EXCLUSIVE: the new British Airways cabin crew pay offer revealed – big cuts for legacy crew

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• BJ says:

  15 May15 May 19:52

  What if all of them, including mixed fleet, refused to sign these new contracts and left BA with no cabin crew at all after the deadline passed?

  • insider says:

    15 May15 May 20:16

    then I imagine BA would cancel the 5% or so of flights they are flying and launch a big recruitment drive at even worse conditions than offered. And I’m sure there will be more than enough demand to fill the positions

    • BJ says:

      15 May15 May 20:38

      Multiple barriers there, not least residency. EU residents running out of time and I hardly see BoJo standing idly by while BA replaced their mostly British crew with EU crew.

      • insider says:

        15 May15 May 20:42

        at the same time, there will be a number of crew that have been laid off from other airlines (see Virgin, Norwegian @ Gatwick, ex-Flybe staff) and probably a whole wave of university graduates unable to get jobs. Spending a couple of years flying the world whilst the economy picks up again suddenly doesn’t seem that unattractive.

        Unfortunately, the likely impact of C-19 is that many people will end up losing their jobs, so there will be a glut of supply on the jobs market

        • Richard says:

          15 May15 May 21:36

          The Armageddon that is going to be the graduate job market for the next 3 years at a minimum is going to be unbelievable

  • AJA says:

    15 May15 May 20:31

    Then i think the 12,000 redundancy figure will either be significantly higher or the selection process will be significantly easier for BA’s HR team. It’s a tough position to be in but refusing to sign a contract basically says you’re signing your own resignation.

    I wonder if this new contract is the final contract or is it an opening negotiation bid? I can’t see the unions agreeing to this without fighting it. But that assumes the unions are even talking to BA, I read on FT they were still waiting for clarification whether it is legal for BA to announce redundancies and start the 45 day consultation period when staff ate on furlough.

    • insider says:

      15 May15 May 20:45

      i suspect this is an opener from BA. You wouldn’t put this out there so early in the consultation period and not expect it to change. If they’re smart, they might even come to a solution that improves the terms of the current mixed fleet crew and gets them on side, leading to a divide and conquer outcome.

    • BJ says:

      15 May15 May 20:53

      My suggestion wasn’t whimsicsl AJA. Typical industrial action is not going to be an option so they need some other strategy to put a spanner in the works. If there is any way they can get the upper hand on BA then that would be an advantage to mixed fleet too. Mixed fleet is the week point though, wouldn’-t take much for BA to buy their cooperation if need be,, and for a while at least mixed fleet is all they would need.

• Andrew says:

  15 May15 May 19:54

  I personally will be doing all I can to avoid flying BA where I possibly can in future, they really have shown their true colours in this crisis to both crew and Exec members. And with the legacy crew gone, the charm of the uniquely british personal service that was the airline’s only redeeming feature will be gone.

  • mvcvz says:

    15 May15 May 19:56

    And I will personally endeavour r to fly with BA as much as possible. I’ll just have to miss out on tha alleged charm.

    • Mikeact says:

      15 May15 May 20:25

      So will I….. always annoying those that intimate never again. You just know it’s total B.S..

      • Andrew says:

        15 May15 May 20:32

        And so the BA sycophancy begins…..

        • Mikeact says:

          15 May15 May 21:20

          Sycophancy… ‘obsequious behaviour towards someone important in order to gain advantage’. Explain.

      • JJ says:

        15 May15 May 22:40

        Well Mike and Cvz, you just lost all credibility as far as I’m concerned. Enjoy the race to the bottom on your hard earned 241s!

  • Nick says:

    15 May15 May 21:22

    Couldn’t agree more with you Andrew. The way BA has behaved during this crisis has left me with a sour taste. I too will think very hard about flying with them again.

  • mr_jetlag says:

    15 May15 May 21:40

    I will personally… keep on flying on the appropriate airline for the route / price.

  • the_real_a says:

    15 May15 May 22:25

    A little like when airmiles was binned a few years ago the masses vowed never to fly BA again… I was looking forward to empty planes… alas.

  • Londonsteve says:

    16 May16 May 00:46

    Totally agree with you, Andrew. I’ll spend my Avios pile with IB on some long haul flying in Business. The fact that they will be spent with IB is almost more important than the destination for me, so I’ll tailor my travels around where IB flies to. It’s all a new experience anyway. The remaining crumbs can go to BA in the shape of last minute RFS redemptions, but only if I’m also carrying a suitcase, otherwise the LCCs win on price, unless it’s ultra high season and there just happens to be a reward seat going at the last minute. Won’t make any effort to collect Avios, if I pick up any incidentally without altering my spending patterns then so be it, I’d rather pay cash to fly Wizz or any of the ME3. Or LOT. Or Bulgaria Air. Bye bye BA, it was over for me when you started charging 6 quid for a GnT served with a snarl.

    • Andrew says:

      16 May16 May 08:18

      Good good. BA think they are holding all the cards and can hold that crew to ransom, but of course we as customers really hold all the cards – no customers = no airline. BTW, maybe better not to even spend your Avios with IB, but another One World carrier outside IAG so it costs BA more to put you on that flight.

    • Nick_C says:

      16 May16 May 11:31

      Great idea. Fly with Iberia instead of BA. Or Aer Lingus. LOL

      You do realise they are just different brands of the same company.

      You think the IB brand is more ethical than the BA brand?

