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

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British Airways has just given cabin crew details of the new contract and pay package for staff at London Heathrow which they must accept if they wish to remain with the airline.

It is VERY grim reading for legacy Eurofleet and Worldwide crew members, many of whom will have to accept a substantial pay cut of up to 50% if they wish to remain.

the new British Airways cabin crew pay offer revealed

What is the new British Airways cabin crew package?

BA is promising an OTE package of £24,000 for standard crew.   This comprises basic pay, flight pay and other allowances.

There is the potential for extra income on top, such as commission from in-flight sales.  There is a contributory pension scheme and optional health and insurance benefits.

It is worth noting that the unions have often claimed that British Airways ‘OTE’ figures are more than the majority of crew receive.  For example, the £24,000 figure includes the allowance that crews receive to pay for food in hotels whilst travelling.

Initial feedback is that even existing Mixed Fleet crew will be taking a cut in overall pay and benefits on this new contract although the exact figures are not available.

The contract allow for 30 days of annual leave, but this includes public holidays.  The equivalent for an office worker would be 22 days holiday, given that there are eight public holidays each year.

For clarity, there will be no ‘zero hours’ contracts offered.

New British Airways cabin crew contract

What grades are available?

The new structure has only two grades.  A substantial number of existing senior crew members will be required to downgrade to the level of ‘basic’ crew if they wish to remain.

  • Manager – leading a team of up to 21 cabin crew members
  • Cabin crew – standard crew roles

Some short-haul flights will have no managers on board.

Managerial crew must be willing to take on standard cabin crew roles on certain flights if required.

Crew must agree to work in departure and turnaround roles inside Heathrow if required.

What aircraft will be flown?

All cabin crew will fly a mix of long-haul and short-haul services.  

This will force many existing legacy crew members to resign.  Eurofleet (Heathrow short-haul crew) are unlikely to want to move to spending large amounts of time away from home.  Worldwide (Heathrow long-haul crew) are often based outside London – some even live abroad – and commute to London for each of their 3-4 monthly flights.  This lifestyle is not possible if a short-haul requirement is added.

One upside of combining the fleets is that those who remain will be able to bid for flights across the entire network.  At the moment Heathrow crew are restricted to the routes allocated to their particular fleet, ie Mixed Fleet, Eurofleet or Worldwide.

All crew will be licenced on the A320 and Boeing 777/787 family, with an additional third type on top – either A380, A350 or Boeing 747.

Conclusion

In general, this is what we expected to see – and, for legacy Heathrow crew, it isn’t pretty.  I would expect the majority of Eurofleet and Worldwide crew, who by definition have at least 10 years of British Airways service, to refuse to accept the new contracts.  Most will find it financially or logistically impossible to continue.


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Comments (503)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Anthony Dunn says:

    Does BA actually wish to have any experienced cabin crew or just “cheap as chips” six-week trainees simply to make up the numbers for EASA/CAA regulatory purposes?

    Maybe the “in-flight service” they’re planning on in future will consist of monitoring the wearing of masks and maintaining physical separation whilst queuing for the lavatory. Otherwise, look after yourself.

  • Ziggy says:

    Amusing to read so many people happy to comment on how much or how little various cabin crew should be earning. I wonder how well these same people would fare if their jobs came under similar scrutiny? I’m guessing there are a fair few people commenting on here who are vastly overpaid for their limited skillset – they’re just lucky their jobs aren’t so obviously seen by the rest of us.

    • Colin MacKinnon says:

      Funnily enough, just posted my whole income details on my airfield’s Facebook page

    • Andrew says:

      Absolutely – I think most of us here are probably a bit overpaid for what we do.

    • Harry T says:

      My five years of university and six years of postgraduate experience have, if anything, led to me being underpaid.

  • Alex says:

    It really is immoral that they can pay their staff this little, it appears to be less than Mixed Fleet where the basic salary is 13k and they have the ‘potential’ to earn 23-28k including all allowances. They can’t guarantee paying the living wage. Bye BA.

    • Londonsteve says:

      Good point, Alex. The Living Wage really should be an absolute lowest ebb for an employer with the muscle of BA. Altogether poorer or public sector employers are paying the Living Wage out there, why not BA? If I’m paying 4k for a return in Club to the US, I would feel mortified knowing that the person serving me is scraping by on minimum wage, while also expected to smile at someone they know is either rich enough to dump 3 months of a cabin steward’s salary on a plane ticket, alternatively it’s being picked up by their employer, for whom they’re important (and well paid enough) to justify a 4k flight to attend some team meetings and internal networking. I’d be tempted to leave them a 40 quid tip in an envelope and a thank you card, if I received excellent service on a transatlantic flight despite the apalling wages. A service provider needs to make their customers feel comfortable and welcome, not embarrassed and apologetic, which is what shelf-stacker grade wages would achieve. Fine for £39 down the back flights to Malaga, not ok serving Gold members in First, who may be wondering if the cabin crew are spitting in their food in the galley.

