LHS A320 is more junior than anything else purely due to freezes. A new DEP FO onto short haul, is released for a short haul command many years before they are released for anything else.

It’s partly because of freezes but not purely. If it was such a great job there would be hundreds of Long haul FO’s between about 2000-3500 bidding for it which would push the seniority higher. Clearly that’s isn’t happening.

There are many contributing factors, but an internal move to long haul is blocked for all for several years after joining, whereas a promotion from short haul FO to short haul captain is not. So once ‘juniority’ for positions passes a certain threshold, it forces short haul commands to be the most junior. This is the situation we are in at the moment.

Why are we in this position? Traditionally, internal moves between short haul and long haul are not completely halted for many years, as they were during Covid. We also don’t traditionally reduce capacity by the amount we did. The sudden big expansion of flying post Covid, has led to long haul commands coming much lower, whilst more people are unfrozen for them and everyone is more senior due to the years of stagnation. It’s unsurprising that people are more hesitant to go freeze themselves on a short haul command, when they predict a long haul command will arrive before their new short haul command freeze would end. Long haul command has always been more popular because it pays better, and it naturally enables longer commutes. My point is the current reduction in seniority for a short haul command is not due to a reduction in the quality of the short haul job.

I’d like to share my own experience with their recruitment process—hopefully it’ll help others.

Step 1: Online interview
A short chat to check your English level. They’ll ask random questions just to see if you can express yourself clearly and understandably in English.

Step 2: Full-day assessment (three parts)

• Part 1: Eagle/Capacity Test
  A timed, stress-induced exercise where you must monitor multiple parameters without losing situational awareness. Practicing the online version beforehand will definitely help—you don’t have to be perfect, but you must stay on top of things even when stress spikes.
  
• Part 2: Group exercise
  In my session we tackled the LIN–LHR sector 3 flight of the day, with an injured cabin-crew scenario. You’re given various pieces of information and have 20 minutes to agree on a safe, efficient solution as a team. At the end, you present a brief debrief.
  
• Part 3: Pilot + HR interview
  The pilot interviewer was very relaxed—he wanted to gauge my motivation for joining, my ability to handle the workload, and my suitability for several hours of crew interaction. Key areas: motivation, non-technical knowledge, and interpersonal skills. The HR interview was competency-based (focusing on how you’ve cared for customers and colleagues), and the interviewer probed my answers quite hard—at one point I genuinely thought I’d blown it!
  

Step 3: Simulator session
If you pass the day-long assessment, you’re invited back for a sim—usually on an A320, but more often on an A380. You get a briefing pack in advance. They’ll evaluate:

1. Crew coordination & decision-making, e.g. handling a non-screened bag that forces a diversion to the nearest suitable airport.
   
2. Navigation accuracy, including VOR-to-VOR tracking and procedural SID/STAR compliance.
   
3. Manual flying skills, with no autopilot and no autothrust—pitch and power settings must be precise. (If you come from Boeing, power management will feel familiar, but the handling is different.)
   

The sim isn’t scored in isolation; it’s combined with your interview and group-exercise performance to produce an overall result. Excelling in the sim can boost a borderline performance earlier in the day, but not necessarily vice versa.

That’s my two cents—good luck!

I joined last August and have a command course in July. I know what I’m getting myself into, but still feels crazy it’s so unappealing to those already there.

At the end of the day, we are all only guessing at the reasons why people are not bidding for it, but in the ease of every first officer I have spoken too, it’s been because they think their long haul command will appear within 6 years, or they’ve only just left short haul because they wanted to try long haul. On top of the things I’ve highlighted above, there was also the NAPS transition effect. Everyone who wanted to go to short haul for their command pension increase did so, all the others are now holding for their long haul commands. I personally think short haul at Heathrow is still a better gig than Gatwick was when I left twenty years ago. Yet I chose to wait for my long haul command for my own set of reasons, just as a lot of people have always tended to.

R T Jones is there much short term downside that you can see? You're either at the bottom of the FO roster or the bottom of the CPT roster but I imagine they're pretty similar?At least this way you get CPT pay?

I think anyone could hack the first year or so in the LHS on the A320. It would be the remaining years where you are frozen that would start to irritate, depending on how seriously or personally you take the job. If you are one of those people that is happy to put your feet up and read the paper until the doors are closed and you can go, and then insist on a minimum time at home when you have been delayed getting home because of the usual LHR inconveniences (delayed buses, lifts and escalators turned off, lack of ground staff to turn guidance on, or attach jetty, no push back crews, cargo dolly’s dumped behind aircraft) , then I’d say go for it. Some people love it. When I did it, I just remember always arriving home with a headache.

