No, it's not. If you think it is, you clearly have no idea what junior life is like on 34PP scale at BA...

Spot on, VJW, I'm in exactly the same position as yourself. I'm left seat easy now instead of joining BA longhaul, I work hard and I get paid very well. It's all about expectation, the aviation jobs out there that are a cushy number these days are as rare as rocking horse !!!!!. Most of the stress comes from perception and mindset, you just have to be happy with what you've signed on the dotted line for, like how many crew do we know that whinge their tits off when they get called from standby? A standby duty isn't a right to stay at home, you're being called for a duty you should have potentially been doing anyway, if you have the mindset that if you spend it at home it's a bonus then you'll be in a far better place mentally and more relaxed. Being stressed is more fatiguing than being relaxed, if your constantly stressing about a long week ahead then it'll affect you more. I didn't get home till 3am this morning and I have another long night ahead but I'm comfortable with it. I don't feel half as tired as I would if I was whining about it all the time. Pilots are the most highly strung fraternity I've ever known, take a chill pill guys.

Well I'm well into my second decade of flying and being flogged and to be honest my health is fine. I just can't get too stressed about the day to day operation because it just isn't worth it. I've heard my crew moan and whinge over the years about slot delays, tech problems, company decisions etc etc but at the end of the day you won't whinge the issues away so there's no point in letting it get to you. I take every day as it comes and just don't get excitable about much and I have to say my time at work is very relaxed even if it's going to rat sh!t because it's completely out of my hands. Yesterday we were suffering from slot delays and my first officer was whinging the whole day about it, now that was tiresome and fatuiging.

Rex - Pilots don't adapt to earlie's, late's or nights - much like everyone else you "manage" by using a host of strategies. There's a lot of science out there to suggest the second early/late/night is worse because having had (ranging from not a lot to a lot) of days off before you bring some sleep "bank" into your first duty.

I don't want to come over too harsh but if your a commuter (I believe you are) your already on the back foot, and unlike a couple of recent posters - your keep letting your head be full of negativity. As my old DFO once said when i complained to him that how come Nigel's (not BA) get £xxx for working one minute into a day off and I got jack all for working 12 hours on a day off - his reply was "go be a Pilot" - So.....

You should consider writing a 'Self-Help Guide for Pilots'. :O :} :ok:

12-15 days a month would be a part time contract at BA. Even for a part timer (75%), 12 days would be a light month; probably not possible without leave.

B

I'm new in BA, directly onto long haul. The two months I've had of completely normal roster (no leave or reserve etc) have both been 18 days at work. Both those months have had 5 trips of 3-5 days each plus one month had 2 sim days.

The part time seems to be working the opposite way from how you suggest... more senior pilots seem to be part time as they can no longer handle full time work. Not too many young part timers that I have met. That's just my impression!

BA works well for me personally, much more than a LCC but you can't deny I would be on a lot more money at a LCC - as others have said it will take 14 years to even equal the basic pay of an EZY skipper.

It seems to be kinda common. In germany it is actually a basic workers right to get part time if requested. That can be restricted somewhat by a CLA, for example with quotas depending on "operational needs". Where i work we use a fixed roster, 5 days on, 3 off, 5 days on, 4 off. That is full time. Common part time choices are 7/7, 7 days off and 7 days on including at least one rest/off day and 14/14, 14 days off, a 14 day working block with 9 working days and another 5 rest/off days. The 7/14 days off are planned in a row. On a full time roster i fly around 50 to 60 block hours a month with around double that in duty time during summer, less in winter. And that is LCC work, but a tad lower on hours than most other bases as we do fly a lot of 50 minute domestic sectors.

n.b. also that the EU-wide law on mobile workers in aviation prescribes a minimum of:
- 4 weeks (24x7) of paid holiday
- plus 96 off days
for every calendar year.

That is the mathematical equivalent of all annual weekend days after having subtracted the 4 weeks of leave. No OFFs for national/bank holidays. Spread evenly over a year (not a realistic scenario), that leaves almost exactly 20 days for duties in each of the months. Thus 75% part-time yields 15 workdays on a long term average - no charity, just crunching numbers.