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Originally Posted by White Van Driver
(Post 11585362)
It might be a good idea here to just give potential joiners a quick rundown of our rostering system, JSS.
Each month the company lists all the trips for a full month. P777 its normally around 1500 or so trips to be shared among the 600ish copilots on the fleet. We then have a few days to put together our bids. This is currently happening now, for March rosters. You can make up to 15 "bid groups". In each bid group you have 7 buckets to fill with the trips, using a sequence of commands. Ultimately you can differentiate between the trips however you like... Mondays, report after 11.45am, Caribbean, BA283 on Wednesday, long layovers in Mauritius, anything you like right down to a certain flight number on a certain date. The 7 buckets range from what JSS will try to give you lots of if it can, down to what it will try to avoid giving you, if it can. You can leave any trips you really dont want outside by not putting them in any bucket at all, and JSS won't even look at those trips for you. But if it doesn't have enough work to build you a roster, that Bid Group will fail and it'll move onto the next Bid Group. After it has made a roster for everyone, if it has too many leftover trips, JSS will open up rosters from the bottom up to squeeze more trips onto your month. It'll still try to give you what you've asked for but really all bets are off. This is called Global Constraints and has recently gone all the way to the top of the list causing much frustration. On a practical level, i find as junior P777 i can't get any particular day off im after, but if i give it 20 destinations i like, it might give me one or two from that list. The rest will be from the lower buckets. For March, I've tried to get a certain Wed/Thu off for childcare. Then I've tried to get the following weekend off. Then ive tried to avoid JKF EWR ORD. Then I've listed 23 places I like in the top 3 buckets (of approx 45 destinations on the fleet). I'll update here the result if anyone's interested. Apologies if this post is seen as a bit off piste. But bidding and rostering is such a big part of life at BA I think it probably warrants a discussion... 1. There is a CAP each month of certain hours you need to fly, is it Duty or Flight duty and how much is it? Does it change month to month? What happens when you dont hit the CAP or exceed it? Annual leave months how does it work? 2. As a commuter what are the limitations other than obviously EASA/UK CAA regulations on back to back trips which may give extended time at home? ie. 3 day trip, min rest, 3 day trip, 4-6 days off (is that accurate?) 3. Random question that will probably be answered by a phone call from someone at BA in the next month, which hotel to stay at for the training? Best bus to get there? I know there are loads but not all link to training centre. 4. Lots of new pilots are joining now, what does that look like for trips? Is there more capacity for more routes or slots in LHR or is it purely to resource the routes right now that arent covered? Thanks for anyone with information. DM me if not comfortable with sharing info. |
Thanks Raph737, will do!
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Is commuting possible as a junior FO on the a320 at LHR?
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Originally Posted by mrguy
(Post 11587420)
Is commuting possible as a junior FO on the a320 at LHR?
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Worth mentioning there is a neat function in JSS which allows you to “freeze” out the CRM challenged among us. Sadly it’s only available to FO’s…but relevant to all those reading these pages!
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Originally Posted by flyerflyer1
(Post 11587396)
This is great information thanks. As someone who is joining the 777 in the next couple of months and will be commuting I have a few questions.