Guys on my course have gone for their commands because they may as well sit out their fleet freeze in the left than the right hand seat.

The big kicker is the massive lifestyle difference between high seniority right and low on the left. I personally wouldn’t go near a SH P1 role until its salaries matched the competition captain salaries at the low pay points. If I don’t double my money it’s not worth the lifestyle hit going from 40% and continually moving up back down to 99% and doing nothing but #### 2/6’s 3/8-10’s.

Why would someone senior on long haul go to SH P1 if their commands will be coming up in 5-6 years? Their lifestyle is better and their pay isn’t that much worse thanks to the fact that long haul gets paid more than short haul and (especially at higher seniority) does a bunch less work for that money.

The difference will be that in the RHS you're only junior for a few months at the current rate of recruitment. I've flown with some FO's recently who have been here two years and are already above 40%, and it's only going up every month (they also are senior enough now that they don't work many weekends). If they were to move seats then they would drop back down to 99%, and stay there for the foreseeable. Extra consideration is if BA do improve the SH P1 package enough to attract the traditional route of LH FO to SH CP, then they'll all jump you and you'll be 90+% for probably 10 years.

Not that it's a bad place to be, you just need to temper your expectations. Want every weekend off, day trips, and 1 out 1 backs? You'll be miserable. Happy with busy tours, and earning more money while you see out your freeze? Go for it.

I’m at 81% in the right seat, I’ll go to 100% in the left and know I will stay there for a fair amount of time.
As with everything, it depends on your circumstances. I joined here with command hours, so for me, at this moment, I need the money from the left seat more than the lifestyle in the right. I’ve no illusions as to what rosters I’ll be getting, one plus to not having experienced senior rosters, I won’t know what I’m missing!
When circumstances allow I will go right seat long haul, I don’t think I want to wait 18 years for left to left…

Thanks Snr and R T Jones for the responses. It's a choice that is some way away for me, but very useful to get the insight while I can!

I am one of those who have been here 2 years and at 40% on the SH fleet.

Since September my rosters have been really good.

If I went LHS the small uplift in pay isn’t worth it. Yes the UK tax system doesn’t help. If BA brings pay in line with other operators as a minimum then we can talk. Rosters are horrible at the bottom and not worth it. Pure luck I joined when I did and never really experienced junior rosters for all but a few months.

I will see what June brings but for me over 6 figures in the last financial year and showing 600 hours flying in the last 12 months.
IMO it’s the best SH gig in the UK.

Does the seniority lifestyle particulars at legacy carriers in general allow for First Officers not apt for command (hopefully only a handful) to navigate their lack of career progression with the lifestyle benefits of a senior right hand seat position? This is not something seen at low cost airlines.
What I am trying to say is that staying on the right hand seat is not a choice for some.

does anyone know the internal requirements for captain upgrade? is it 3500 or 3000 hours CS-25 ?
Also, it is not very clear how to whole process works in terms of bidding.
Lets say someone joins today on short haul with 1500 hours total time and 1000 hours on the A320, can they put the bid from day 1? and get called when they reach the requirements for upgrade?
is there a difference with long haul or the process is exactly the same?

3000hrs jet time >25T MTOW and minimum 12 months in BA or 3500TT including 2500hrs CS-25 and 3yrs in BA.

The first golden rule in BA is 'bid for what you want even if you think you might not achieve it and/or be eligible’; the second is ‘don’t bid for something you don’t want as you might get it’.

LH requirements the same AFAIK.

If you're worried you won't pass a command course then yes you can have a very nice career at BA. The lifestyle of a senior LH FO is very pleasant. So good that some choose to stay there instead of taking the associated seniority drop associated with LHS.

Correct me if I am wrong, BA essentially hires future captains and that means when a pilot applies for a first officer role he/she is assessed on their potential leadership skills for a future captain position.
If the pilot then bids for P1 and gets it he/she is immediately put on a command course which of course is very demanding in nature. However there are no extra selection steps or assessments to get into a command course if I understand correctly?
Very different from low cost operators doing command upgrade selections based on how good your PAs are.

You understand pretty much correctly. There are no more steps, but you have to be not cat C (assessed as not yet ready for command). If you've had some significant training issues you could be ineligible through this mechanism... but it's fairly rare.

Long haul requirements are the same, but you need the seniority for it, which means the flying experience requirements are redundant.