To tweet BA pilots that I earn less than the INCREASE they're demanding?

[CheapSeats]

I earn 18000 a year. BA pilots are asking for an increase of 20000 a year. Yeah I know about skills and responsibility blah blah blah but AIBU to be upset that my holiday might be ruined? They're bleating in the papers today that they're upset that they now only get to stay in 4 star hotels instead of 5.

AND if they MUST strike, name the dates ASAP so people can have as much time as possible to try to make alternative arrangements.

My father was an airline pilot. He was highly trained, worked very unsociable hours, medical examinations every 6 months, tests in simulator every 6 months. A highly stressful job. I think they deserve every penny. They literally have the lives of 200 odd passengers in their hands . I appreciate it is awful to have your holiday cancelled etc but the airlines are constantly squeezing more and more out of their pilots.

Pay the same amount to train that they do, put in the same amount of hours, put in the same risk and then maybe you can complain.

@DustyDiamond my most sincere apologies. I realise you answered this some time ago but I typed my statement before you replied and the internet where I am (abroad) only chose to post it some time later. Thus eloquently demonstrating that there are elements to being a pilot where we have to accept situations that other people would expect as being normal everyday life, such as internet, evenings at home with their family, and sleeping at night - and if it’s in your own bed that’s even better. There are many things about being a pilot that need extra recompense - the messing up of your body clock, the times away from home such as birthdays, Christmas, the entire holiday period, etc.

But if you think we just sit there monitoring systems that a ground worker has set up for us then you are sorely mistaken. I say this as an airline pilot with over 2 decades experience. I could give you a list as long as your arm of things that have caused me brain ache during just my last 2 trips alone. The job of airline pilot these days involves much commercial pressure to acheive impossible schedules along with satisfying outlandish passenger expectations which are often instigated by the airlines themselves. I give you my recent flight tiptoeing round the Straits of Hormuz and restricted Pakistan airspace while dealing with an unconscious passenger while flying over terrain higher and for a greater distance than we have oxygen to deal with if we need it during extreme thunderstorms between emergency airports an unusually long distance apart and suffering ferocious poor weather conditions and political repercussions if we needed to divert as a recent example where pilots had to think constantly for the entire duration of the 13 hour overnight flight (at the bottom of their body clock’s alert cycle) and ground engineers had nothing to do with our frequent and rapid decision making process.

The biggest disaster I have averted was caused entirely by one of our engineers during a ground maintenance function and was a proper ‘techie’ engineered mess. However usually pilots and engineers work together to ensure a safe operation - only someone with an axe to grind would suggest that pilots do very little and engineers do most of the stuff required to ensure a safe flight.

What your salary got to do with theirs

No axe to grind - I've repeatedly said I think you deserve your pay 🤷🏻‍♀️

You bend them, we mend them 😉

YABU

I know pilots have a hard job, I appreciate that they have our lives in their hands. But, let's be honest, when you hear that some airline pilots earn the same as a GP I know which one I'd miss. My GP is priceless - an airline pilot I can live without if I had to.

If you go back to the 1960-70s most UK people holiday'd at home or a ferry ride away. Maybe if we all went back to that just for a year we'd have people asking for a more sensible pay rise. After all there's nothing like a few job losses to make people sit up and value what they've got. After all they only have my life in their hands if I decide to fly. If I go by ferry or train they have one less bottom on a seat and that'll soon add up.

Why would you announce a strike months in advance? The whole point is to maximise the disruption caused. We need to stop this race to the bottom and stand in solidarity with striking workers. Their livelihood is more important than your holiday. YABVU

Why would you announce a strike months in advance?

I didn't say that. I said announce them now. They've made enough noise about doing in, at least five people a few weeks to at least try!

Their livelihood is more important than your holiday. YABVU

No, it isn't actually. I'm not sharing my circumstances because you probably wouldn't care anyway. Hurt business not families.

YABU. It’s not an essential public service so they have every right to strike if they want to. They’re not slaves. They can walk out on a job if they feel it’s not well paid enough.

Off you pop and retrain as a pilot then Cheap Seats.

My friends husband is a BA captain and paid £30k about 15 years ago to train
From what I’ve noted over the years is the hardest part of the job is dealing with jet lag
They bid for the flights they want to work,have days off in resort after a long haul to relax and recoup then fly home
There are perks and the bits that aren’t so desirable in any position and they are paid handsomely for the job that they do
Yes of course they’re tested periodically,as many of us are in the workplace
A £20000 pay increase if its true ,is laughable

YANBU to be pissed off about your flight possibly being cancelled.

You are, however, being massively unreasonable about their pay.

Well, did it cost you £80000 to train for your job? (Oh and that’s a conservative amount by the way!) And years of training? Are you responsibly for the lives of 200 people every time you take a shift? Again, a conservative estimate!! I earn £160000 a year and I am SICK of people telling me I am lucky and all that stuff. I earn it because I worked my socks off for it. And I studied for six years on a Uni bench for it. And yes, I have a debt. And no, I don’t come from a privileged background. Just like those pilots, if anything goes wrong in my job, i will get my butt fried. Do pilots deserve their money? Hell yes! By the way, lucky you, going on holiday this summer. I can’t this year...too busy keeping my business afloat!

I know pilots have a hard job, I appreciate that they have our lives in their hands. But, let's be honest, when you hear that some airline pilots earn the same as a GP I know which one I'd miss.

Well, pilots work for private companies who can pay what they like. Doctors work for the government (who also pay what they like, and it isn't much for the first few years). Doctors can't strike in any meaningful way, so they can do exactly fuck all about their pay. Pilots can, and they clearly have a decent union too.

Maxabella, doesn't sound like you think much of your friend, or maybe her husband. Laugh out loud at the days off in a resort to relax and recoup Um, no. The days off are dictated mainly by the flying schedule and legal restrictions on minimum rest periods. Which sometimes are not very long at all.

Have I missed something here? I thought part of this dispute is to do with linking their earning to the company they work for... BA makes a lot of money- somebody is taking home a lot of £££.

I know it’s definitley not the flight attendants (I know a long time BA flight attendant and they have been screwed to the ground), but why shouldn’t the workers at a company have their performance linked to the profits? Shareholders take away ££& but where’s the incentive them for great service and a feeling of investment in your job for the workers?

I personally really respect the structure of John Lewis where the workers have a share in the profits.

But it's not 'blah blah blah' regarding their responsibilities.

They have a hugely responsible job. I assume it Carrie's a lot more risk than yours. So- no. You can't compare your role with them. Don't be so silly.

'I thought part of this dispute is to do with linking their earning to the company they work for... '

That's absolutely what it's about.

bernietaupinspen

Shall we pay bus drivers 167000 a year then Sandra? Your life is in their hands too.

As if it's even remotely comparable

Of course it is. You are more likely to die on the road than in a plane crash. Bus drivers have everyone else on the roads to worry about, pilots don’t. Pilots don’t have less homelife either. They have a limited amount of time they fly due to safety reasons

@pinkstripeycat

Don't be stupid.

The act of driving a bus is nothing like flying a fucking plane. Regardless of statistics

I support the right of any unionised workforce to campaign for good terms and conditions for their members.

I don't understand people saying otherwise. It shouldn't be a rush to the bottom just because some people have fewer rights and worse pay. If anything there should be more movements to fight for better pay and better conditions, not doing nothing whilst being bitter about those who do stand up for themselves.

My DH is a pilot. Believe me, he deserves every penny he makes and then some. It’s hardly a job anybody can do. He’s highly trained, highly skilled, and like any experienced person in a similar type job, he’s paid well.