Monarch was fantastic until the very end , would I do it all again ? Absolutely!
Prefer to have a few risks and enjoy my work than dredge along pretending I love my job whilst attacking people on the internet 😂.
Do I stand against good T&Cs ? Yes because I will only work for company’s with good T&Cs .
Come join us Enzo maybe we can laugh it all off over a cocktail in Antigua ?

Who said Virgin has a hold pool. They had opened up recruitment and were in the process of sifting through applications when MON went bust.

Not all the MON pilots went on the 330, some are doing 744 courses so i don't think it was just AB rated pilots being available at short notice, more well trained pilots available at short notice.
I can see why some see this as unfair but none of us would turn it down if we found ourselves in the same position! :E

Thanks for the offer, unfortunately I am perfectly happy at BA, just like most of the 50 Monarch guys had I wanted a job at Virgin I would have applied at some point over the last 5 years. To be fair I was not picking a fight simply pointing out that Virgin have done nothing special in employing you guys, they had a need and filled it, if that need had not existed then they would have left you to rot plain and simple. You seem to fall in love quite easily snapper and it’s already bitten you once, all airlines and mangers are the same, the will treat you well right up to the point you have no value to them any more. Let’s just hope there is plenty of space at Virgin for everyone thats wants a job although I have a feeling for some it’s going to be a very very long wait.

The reason people including me get a bit wound up is because by your own admission staying at Mon was gamble, many hundreds of slightly more switched on people left and the outcome was entirely predictable, I remember telling you how it would end. But you ignored all the advice and information and stayed anyway which was massive risk that “you” took on. Now through total luck you have been bailed out by a company you had absolutely no interest in working for at the expense of others. It seems unfair to me but I guess as this does not really affect me I should keep my opinions to myself.

Agree with Snapper. Monarch was class and I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. Totally understand why you left Enzo and at the time it was a fairly popular decision. People who stayed did take a gamble and unfortunately it didn't pay off. Absolutely Virgin are not a charity but I think it's a little unfair how you are implying people don't deserve to be hired by Virgin purely because they had no interest before? It would be arrogance of the highest order for any airline management to assume all the best candidates want to work for them.

Where I think the praise is directed is not only the fact that Virgin moved quickly but also the Virgin CC who spent countless hours of their own time on the phone to all the ex-Monarch candidates to give them a heads up about the process and generally put everyone at ease through is what a very unpleasant thing to happen. Further to this they also made themselves available to chat to candidates in the reception area whilst waiting for the interview. Above and beyond their duties that's for sure. I feel Virgin recognise the quality of the Monarch product and along with several other airlines reached out to the Monarch community and tried to take advantage of that.

I'm sorry you feel Monarch bods have been hired by "total luck" but everyone put a lot of effort into preparing for the interview and there were several great people who were disappointed on this occasion. Fortunately there are other opportunities out there.

I hope you are enjoying BA and glad you got out in time. I honestly hope you never experience this as it is utterly awful.

All the best

Little do you know , I have applied to Virgin 3 times in the last few years as it is somewhere I have always wanted to end up , so I’m happy 😃 I guess you could say everything is meant to be ..... I despise that saying

The element of luck referred to above relating to those Mon guys picked up by Virgin relates to the timing. Mon went tits up during a relatively fertile period for pilot employment. This was not the case for many others in the not too distant past eg. XL.

You were a Monarch Captain at 25, and a few years ago you already had the 2500 hrs to apply to VS? Despite the gentle rosters that MON used to fly?

They started 'em young at Monarch...

ProfessorSnape

Yeah sorry I was not implying the only reason you passed the interview was by luck, simply that the situation regarding the timing and Virgin’s sudden demand for 50 people was very fortunate.

Unfortunately for me this situation has happened to me before, 3 times infact and the last time I was unemployed for 12 months then lost 4 years of my life to the Middle East, so I appreciate better than most how horrible it is, hence why I left when I did.

Anyway best of luck, hopfully none of us will have to go through this kind of thing again.

Snapper5 - you were full of it on the MON thread and it continues here. Shocking lack of maturity as well to announce your first two rostered flights at VS. I'm however glad 49 of your former colleagues have found roles.

There is always one on the crew....:E

Oh dear
 

All I can say is sorry to the people who've been waiting for Virgin when such people as Snapper get in and then come on here bragging and gloating. What a nasty piece of work.
I'm glad you're not on my fleet. I hope you don't keep that attitude for long here!

given the recent monarch hires do we think Vs will be recruiting again next year?

60+ i heard AFTER monarch people so yes i guess

looks like a good pay deal has been accepted and i have been told by a ex colleague that the CC are about to change in 2018. BALPA back on the front foot and growing. The splinter pilot union remains on the outside and imploding. Good work with supporting the Monarch guys BALPA.

Biggest splinter group I've ever seen . . .

'BALPA on the front foot' - sounds like just the sort of rhetoric from the leadership . . . . jeez.

ok i will bite, what exactly is the biggest splinter group doing next. another ballot, another false dawn of industrial action, yet another recruitment drive? meanwhile, in the real world....

skymonkey. Your tiny little union that represents a tiny amount of pilots at Virgin yet makes decisions for the majority of pilots they don't represent?

The one that told every one of it's member to prepare for strike action then walked out of a room with management and told everyone there was no strike?
That's the reason there's about 120 VS pilots in BALPA and about 500+ in the PPU now.

Virgin took those Monarch guys on because they had no notice period, were rated and available. Nothing to do with your self serving BALPA chums however much you squeak!

Wow, must be an absolute blast on the flight deck when a PPU guy is crewed up with a BALPA proponent. The silence across the Atlantic would be deafening.

Having been in 2 airlines without union representation, I find it depressing that Virgin pilots managed to generate a situation where they are effectively doing the management’s job for them, namely dividing themselves into opposing groups. The pikey management at Ryanair expend a lot of effort to achieve that goal and Virgin pilots do it for free. Like herding cats - we are our own worst enemies.

Adolf - genuinely the “issue” never really rears its head at work. You get the odd tub-thumper but nobody lets union matters interfere with professionalism and general civility whilst working. There’s some good-natured banter in the bars downroute but I’d suggest it’s pretty fair to say that most people are just bored of it now. There are a few internet/keyboard warriors who’ll froth and foam about it on here or on the company forums but realistically the vociferous diehards are few and far between nowadays.

Still a great company with great people and great Ts & Cs and long may it remain so.