Just wondering how long it took for people to hear an outcome from day 1? They said 5 days but I seem to remember from the past that people with a "yes" tend to hear quickly and the PFO's are left till last, is this the case? It's been 5 days for me so far and my hopes are fading fast, refreshing my emails every 5 minutes is driving me mad.

Enzo999, it depends entirely on how busy they are, it took nearly 2 weeks for me to hear last year, and I was sucessful!
HTH and good luck!

Has anyone got any news/rumours about the direct entry NTR SH recruitment that has been going on over the past couple of weeks and any idea how many they were looking to take this time round?

I know from chatting to friends at Flybe that some who were previously "frozen" in the recruitment process have been melted and are progressing to interview/sim but no "inside" information beyond that.

Terrible advice.

Recent Interview Questions
 

Hi everyone,

Going to the second stage interview next week.

Just wondered if the format was pretty much the same as it has been the last few years?

Collected some various example questions but everything seems to be for 2014 and later, the same as what seems to be on pprune.

If anyone had some updated info/questions I'd really appreciate it.

Actually not practising is not terrible advice. It really depends on where you are coming from. I got through on the 757 sim without paying thousands of pounds for a practice sim. Currently flying a 737 out in the middle east and smashed a few raw data ILS's and departures before coming but otherwise just concentrated on honing my CRM skills and such like, I believe that's what they are really looking for.
Thats not to say paying for a sim is a complete waste of money but try and use the resources on offer to you in your current job if you can. Talk to CRM trainers, practice hand flying and delve into the CAA books on CRM.

Paying for a couple of hours in a sim is a good idea - if that's what it takes to give you the confidence / heads up to give the BA sim your best shot.

Let's face it - £500-£1500 or whatever it costs, it's the cheapest type rating you'll ever do these days!

Well said Boing7117 - the last bit is very true. Someone above said that it made no sense to prepare long and hard for day 1 and 2 and go to the sim rusty. So a few hours to remove that would certainly be advisable, however my advice would be to ensure you show improvement during the sim. I'm sure they want to see that you have good CRM and just as important, that you are trainable. They are investing a type rating in you most likely, so showing improvement I think looks far better then flying like an ace who's had numerous hours practice prior to the assessment.

Hi All,

Think the subject has been mentioned a couple of times before, anyone who could shed some light on the obnoxious 12 months ban:ugh::ugh:. Is BA going to change it anytime soon?? A 6 months ban these days would make much more sense IMO.

Thanks

More sense for whom, you or BA?

haha - for him I guess, but it's nice to have a bit of confidence and think for BA too :)

I've failed day 1 a few times now, does that automatically mean I won't be an asset to the company the day I finally pass?

Regarding the sim, there is no one size fits all answer. If you fly short haul on a Boeing type, just doing some raw data flying and armchair prep will leave you fine. If you fly the 320, raw data might also be enough (it was all my sim partner, who passed, did) though equally reminding yourself what thrust levers and the trim switch do might also help.

If you are flying long haul, I would imagine some specific sim prep for a high workload raw data manual flying exercise would be a very good idea. We are generally judges of our own strengths and weaknesses on the flight deck and you will probably know what's best for you.

If you are flying a turboprop the whole thing will probably feel like a rest cure, though if you are worried about a slippery jet a sim might help boost your confidence.

They are not necessarily looking for "improvement" as such, but I was told in my briefing we were being assessed on:

- flying ability
- command potential/decision making
- trainability

Best of luck!

They're also looking to see a positive learning curve ie a continuous improvement through the session such that the applicant demonstrates trainability (apologises for made-up word).

Well, I guess for both. ahaha yep that is idealistic.
Anyway I guess I should take that for a no. So I have to imagine the guys that were called back before the 12 months expired were already rated on a type BA is currently using.

Ladies/Gents

Bidline/Fixed Flying Pay

Result of ballot on pay deal just announced, long story short, the two main bullet points probably of most relevance to prospective joiners are:

1. Bidline will go ASAP in favour of a customised version of JSS.

2. Fixed monthly Flying Pay Allowance binned, it's back to the variable Flying Hour Rate.

Wiggy,

Is that good or bad? What are the general thoughts?

TBH I'm not sure I want to go there ....we've had an ongoing and what has been at times a very unpleasant "on-line" debate via the Union forum in the run up to the ballot, and I'm not sure I want to repeat it here.

