Question from a Virgin Wannabe

[virginwannabe]

Looking to join Virgin as crew and have a few questions for those in the know.
Firstly can you request nightstops, ie min' or max' that sort of thing? If not what is the average trip length, I guess what i'm getting at is are the lots of nightstops avail!

How do the flights out of Gatwick work...are they rostered to LHR crew or is there a seperate base, can you request them? Is it true that these trips can last up to a week??

What is the pay like for a junior, in my current crew positon I take home approx £1200 a month (after tax and including allowances)...can I expect more/less??

What can I expect, are they a good company?

What can I expect at the interview also...is it all group activities?

Thanks for the information!

[j2000]

Virinwannabe...
I fly for VS, and in my opinion they are a good airline to fly for..the money is o.k for a junior you'l probably take home about the same as you do now with your current company...basic salary/commision is paid into you bank, and allowances are 'cash in hand' paid at the Hotel, the allowances for a US nightstop are between $126-156, and 2 nite trip between $217-245...however that is under review by the union.
You are entitled to 1 bid per roster, either days off or trip request and is based on seniority in you current rank...as the company is growing you'll probably get what you request most of the time..but this is not guaranteed, but is usually qite fair....you can also swap flight with 3 days notice with other crew, but has to be the same trip duration.
You'll be rostered flights from both LGW/LHR, there is a free bus service that runs every hour more or less during the day, and will take you to and from both airports, you can also use this when your off duty i.e going on holiday, and you can take your friends on it to as long as you accompany them.
To start with you'll be trained on the 747's only, and you'll get your A340 course after about a year..this will open up all the Asian destinations and certain US and South Africa flight to you.
The longest trip at the mo, is a 7 day Jo'Burg, and most US trips are either 1 or 2 nights, Asia trips are usually between 2-3 nights. You'll normally do about 4 flight per month, and maybe some S/BY too.
The perks are really good...after 6 months you get 6 free tickets per year(29 GBP)to any VS destination, plus 6 service charge(approx 50 GBP) and ID90's on most other airlines...you'll also get discounts at all Virgin megastores, and all other Virgin companys.
The flights are long, but the crew are a good bunch on the whole and you are encouraged to have fun on board, the passengers always seem to be happy and the service on-board is very good.

Good luck with your application.