      • Londonsteve says:

        16 May16 May 12:30

        I fully realise IB is part of IAG, this is the reason why I can shuttle Avios between the schemes. IB is no more ethical, it’s the same company after all with the same CEO, but it’s forced to conduct itself with greater decorum due to more stringent employment legislation in Spain, IAG has admitted to this in so many words. The government in Madrid won’t allow them to play games with IB staff, so the axe falls where it can – on the legacy crew at BA. Quite apart from that IB’s hard product will continue to be vastly superior to BA until the point comes when all BA metal is fitted with the new club suite (how long will that now take?), the food on board and in the lounges is many multiples better (this is Spain we’re talking about, to be expected), last but not least IB redemptions don’t attract the rip off surcharges BA applies. In some cases it’s almost 50% cheaper to fly IB Business a similar distance compared to Club World. The fact that I don’t want to give BA my miles is the cherry on the cake. Yes, the revenue goes into the wider IAG pot, but, I get double value for my miles and cash. Have you tried the Velasquez lounge at MAD? No? If you had, you’d never want to fly with BA ever again, either.

• Sebastian S says:

  15 May15 May 20:20

  This is just awful. I am so very sorry that British Airways is behaving in this way and taking advantage of Covid to so brutally restructure the company. Yes, undoubtedly, a restructure had to happen and yes jobs were inevitably going to be lost but this is brutal, unnecessary in this form – and above all morally wrong.

• Martina says:

  15 May15 May 20:23

  Many crew will have to accept a 75% cut in pay actually and the conditions are terrible. In fact without the “potential” meal allowances etc this is barely UK minimum wage. BA have gone too far this time and the dubious morals of this company worry me for the future of business and large companies in general. If they get away with it then the gap between executive pay and the “workforce” will continue to increase. Remember is not just crew that will suffer, it is every staff member at BA that will be affected by similar enforced (not negotiated) changes in contracts.

• AJA says:

  15 May15 May 20:23

  This sounds pretty harsh at first glance and I can’t see many crew accepting a pay cut of up to 50%. How many crew will be taking that much of a cut though? You would have to be pretty senior or have worked for a long time to be facing that sort of cut. I can see most legacy crew will be affected and that there are some crew that will be affected this severely but is it 80% or 20% of the legacy crew facing the 50% cut?

  I also note that you say there are only two grades. That suggests that the legacy crews had many more grades. I can see why this is attractive to BA and very unattractive to crew.

  I guess the 12,000 selected for redundancy will be coming from the many legacy crew for whom applying to work on this new contract will be very difficult it not impossible to afford.

  They’re caught between a rock and a hard place; accept this new deal or face the prospect of trying to get another job in the middle of this Covid-19 crisis and the likely recession that we are facing.

  I feel very sorry for all BA cabin crew and other staff facing redundancy or this awful new contract.

• Lady London says:

  15 May15 May 20:31

  Are the crew supposed to be paying British Airways in order to work for BA? that’s what this looks like. Out of pocket expenses for hotels downroute CANNOT be touted by BA as ‘take home pay’.

  I am really quite horrified by this. Given the very long term loyalty some staff have shown.

  What will they do with pilots next? I’ll bet the pilots’ union will regret losing their bottle, lasy year, and letting their fair and civilised instincts take over last year, soon.

  • JAXBA says:

    15 May15 May 20:45

    “Out of pocket expenses for hotels downroute” – BA would still be paying for the room, but not meals downroute. Or rather, the allowance for that is included in that very low headline number.

    • Chrisasaurus says:

      16 May16 May 20:26

      So if that’s correct they are essentially rolling up their per diem and calling it OTE?

      • Rob says:

        16 May16 May 21:44

        They have always done this, it’s nothing new.

  • J says:

    16 May16 May 00:32

    “very long term loyalty some staff have shown” – but you are only really showing loyalty if you turned down a comparable alternative at another airline. Surely sticking with a job because they pay you more than their competitors would is in the staffs own interest as much as the company. Or am I missing something?

• Richard says:

  15 May15 May 20:35

  Well if you are a BA shareholder you won’t be complaining with that offer. Certainly a serious attempt to cheapen the costs.

  I’m not sure cabin crew should be on 50k+ but for a job that means you have to be London or near London based, the take home pay BA are proposing is clearly very low. Too low.

  At the end of the day cabin crew are the people who are paid to be an effective last resort between safety and disaster, getting that wrong because a load of the right people for the job needed to make more money than a near poverty wage is.. uncomfortable

  • insider says:

    15 May15 May 20:49

    are you saying that if you get paid less, you are less good at your job? Or even unable to do the job? I don’t think that is correct. I trust the cabin crew on Ryanair as much as I do on BA. I don’t think either of them are any better or worse than each other.

    • Richard says:

      15 May15 May 21:41

      No, it is the staff that don’t come back because this contract is too cheap for them, and get replaced by someone else worse. And if all your new staff at whatever the very poor wage can get you aren’t very good..

    • JJ says:

      15 May15 May 22:46

      Well more fool you then. Four different languages doesn’t go well in an emergency. Six if you include the flight deck crew!

    • Nick_C says:

      16 May16 May 11:32

      My European friends speak better English than many English people.

• Lady London says:

  15 May15 May 21:03

  Ryanair staff live all over Europe and commute to work too.

  At least this means some staff might qualify for the more decent unemployment support from some of the EU states if they commute from them.

  The thing is, we’re seeing it now for airline staff. Some other types of worker, perhaps even some of the more privileged types of professionals that have had the good fortune to work at home during this crisis, may also become vulnerable if measures have to continue too long, including possibility of a more deadly second wave in winter.

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