However anyone joining in the near future will no doubt be exposed to the fall out from this ballot so what I would say, all very much IMHO:

Some think Bidline is doomed now we are "full EASA" so we need to move on, some don't. Some think JSS might flatten the seniority gradient, some think it might steepen it...personally I honestly don't think anybody will know for sure how rostering will work until they've seen it in action so voting either way on this was a real leap of faith.

As far as the flying pay, the company didn't like the fixed monthly payment and were determined to go back to a variable rate, and they pretty much linked the continuation of a pilot bonus scheme to returning to the variable scheme. As a result on the line opinion was split - some like variable rate (work higher hours = get paid more) plus the chance of a bonus if the company continues to perform well, but some ( particularly those looking to get loans, mortgages) are not best pleased at the prospect of losing a fixed figure from the monthly payslip.


To give you an idea of the split in opinion, of those that returned votes:

54.4% voted to end Bidline/ go to JSS and get rid of the Fixed Flying pay.
43.8% voted to keep Bidline and keep Fixed flying pay....
1.8% voted for neither ( a somewhat controversial Option on the ballot paper)

....and would you believe over 20% of those who could have voted didn't return a vote ( which was electronic).....at all. Given this was quite possibly the most important ballot we've had in BA BALPA for over 20 years all I can say about those individuals not voting is :mad:

Perhaps those not voting are close to retirement and took the decision that the choice wasn't theirs to make?

i thought the turnout was 65%

I have flown with a few Captains who did not vote for exactly that reason.

Existing Bidline was largely rendered extinct by the advent of EASA, mainly the requirement for a certain number of days off after a Longhaul trip crossing four or more timezones.

We were being asked to choose between "Bidline 17" or a BA version of Jeppesen Strict Seniority, both of which it was argued were more useable with EASA. The controversy comes when you realise that neither system exists yet and we were basically being asked to vote based upon a series of statements about each. Oh yes, and the percentage pay deal side of it was identical for both options, with some sweeteners for the preferred deal. So not really a pay ballot.

Anyway, we are where we are so we'll see if JSS actually works.

Ref FPA or Flying Pay, FPA is guaranteed monthly, Flying Pay is hours dependent. It will be interesting to see how mortgage providers interpret it for the most junior.

I know for sure there was a bit of that (and I understand the logic) but I don't we've got a rough total of 800'ish pilots so close to retirement that they all aren't going to cast a vote (though of course I agree it depends how you define close)...

3Greens

From my e-mail from BALPA: "Ballot Return 79.8%"..

FWIW there was a bit of confusion caused by one or two "wags" on the Union forum chucking some ficticious figures around just before the official announcement....

Questions:

1. When is this being implemented?

2. What happens to the "Fixed flight pay" for those of us joining who are unlikely to see an aircraft for the first few months of training and had perhaps done sums based on the pay numbers given to us by BA? Do you simply get nothing?

3. What exactly are these statements about JSS and how is it supposed to work?

I am working my notice at the moment and obviously don't regret my decision to leave the land of the Irish loco at all but have no information about the current pay deal beyond what BA have given me and wouldn't know about this change except for what people have posted on here.

AFAIK the change to pay and the system is fairly instant.

I very much stand to be corrected but I'm not sure new joiners picked up Flying pay (variable or fixed) from day one anyway, so plan on being on basic. Somebody I'm sure will correct me or will clarify when Flying pay/Rate is first triggered (perhaps early days of line training when the requirement for a safety pilot is dropped ?). In any event from now on in your career in BA the variable rate will not get paid unless you fly, so if you are sick, or doing an internal type conversion/upgrade or ground course within BA you will lose an element of your monthly pay. However the theory is that when you actually do fly it's an higher hourly rate and so there's an offset/break even point of x00 hours a year, but certainly the loss of pay if on the ground for any reason was one of the objections that many had to the change back to the variable rate.

Good question. You'll no longer be bidding for lines, you'll be expressing preferences (bid groups). The most senior pilots will get first pick, but perhaps with a lesser chance of picking up all the top work/days off.. ....as for how it works in reality I know one or two people who think they know how it might work, the rest of us...............

.

Does anyone happen to know what the Flying Pay figure will be?

Also, will the figure be based on actual on/off blocks or scheduled block times?

In the same position as Jwscud so would be useful to know for some calculations.

I personally think both systems would have effectively been the same anyway. The big reason not to vote B would have been to prolongue what we have now, as JSS will now be here in no time at all.

This is NOT a good result for those of us lower down the pecking order. As someone looking to move house this summer, I've now got to explain to Mrs 2W2R why we have to adjust our budget.....downward.

