stevebintley

I find myself at a crossroad in my life and could take the jump with a career change. Out of interest I was perusing the BA site and found a role I genuinely think I could bring a lot to and would find extremely interesting. However it’s the typical “competitive” salary.

As a recruiter myself I always find it annoying when individuals apply with wildly inaccurate expectations. But when looking at such a different area than one’s used to, how to know?

I’m assuming BA has certain job ‘levels’ with associated ranges per business unit - are these visible anywhere? Or are there any trusted internal members willing to accept a PM and give a ballpark figure? I wouldn’t expect to be at the top of a range, but I also don’t want to waste BA’s time or mine if certain essentials would no longer be manageable…

KARFA

Seeing from the outside how BA conducts itself, and knowing a bit from people inside how it is, would you really want to work there?

I really value being relatively content at work, and fortunately I am at my current employer. I wouldn't work at BA even if they offered me double what I am currently on!

JD1905

Have you had a look on glassdoor?

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salary/B...ries-E3462.htm

Honestly, I don’t think BA’s idea of competitive will be very different from what the current market’s is.

hydro001

Most roles are classed as band 1/2/3 and within those bands you have different starting salary salary, if the job you are looking at fall into that category. Your salary increase will mostly be dependant on performance and how the company is doing.

Other roles which do not fall into the banded categories may have a legacy scale which determines how pay rise is negotiated e.g. incremental or negotiated by union.

London Dude

This may help, although it's hard to say how accurate these figures might be.
https://www.payscale.com/research/UK...Airways/Salary

crazyarmadillo

I worked at BA for 6 years back in the late 80's early 90's, and people then would take less in pay, just to work for BA.

It had a great reputation and good on the CV.

How things change. The exact opposite now.

flybymonkey

BA/IAG are not the only so called villains here. The general rule of thumb I find is the larger the company the worse it is. In my experience people who complain the most are the ones who have the longest tenure within companies and rarely change roles or in positions to make change for the better. If the OP genuinely would like to go for the job then go for it as who knows he may be able to resolve issues within it.

ermis177

I couldn’t agree more. The other day I learned that the day allowances for flight crew to Argentina is around £3 per day. That’s pretty much enough for me not to join any company who is expecting from me to cover my daily expenses on this ridiculous amount...

Bar Operator

I left BA several years ago, but some of my colleagues were of the opinion that BA was using its “reputation” and staff travel perks as a means to justify paying no more than the average rate and sometimes less dependent on the role.

Some colleagues were of the impression that the only people earning above average pay at BA were senior managers, Cabin Service Directors and Pilots.

I think to work for BA these days you really have to have a passion for the industry, given the massive upheavals the company and its people are going through.

Will100

I have the same desire to get involved and have a change of career solely for the love of the industry and desire to travel.

Find it really hard to know if I’m wasting my time (and theirs)…

What can you expect on a Band 3 corporate role for example? Being opaque really doesn’t help anyone.

KARFA

I think that’s a very difficult argument to make for BA. I don’t believe it’s just a function of size or a small minority of complainers.

Also whilst I can’t speak generally, I work for a company with about 2.5x the market cap of IAG (admittedly with a fairly depressed share price atm)

FlightDetective

It was generally accepted at my University a few years ago when I did my Masters in Air Transport Management that nobody went into aviation to make money. The lecturers would point that out frequently, so I'd say many airlines probably do the same thing when it comes to pay vs perks.

Most of the people out of my course went into roles paying around £28,000. Some went to airlines like Qatar and started on 9,000 QAR a month, so £1,868, though they would give you half again if you didn't take the company provided accommodation. One went to a foreign carrier with an office in Europe and started on something like £40,000 (including bonuses etc), but there is zero career progression there without that country's Passport.

flybymonkey

BA has approximately in the region of 37k staff. Going on this forum alone the staff who routinely post here are predominately cabin crew be they current serving or retired. Whilst they for the most part can say they enjoy their roles/careers BA is not the company it was in the past which in my work experience can back this up with many companies. Whilst I am sure there is truth to this due to loss of benefits very few leave to pursue careers with other carriers, a bit like flyers who are heavy critics but still fly with the airline and hang out here Doyle has now been in charge of BA for over a year and was seen as a real man of the people but safe to say a total flop.

It would be interesting to know though if still BA still does any kind of employee survey in recent years to find out how satisfied they are with working for the company and what the average tenure is. I know for instance most fresh graduates join a firm for the set period of the grad scheme and leave as soon as it completes to join a new employer for better roles, pay and benefits.

13901

There are differences between departments and external hires tend to command a higher entry wage than people coming in through the ranks, but leaving aside the operational roles HQ pays are/were within these brackets, in my experience:

Band 3 between 26,000 pa (grads) to approx. 54,000 (some ceilings might be higher)
Band 2 between 50,000 to north of 90,000
Band 1 beyond 80,000 but don’t know much more, never got to such lofty heights!

Airlines pay less than other areas, that’s a common fact unfortunately. And they have this super annoying habit of talking about money at the very end.

In terms of perks, again airlines have less than other sectors. Band 1s get a company car, Band 2s and above private insurance, plus there’s salary sacrifice stuff as normal. Less generous than in tech, comparable perhaps with aerospace. Staff travel is a bit “meh” honestly, especially if you have a family and want to go to touristy places on the school holidays. Hotline is a bit better.

As for working within BA, I think it’s really a mixed bag. The sense of mission and “community” I had was like nowhere else. The breadth of people you’ll work with is also great, and most of your colleagues will actually be pleasant people to work with. So on that side alone I’d go back to BA in a heartbeat, I’m frankly tired of dealing either with morons who saw Gordon Gekko and went “cool” or with nerds without any social skills. The other positive is that there’s a great deal of chances to move about in the company, or at least there was. And there are some prime brains.

Now, on the bad. Some departments (IFCE to name one) have what I find a very bad culture, acid and negative (IMHO). Some people, like certain new nominees in the Customer department, ought to be demoted to branch manager at a Jamie’s Italian or some other ghastly restaurant chain. There are periodic bouts of cost cutting frenzy, especially towards the end of the year, where you could be presenting the business case for the next iPhone-like idea but it won’t be approved… just because. Oh, and as it always happens in the airline industry, your job will never kind of be sure. If you haven’t been reorg’d or notified of a potential closure every 5 years you’re lucky.

All in all, sending a CV costs nothing. I’d go for it. If nothing else to go doing cool stuff around airplanes. We had a new joiner in my team, who’d come from a firm like Clifford Chance or something. We did a project about electric vehicles on the ramp and as he saw a 77W spooling up on the ramp, on the taxiway next to the stand we were standing on, he grinned from ear to ear and said “It sure as sh*t beats being a lawyer!” (No disrespect to those who like wearing wigs!)

hydro001

Band 3 salaries start from high 20000s. As a reference point Grad schemes come in at Band 3 and salary is 30000 starting. Your salary increase from thereon will depend on your annual performance