EXCLUSIVE: the new British Airways cabin crew pay offer revealed – big cuts for legacy crew
Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.
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.
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.
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.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (June 2023)
As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!
In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.
You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard
Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard
5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review
There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus
25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express
5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £12,000 Read our full review
You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points.
SPECIAL OFFER: Until 13th June, the sign-up bonus on The Platinum Card is doubled to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – and you get £200 to spend at Amex Travel too! Apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold
Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express
60,000 points AND a £200 Amex Travel voucher until 13th June! Read our full review
Run your own business?
We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa
Get a 10,000 points bonus plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review
You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.
EDIT: Applications for this card are temporarily suspended due to IT issues with the British Airways On Business SME loyalty scheme.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express
30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review
There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum
40,000 points bonus and a £200 Amex Travel credit every year Read our full review

American Express Business Gold
20,000 points sign-up bonus and free for a year Read our full review
Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.
Comments (505)