The largest pay rise I have experienced in circa 30 years is 4.2%

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know someone who commutes back and forth to UK from EU as BA Longhaul Pilot ? Seems ba has many flights to my home town so Im guessing it wouldnt be a problem since I did commute for years for other airlines even with staff travel. My focus is feasibility of commuting for a non-brit under worker visa.
Any example and input is appreciated. And yes I scanned the thread but didnt come up with specific answer to this.

cheers

Hey everyone,
I’m trying to get a realistic idea of how viable it is to commute from Madrid to London for BA long-haul on the 777, full-time, no part-time at the beginning.

From what I’ve seen, the 777 roster has around 5–6 trips a month, several of them three-day pairings with only two pilots, plus not a lot of days off afterward. I’ve also read that having any control over your roster in the first years is pretty much impossible.

For those of you currently flying BA long-haul: do you see this commute working at all, considering there are plenty of daily MAD–LON flights? Or is the 777 operation demanding enough that I’d be looking at years before getting any kind of decent work–life balance?

I really appreciate any advice. I’m considering leaving my current operator, where I’m actually fairly comfortable, and the BA idea seemed exciting at first… but after reading through the forum, I’m not so sure anymore.

Thanks a lot.

Very common. Plenty of pilots commute to LHR from mainland Europe, and beyond. Many commute from the likes of DUB, AMS, NCE, BCN, FCO, GVA, LIS, MUC to name a few common ones. Be prepared to have to stay in hotels nearby Heathrow or make arrangements for accommodation when on reserve, for simulator sessions or before early starts. It won't take long to get your head round the options. Most long haul flights tend to land by early afternoon, so getting home the same day is usually feasible. Hope that helps.

Exactly my situation. Except mine is not Madrid.

Thanks for the insight. I did comute for a few years before for short haul. Im guessing it would be less hotels in LHR due to LH. In SH I used to pay 15nights of hotel at times :/

Over the last few years the 777 has been the most fatiguing fleet to be junior on however things are changing in ways that would benefit commuters (and everyone else).

An annual hourly reduction of 36 hrs is being phased in with the hope to increase this to 48 hrs. A minimum of 3 days off between trips has also been introduced in recent months. On a full month, with no leave or reserve, 5 trips is now likely the norm. To aid the commute, you can also bid for back to back trips allowing more days off after and a company provided hotel for the night at base in between. We are yet to see how successful junior pilots will be in constructing these trips but I suppose it’s a start. If you have a LGW trip on the 777 I believe a hotel is provided the night before and possibly on landing day too.

BA LH now has three days (four local nights) minimum between trips, although you can waive this restriction if it suits you. It is a year’s trial though, so possibly may have changed by the time you get on line. You can also back-to-back trips where a) the first one doesn’t require any local nights after in the FTL scheme or b) they come from a selected pool of trips and you use the Company-provided hotel near the airport between them. JFK-BOS, for instance, which also generates 7LN off after the combination, unless waived. This has made commuting more feasible for many.

Hey all!

Have an A320 assessment day coming up. Any recent feedback/tips/interview questions people are willing to share?

Thanks in Advance!

PPPPPP.

Is that a bit like attention to detail?

Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

There was me thinking 'Plane, Path, People' had evolved...

Hi, do you know how many hours on type they're asking for please? ty

Type ‘BA pilot’ into google. Click on the recruitment link and read the job description. All the requirements are there.

"French" mo' is too lazy for any sort of search . Better ask around until a job proposal fly into his lap

Applied for LH, meet the hour requirements, have an atpl, etc. and got a congrats/successful outcome after the sim. The same email then goes on to say short haul only and I am in 320 holding pool at Heathrow.

Did I mess something up at the sim? I was only really interested in LH as already flying SH so I am not really seeing this a win/success. At the same time, I don't particularly want to have to wait 12 months to reapply to LH. Finding it all a bit bizarre to wrap my head around if I am honest.

I'm sure there are those who are better connected to the recruitment process, however, my understanding is there is a specific criteria for being assessed as 'long haul suitable' which is down to the judgement of the sim assessor on the day. Naturally, and unfortunately there will always be an element of subjectivity to this decision.

I believe one of the considerations in coming to a decision is does the candidate score highly enough in the core competencies, including decision making and leadership/teamwork to satisfy the assessor they'd suitable at the sharp end when the PIC of the trip is in the bunk. Think AF447 among others. Naturally, in SH ops you always have a Captain who has undergone a command course and assessment in one of the seats.

Again, there are those that will be more in the know than I am so feel free to correct.

Oh right, thanks for the input. My 'assessed' sector was only 25 mins long, which involved an immediate return due to a cabin bag on fire. I must've missed something/done something incorrectly.

What's the process for an internal move? I understand that you can bid so if you get long haul, do you have another sim/suitability assessment (as you were not suitable before)?

All fair points in my opinion. The answer is no, after the freeze is up there is no assessment on suitability to join a long-haul fleet, it’s done on seniority only. The only way you can ‘fail’ is by not getting through the type rating course.