I wouldn’t come to BA if you intend to get rich. Rough rule of thumb is we are 20% down on salary on where we should have been pre Covid.

The movement up the payscales is a fixed amount each year. But when we get a %payrise across the board, the whole scale from pp1 to pp34, pensionable pay (as well as the old contract pp24) are uplifted by the same %. So after June's 2.5% uplift, the yearly pp increase will also go up by 2.5%.
Clear as mud?

Pensionable pay as an FO (no LH/SH gap) is 70,954 pp1 (yes in y1 it's less than basic salary, go figure). Rises by 3812/pp until maxing out at Y24 (158,623). As of Dec 2024.

Hunterboy is right on point! BA has some good advantages to other operators but pay in the first 20 years is not one of them!

Feel free to pm me if there is something missing in your info.

That all helps immensely and the bit about the raises does make sense, thanks as always .. I'm just sticking all these figures into an excel and building a big picture. Yes, I am aware you won't be "rich", at least not if living in the UK. However, I do believe I'd last longer in BA as opposed to say Emirates, who according to my calculations blow BA out the water in terms of salary (yes I always knew this, I just didn't fully appreciate how much by), but I don't know how long I'd last in the ME. So leaving the likes of Emirates after say 15 yrs, I'd be 45 .. then what? Back to the LCC? I'm ready to leave this for good and to never look back, as much as I am thankful for them giving me the flight experience that they have. Like most pilots I have always wanted to "fly the flag", accepting a hit to the pay and realising you get it back in other ways is perfectly accepted.

However, it is sobering seeing the actual numbers, and noticing that to get what Emirates give you in your first year as an FO (~$12k incl. house allowance), you would need to be a PP34 LH captain at BA, and in my case I'd only be on that salary for a year (of course presuming I am alive and healthy by 64), using a nominal GBP15k flight pay/pa. That's before we speak about profit shares (yes I know they aren't reliable, hence I'm not factoring them, but the last 2 yrs have been substantial).

All open ended questions and I don't know the answers. I'm just trying to do my due diligence and build the full picture for if I am lucky enough to pass the sims.

The numbers in the sandpit are far higher, but to have any kind of lifestyle you will spend far more as well. You will also work far harder and could loose your job after one piece of bad luck/bad decision or health issue.
I spent 15yrs in the desert, first 9-10yrs were fun... then went rapidly downhill! Especially during/after covid!
I did save far more than I would of in the UK, but given house price inflation and superior pension schemes, not sure I'm any better off than my friends who joined BA.
And as you say what do you do after 15yrs? Luckily I did manage to get LHS in a decent company, but it took a good few years! But my friends in BA will in a couple of years be in the LHS widebody on far more money than I am. In the long run I definitely think they will be better off than me!

Hi Guys and Girls,

I have my BA Assessment Day on Wednesday, and I believe it is Eagle Test, Group Exercise and Interview. I wanted to ask if anyone has recently done the Assessment Day and could provide information on what to expect on the day. Whether it’s just Eagle Test or also another Handling Test.

Any information/advise would be of great help.

thanks

Anyone who’s done day 1 fairly recently, care to share if it is Eagle Test, Group Exercise and Interview all in the same day?

Also, is the a handling exercise now?

I’ve heard a rumour that all SH positions at mainline have already been offered for 2025 and start dates are now likely to be in 2026 if you haven’t heard back yet.

Anyone know if there’s any truth in that or had an offer for the second half of 2025 because last I heard was that start dates were likely to be July time, just prior to Xmas.

cheers

Anyone in for the sim next week looking to prep?

Answer
 

hi , your inbox is full

Assessment day
 

Hello all,

I am attending an assessment day at the end of the month and was hoping anyone that has attended one recently could message with any up to date information.

Any other information/advice would be appreciated as well.

Thanks

I can confirm day 1 is interview, group ex and eagle test in the same day.

can anyone send me any info on the sim please. ?!

Would anyone be able to provide any info on the latest day 1 interview and group exercise please?
-Many thanks

Video interview
 

Hi Everyone,
If anyone has gone through the video interview recently, I’d greatly appreciate any insights into the types of questions asked during the video interview and the key areas of focus. I’m eager to ensure my preparation is as relevant as possible for the long-haul fleet position, so any shared experiences or advice would mean a lot. Thank you!

Guys I don't think anything in this process has changed in the last 2 yrs

It's all on the forums, the only change perhaps is there was a short period in which they invited you to do only the eagle test before then asking you in for the interview/group. Some paperwork still says it's the case - it isn't. Prepare to do group, competency interview and EAGLE testing all on the same day. Good luck!

As has already been said, the assessment day is an all in one event

- Group
- EAGLE test
- Interview (competency)

I have to be honest, it is a very fair process from start to finish. There are no tricks or anything else. They are so friendly to the point it makes you want to join even more. As for the sim, if you stick to the basic principles of aviate, navigate, communicate and can fly a half decent ILS raw data, you will have no issues. Even if you can't, a GA is acceptable. Nobody will give you task specifics, they tell you on the day not to tell anyone or post it, this site specifically mentioned.

I know it's easy to say after the fact, but BA are being very fair with this assessment. They allow generous room for error, once the foundations are intact. They seem to want you more than you think.

Did you find anyone yet?

Paired with another candidate,either 320 or 380 depending on availability
Two sectors PF and PM,no FD,or Autothrust,limited use of AP.
FMS on Nav Rad page all you need.
one sector May have Non Tech issue.
Procedural approach to raw data ILS.
IMHO 70% CRM
Good luck,don’t take a short notice slot,prepare thoroughly UK airfields.

Is there a list of which fleets fly where?
where could I find it or could someone please send it to me.
thanks.

Hello ladies and gents,

A gulf flyer here happened to live in the middle east, a very experienced wide body fo that is eager to move to the uk leaving everything behind and forget about every single thing in this freaking area. A lot of questions on mind. Basically, how is the upgrade to command in BA? How fair are they for it? How long might it take for an experienced fo with thousands of hours in wide body a/c to sit to the left, to narrow body maybe as a quick target? As we all are suffering in the gulf region due to these frkn companies' direct entry captain policies here... we couldnt get our commands and got experienced in wide bodies for years now.. even most of us are overqualified now... what would be your recommendations? We are being paid a great amount of money here including school fees, housing allowences, etc. you cannot believe... I know there will be no allowences provided by BA but how much do you think a new joiner fo can be paid net for an 80 hours block time a month average? Gotta figure out whether I can survive there with family and kids :( you can send me pm if you dont want to give details here. Need your advice guys, cheers

Y1 FO flying 800hrs you'll gross around £93k including flight pay and Allowances having taken out pension contributions. Take home is gonna average £5400 a month on that. Can increase it if you want to work overtime.

With all that experience you'll probably get your SH command in the first bid after you join. That means anything from 6 months to 2 years.
Make sure you join on SH though! Join on longhaul and you'll be stuck with no command for 5 years.

First year captain on SH adds about £1000 in your pocket per month so call it £6500 or so as a very junior skipper not working extra.

Long haul it's currently 18 years so no need to worry about that just yet!

Good luck.