As for JSS, only time will tell on that front. Being asked to vote on something that was put forward as a set of assumptions and doesn't yet exist didn't exactly fill me (or many many others) with confidence.

This is democracy at work and we don't always get what we want in life, but as far as I'm concerned, BALPA have just 'negotiated' away two massive items and yet I'm left pondering what's on our side of the scales to balance the equation. Or have we just had our pockets pinched.....I'm on Reserve in April, here's to looking forward to May's pay packet :ugh::ugh::ugh: .

Anyway, it's done now so lets just hope JSS is as good as we've been led to believe. Meanwhile, I'll be assessing my outgoings each month....guess which one will be first.

Evening All.

2W2R

Personally I'm happy to see the FHR return because I've been short changed by several thousand pounds per year ever since FPA arrived. I never did understand the argument that it is good for when you are sick or on a conversion course. I'd rather stick my couple of grand of extra earnings in the bank each year and have an emergency fund for if I am unfortunate enough to become sick. Mortgages; yes I suppose that will take a bit more discussion with the banks, but I always found BA's mortgage certificate perfectly satisfactory before. I did not see an increase in what I was allowed when FHR first disappeared, so why do we expect a reduction now?

Mortgage provider's lending criteria are a lot different now compared to how they were prior to the introduction of FPA (some may say "tougher").

To be fair regarding Bidline, BA made clear at the roadshows I went to last year that it was liable to change in the not too distant future.

However, they gave the clear impression that flight pay was a fixed part of pay from day 1.

When is JSS slated to come into being? I guess I might not see any blind lines after all, or rather everyone will get blind lines of some form!

JSS will come in around 18 months from now, apparently; so mid to late 2017.

Doesn't BA pay for duty time as well as flight time?

So you should get basic plus time for ground duties (type rating, conversion course etc)?

Wasn't this vote also about an overall increase in pay? If so do we know how much if any the % increase is?

FTC

No. FWIW I did both an command upgrade and then later a conversion under the system we're effectively going back to and during both courses my pay was reduced down to basic for the ground phase of the courses.

If it helps I'll quote in part from a BALPA e-mail describing how the "Flying Pay Supplement"(FPS), or hourly rate will work:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FPS will be paid per planned flying hour .......The planned date of introduction is in April 2016.
The break even points for pilots between [the old] FPA and the new FPS, taking into account the fixed payments while on leave under FPS, are as follows:
320/767/LGW 705 hours
744/777/787/380 730 hours
Any pilot flying above these hours, will be better off under FPS, and vice versa (my emphasis).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moving on:

TBH it didn't turn out that way since the intial two options the BALPA Company Council offered in the ballot contained exactly same pay deal....FWIW a hastily introduced "C", "we don't accept any change to T&Cs", didn't attract many votes.....

Perhaps some can begin to understand why the debate elsewhere got quite heated, and that's before considering the merits of the rostering systems...

Yes - Three year deal: Year 1: 2% underpin or RPI, Year 2: 2.5% underpin or RPI, Year 3: 2.5% underpin or RPI

I've deliberately left the bonus scheme we've also agreed to out of the discussion, I honestly think that boils down to "do you feel lucky".

Lengthy post but hope it helps.

2% uplift. No, BA doesn't pay allowances on ground duties.

Had there been an option D to include FPA and JSS I suspect it would have been very popular.

To add insult to injury I gather a very pleasant member of our cabin crew fraternity has been on Trip Advisor complaining about BA pilots getting preferential treatment at a certain T5 coffee bar and as a result the days of cheap coffee (by that I mean free coffee but with a healthy Tip for the brilliant staff) are over too.....

Pathetic :yuk:

If anyone has a P380 course coming up then please feel free to PM me as i have a couple of bits of training material that might be handy.

Thanks for the info Wiggy,

So if you join BA after next month you've been given a pay cut of around £1000 per month for the first 3 months :ouch:

That number sounds a bit high but maybe a newer joiner than I :rolleyes: can look back at their figures and do the sums.

TBF (or not), any pilot doing a course, going sick, or doing a reserve/standby block and not getting much if any any flying will take a hit from next month. The argument from the union is that the new hourly rate is rigged in such as way as to ensure over the long term the majority of pilots will end up better off financially than under the fixed allowance....

Not even close. Long haul Flying Pay Allowqnce was/is just over £600 per month so after tax under the new regime you'll lose approx £360 per month. BA isn't keen on having pilots sitting around so you'll almost certainly start your line training within two months of your start date. So rather than lose £3000 you'll actually lose closer to £720 net of tax which you recoup quickly at the new Flying Hour Rate.