      • Nick_C says:

        London living wage is £10.75/hour. Cabin crew work a maximum 900 hours pa. So LLW for cabin crew is £9,675 pa.

        BA seem to be paying up to 2.5 times London Living Wage (for a part time job)

        • Londonsteve says:

          900 hours is the flying limit, I believe that’s a block to block time. They need to arrive at the airport well before the flight takes off, part in a remote car park, take a bus to the crew base and do all that while making absolutely 100% sure that they won’t be late, while negotiating the UK’s world beating levels of traffic, which means hours kicking their heels when they’re early. The waiting around, crew briefing, pre-flight checks will take up a lot of time. 900 hours split over 11 working months of the year is something over 20 hours flying a week. The aforementioned aspects of the job (and I’m emphatically NOT including the sheer commuting time, which is always unpaid but for some will be significant) will almost certainly bump that up to 35-40 hours a week, if not more if they’re rostered a lot on standby and don’t get flying hours that shift. I’m happy to be corrected by an insider if any of this is incorrect. Personally I’d rather work in an Aldi for in excess of the Living Wage – much simpler and with real opportunity to progress for people that show promise, up to manager and head office.

          • AJA says:

            We all pay our own commuting costs between home and work. Even if you are lucky enough to have a company car with all fuel paid for by your employer you will still be paying income tax and NI on the benefit in kind.

  • Mikeact says:

    Pensioner…..’every little helps.’

  • Chrish says:

    With regard to BA reducing pay and t & c Do you think that every employer “Should” half everybody’s
    salary ? Stop all “Bonuses” & Allowances make everybody who fly’s pay their own fare.
    Or limit salary’s to under £30k for everybody until the “Corona Virus” disruption has all been payed for say in 7/8 years
    Businesses that make more than £50k profit have the rest confiscated by our government just until we are back on an even keel
    Never happen of course, but how many complaining now would “Shut up” if it were happening to them lol

    • Sandgrounder says:

      It’s never good to see people having salaries cut, but if you choose to work in one of the most cyclical of all industries it is a risk you take. When choosing a career it is always wise to consider such things. You need to weigh up the market value and portability of the skills you will acquire and have a strategy to put into place in the event of a serious downturn.

      You will get your wish, other industries will suffer, and don’t worry taxes will have to go up to pay for this. People will complain, but nobody will listen. The UK electorate have consistently voted over the last ten years for less public provision and protection, cheap goods and services and to hell with employee rights and reward. Things will get harder, but that is the path the people have embraced. Read a copy of Britannia Unchained for an explanation of how the price of failure needs to be higher for us all to succeed as a nation.

      • Paul says:

        It’s never been higher for the poor and vulnerable. They paying with their lives now!

  • Mikeact says:

    Can I ask, what BA are proposing…is that typical of airlines around Europe/World or even the likes of low cost, Ryanair, Easy jet etc ?
    Are they really that different ?
    I remember leaving school with a view of seeing the world and thought by boat sounded good….went for an interview with P&O, but turned the offer down…..seemed like pocket money from what I remember.

    • Roz says:

      Hi , yes, until last year new jobs advertised were offering a salary of 24k for most UK based airlines. I it’s a standard salary in the industry. I’ve been cabin crew for 20 years .

    • Karen K says:

      BA used to pay their cabin crew a very good salary, now only the legacy world wide crew who are on mega bucks. This new contract will see them taking 50% cut. Easyjet are the best paid UK airline, with cabin managers earning approx £30/35 k depending on the base and as yet no new contracts been discussed.. British Airways are well and truly shafting their loyal long term employees.

  • Kathy says:

    How outrageous of British Airways! To treat loyal crew in this way, many of whom have volunteered to do rescue flights with no PPE! Hardworking, caring people who have spent so much time away from families and loved ones, put up with rude, disruptive, drunk passengers on flight, saved lives and some of whom were even held as hostages in Kuwait as BA was the only airline to fly in just before the Gulf War! I think a few people will be getting ludicrously high bonuses if this comes to fruition.

  • Paul says:

    Whatever your views on theses t&cs (and I think they are appalling) the impact on service on board will be enormous. How can anyone earning less than a tesco checkout agent deliver a First Service to COO, CEOs and the rich and famous with style and panache, all the while wondering how the will pay for dinner in their layover hotel
    There is an argument that people have a choice, it’s not one I would support and I think this represents a new low at BA, particularly given the huge profits and pay at board level.

    • Andrew says:

      Totally agree with everything you’ve said.

    • Londonsteve says:

      +2

    • Neil says:

      Totally agree. Will go out of my way now not to support BA or give them any of my custom. Virgin crew seem so much happier and well treated.

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