[Intheair]

Nick

I’m sorry but you sound like you work on Southern Railways.

Safety? No, I’m sorry that doesn’t wash.

Did anyone on MF not sign a contract with these terms and conditions?

I agree BA seems to just want to make money at the expense of passengers and staff, but that is their right to do so. If staff go on strike, all it does is affect the passengers who, ultimately, pay the wages of the staff. Passengers, if antagonised enough, will travel with alternative airlines.

There will only be one winner, and that’s not staff or passengers. There will be more than enough new MF staff waiting to join. Passengers on Southern Railways don’t have a choice, BA passengers by and large do.

[Tom Otley]

New British Airways strike announced for next week

[Kass]

So the fact mistakes are made when tired is not a factor…let’s hope none of them are dishing out medication or using a defibrillator on you or your family tired then huh… or it might be good bye intheair

[Intheair]

Nick

What a totally ridiculous comment.

I am sorry but the tiredness doesn’t wash. How often are they going to be using a defibrillator? Once or twice in 20 years?

They signed up to a contract.

Wills Walsh will smash this like he smashed BASSA in 2010. He will be laughing – lambs to the slaughter.

I have no allegiance to BA. In fact I think the company has declined. I am just a fare paying passenger who wants the service I have paid for.

[penfold69]

Intheair – Safety only has to lapse once for there to be a catastrophic incident. Paying people more wages doesn’t make them less tired, but having struggling employees sleeping in cars etc most likely does.
I agree, they signed a contact and don’t think they’ll get far with this strike, as they simply do not have the numbers to cause a significant disruption. As a fare paying passenger, wanting the service you pay for, do you think you are more likely to receive that service from an appropriately paid staff member or a disgruntled staff member who struggles to afford to live?

[Intheair]

Penfold69

Thank you – I entriely accept your point, except the situation is exactly the same in the NHS and many other sectors.

Big business has led to demoralising conditions. I do not accept for one minute there is an issue on safety with respect to cabin crew. I would be more concerned if you set foot in an NHS hospital and saw tired and demoralised staff – that is a safety issue.

I have no doubt the MF staff are relatively poorly paid. However, they accepted the contract. Dare I say that their unions are using them as fodder in a bigger struggle? The MF staff will not win in this battle, BA will. There are lots of other young individuals queuing up to work in these jobs, and the other BA staff are entriely aware of this.

Demoralised grumpy staff yes, I accept. But it is not a safety issue – that is a nonsense (I accept that this in my opinion). No major corporation would take risks with safety on a regular basis – their insurers would not accept that risk.

[rferguson]

I think the biggest problem BA has with the entire Mixed Fleet situation is not unlike the same one it has with it’s customers. It hypes up the product (or the job or salary) then when reality hits it falls short.

In fairness both sides of the argument are guilty of this – BA suggests an expected salary that not all Mixed Fleet crew are taking home (a lot of this is down to the complex way in which cabin crew wages are comprised) and the union is throwing around figures that are also deceptive to the other extreme.

In terms of sleeping in cars etc I don’t doubt it. But this is not a MF phenomena. The beauty of the job is being able to commute to work. I live in Scandinavia and fly to work. I would say over half of the legacy long haul crew commute from somewhere far away in the UK or abroad. Colleagues tell me of motorway services midway between LHR and northern cities where you can always spot BA crew taking 40 winks on their commute.

Many Mixed Fleet crew apply for the job having a pretty good idea of what the money is (there are aspiring cabin crew forums where this info is readily available) with the intention of commuting from cheaper cities or family homes. But many underestimate how exhausting this is.

The reality is the calibre of cabin crew recruitment has changed. Well calibre perhaps isn’t the correct word. When I joined BA they hardly ever recruited (no one ever left!). A second language was mandatory. The recruitment process went from application to group interview to further personal interviews to panel interviews to language testing and in house medicals. It literally took months. And very few got in. But, we knew the rewards were there and it was worth the battle.

Now…there aren’t any real requirements. No one applies from the other airlines to come to BA anymore. For many of the Mixed Fleet crew it’s a question of ‘do I want to earn minimum wage working six days a week in a bar/restaurant or do I want to earn it flying the world’? That’s not a slight on MF crew at ALL. I mean it’s hardly rocket science being cabin crew. Be nice, be professional, turn up on time. And the (hopefully few) times in your career when the poo hits the fan be ready to deal with it.

***Personal opinions only***

[Intheair]

Rferguson

Thank you, as always, for a balanced view, which is very informative

[penfold69]

Intheair – Thanks, I agree with what you say, although I still think there is “potential” for safety issues, but then again, it’s not the pilots we are discussing, who are the main safety aspect of the flight.

Rferguson – Thanks, I think you’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head….again.

[dav]

Can somebody explain to what is a Mixed Fleet Crew and what routes and flights do they work on ?

What is the difference with other crews compared with Mixed Fleet

Thanks

David

[handbag]

There is Mixed Fleet, World Wide and Euro Fleet. Mixed Fleet is a new Fleet that was started several years ago, with totally different contracts to the existing World wide and Euro.

Worldwide generally only operate longhual and Euro generally only shorthual (sometimes this changes with an odd charter flight on an aircraft that does to typically fly to that region). Mixed Fleet do a mixture of both.

The routes they do change from season to season. If there are 2 flights a day to SIN, you could find that one flight number is Mixed Fleet and the other World wide operated. You will never find the 2 Fleets working together on the same aircraft. To tell you which routes they work on would be too complicated. I am WW Crew and it changes so often, I don’t even bother to take note. We are however given regular updates of the changes.

The way to tell the difference is to look at the age. If most of the crew are over 40 , then they are not Mixed Fleet and vice versa.

[Chutzpahflyer]

Is it worth mentioning that the WW and Euro divide is a hangover from the days of BOAC and BEA? Oh my, that’s going back a few years, ain’t it!?

[Rockhopper]

I understand from another site that to help operate as many flights as possible BA is short staffing the First Class cabin on flights offering that cabin. The result is no First Class meal service – Club World meals are being offered instead and 10,000 avios compensation. Apparently this will continue into Thursday/Friday this week as aircraft return from outstations short crewed. Anyone experienced this?

[AMcWhirter]

LATEST: Just been announced that the next strike will last for 72 hours. It will take place from January 19.

[CathayLoyalist2]

Rockhopper, you have to be kidding? (Fake news). If not and this is the case it really makes you wonder which set of brain cells at BA decided on that. When First Class passengers suffer the penny pinching the lunatics are indeed running the asylum.

[Author]

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