for end of January :) Good luck to all those in the pool!

Good news, are these guys rated or not?

Might signal the start of the next round of recruitment?

Next round of recruitment to open on Friday, a general round but priority given to those with an Airbus rating. Approx 340 guys/girls needed for next year.

All type rated at the minute, I believe.. I hear that courses have been offered at the start of January too.

Airbus rating as in a mini bus or one of the bigger ones too?

Non-rated
 

Thanks for info. Billibud.

I am non rated and have been swimming for a few months now. Any ideas if they are planning non rated courses?

I am starting to get concerned about priority being given to 320 rated guys and girls. Hope I'm not swimming for more than 12 months!!

I would guess the A320 LGW are the rated guys referred to a few posts back by BASHLH.

I'm not at all concerned as a swimmer if they are re-opening recruitment this week as there can't be too many of us in the pool. Just being patient and waiting for the suggested October shakeup and hopefully some news then.

BA have repeatedly stated there are jobs for all of us in the pool.

Careers Events in Luton and Stansted
 

I'm sure those of you with your ear to the ground will already know about these but I've just seen that BA are holding some roadshows in Luton and Stansted next week.

I think the Luton ones are on the 6th and Stansted on the 7th. On Yammer it didn't give more details but I've just googled "BA career event in Luton" and it came up with something in Eventbrite? to book places...

For those interested it might be worth a look.

Things must have taken a turn for the worse if BA are having to do roadshows. It used to be that if there was a sniff of a pilot slot, you'd be killed in the rush. Think very carefully before coming to shorthaul.

They'll soon be bonding at this rate.... :eek:

I just wonder if BA are getting close to exhausting the pool of suitably qualified people willing/able to consider an almost daily commute to LHR.

And afford it in the South East!!!

:ok:

Yep .....I was trying to be non-controversial and was including that under the "able" heading but you're right, affordability has (or should be) be a major consideration....there's a limit to how long you can operate out of a Bath Road B&B :bored:

Billybud, where did you hear that recruitment was to start this Friday?

From an internal email sent round asking us to 'spread the news'!

As an aside it seems the BA Pilot Recruitment Team will be at the "Jobshow London" at Westfield on 9th & 10th Oct ........

Home Page - London Job Show

Looks like you were right, recruitment is open again for DEP, closing date 1st November, good luck!

Feeling happy and relieved in the holding pool (NTR), thanks for all the information provided by posters here, it was mainly very helpful although you really need to spend a few days going through it all. At my sim assessment it was mentioned that they are certainly going to be ramping up courses in the new year after a bit of a lull at the end of this year. With my 3-month notice period hopefully I'll get some news soon. Most likely to be shorthaul Airbus out of LHR apparently. They've recently been allocating LGW positions but they intend to be mainly LHR in the new year.