1. There is a CAP each month of certain hours you need to fly, is it Duty or Flight duty and how much is it? Does it change month to month? What happens when you dont hit the CAP or exceed it? Annual leave months how does it work? 2. As a commuter what are the limitations other than obviously EASA/UK CAA regulations on back to back trips which may give extended time at home? ie. 3 day trip, min rest, 3 day trip, 4-6 days off (is that accurate?) 3. Random question that will probably be answered by a phone call from someone at BA in the next month, which hotel to stay at for the training? Best bus to get there? I know there are loads but not all link to training centre. 4. Lots of new pilots are joining now, what does that look like for trips? Is there more capacity for more routes or slots in LHR or is it purely to resource the routes right now that arent covered? Thanks for anyone with information. DM me if not comfortable with sharing info. If you exceed Cap you'll get some hours in "bank". These can be used later to swap or drop a trip, cash out, or to have a lighter month. If you don't make cap they'll take some hours out of your bank, but don't worry when bidding you can protect your bank so that doesn't happen. Annual leave (as well as reserve, part time days) you'll get credit of Cap÷days in the month per day thus its pro rata. 2. Not an expert as not a commuter. But there are trips you can back to back. Small time change trips so Africa, Middle East. Also there's a way you can back to back an east coast trip but that's more involved. If you bid to waive industrial rest (2 days off minimum after a trip) it will help you bunch work into a clump giving a longer stretch at home. 3. Anywhere accessible Hatton Cross. It's maybe 20mins walk from Hatton cross station. Free carpark at training though so if you're bringing a car it's easier and you could stay outside the hustle and bustle of the city. 4. Again, I'm no expert but they look at the planned flying and decide how many pilots they need to fly it. Routes are always moving between fleets so it's a pretty fluid plan. If they're hiring a lot onto the b777 then maybe many 777 FOs have their commands this year? Or they want the 777 to do more flying? Or maybe we've been under-resourced ever since covid anyway? Haha probably all three. No doubt you'll be busy enough when you join the fleet. Welcome! |
Originally Posted by mrguy
(Post 11587420)
Is commuting possible as a junior FO on the a320 at LHR?
very possible. Quite a few from GLA MAN & EDI doing it. I’ve met more commuters than “locals” and like the above post mentions, don’t be too specific on bids and it works well. Commuters prefer 4/5 day tours with late starts to minimise the need of a premier inn the night before:after. if you don’t care where you go, but you just want to maximise your days off after trips. It’s very commutable. reserve is a total pain, there’s a few options but it’s up to you for what works best. |
Originally Posted by Northern Monkey
(Post 11587461)
Worth mentioning there is a neat function in JSS which allows you to “freeze” out the CRM challenged among us. Sadly it’s only available to FO’s…but relevant to all those reading these pages!
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Originally Posted by ToCatLady
(Post 11587554)
very possible. Quite a few from GLA MAN & EDI doing it. I’ve met more commuters than “locals” and like the above post mentions, don’t be too specific on bids and it works well. Commuters prefer 4/5 day tours with late starts to minimise the need of a premier inn the night before:after.
if you don’t care where you go, but you just want to maximise your days off after trips. It’s very commutable. reserve is a total pain, there’s a few options but it’s up to you for what works best. |
There’s not necessarily a set number of days off but expect 2-4 days off between blocks of work throughout the month. If you get clever you can create bigger gaps over the monthly boundary.
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To add to the commuters who f you are coming from a city we night stop in you can bid for that or get on to the swaps.
GLA,EDI,MAN certainly have multiple crews night stopping. Like others have said JSS is an art form in its self. Busy trips away to get maximum credit will be your target to get more days off between. Can also go for part time if you’re not desperate for cash. 75% contract gets you 1 week off a month and it’s 18ish% drop in take home once you factor tax in. |
Originally Posted by AIMINGHIGH123
(Post 11587808)
Can also go for part time if you’re not desperate for cash. 75% contract gets you 1 week off a month and it’s 18ish% drop in take home once you factor tax in.
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Has anyone else been offered a LH sim assessment slot on the 747 as of Feb ‘24? I couldn’t make the time, but I was told it would be A380…
Who are people using for sim prep? Kind of tricky if it is indeed on the A380. |
A couple of hours in an A320 sim would prepare you more than adequately for an A380 sim assessment.
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One company near Redhill,320/380
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Originally Posted by Plastic787
(Post 11589220)
A couple of hours in an A320 sim would prepare you more than adequately for an A380 sim assessment.
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Quite hard to display your non-tech skills when your capacity is totally sapped flying an unfamiliar type...
If you've never touched an Airbus, well worth it in my opinion. |
Originally Posted by Fursty Ferret
(Post 11589389)
But ultimately pointless. They aren't looking at how well you can fly an Airbus, it's an evaluation based almost entirely on non-technical skills.
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Originally Posted by clvf88
(Post 11589405)
Quite hard to display your non-tech skills when your capacity is totally sapped flying an unfamiliar type...
If you've never touched an Airbus, well worth it in my opinion. |
Originally Posted by Busdriver01
(Post 11590080)
Do you go into any recurrent sims without first having read up on as much OM-A / OM-B / FCOM / FCTM as possible?
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