“Worst job ever”

As British Airways Mixed Fleet cabin crew take 48-hour strike action over poverty pay commencing today (January 10), UNITElive speaks to former crew members who tell the real story of the conditions they toiled under behind the scenes.

Five years ago, Tom* decided he needed a career change – he wanted a bit of adventure and so applied to join British Airways Mixed Fleet cabin crew.

Little did he know then that he would be starting a job that he says is by far the worst experience in employment he’s ever had.

“I knew from the beginning the pay would be low, but I didn’t realise then just how difficult it would be to get by on such a low wage; I definitely had to change my spending priorities,” he explained.

“I couldn’t afford to be sick so I’d fly even when I was ill. I didn’t live in London so that was really the only way I managed to get by financially – and even then just barely.”

“Of those colleagues I knew who did live in London, they were all either living with parents or family, or they were crammed in flat shares living with five other people.”

While Tom may have been prepared for the low pay – he started on just £12,000 – he wasn’t prepared for how utterly undervalued he and his colleagues were in every imaginable way.

“Passengers only see the surface of our responsibilities,” he explained. “It’s so much more than serving food and drink. The training and knowledge that you must have in order to ensure that each flight is safe and secure is significant.

‘Every last drop’

“You’re constantly working unsocial hours too – management tries to squeeze every last drop out of you.”

Despite the fact that regulations on rest breaks for cabin crew do exist, management often forces Mixed Fleet crew to work the very maximum hours, Tom notes. He adds this is also a failure of the regulations themselves, which he believes should be stronger and better enforced.

It wasn’t unusual to find yourself in a position of having a seven day block of work, working more than 60 hours,” he said.

Tom recounted having to fly, for example, to Tokyo with only a two-day rest break in between before having to fly back — this entailed crossing 8 time zones one way and then crossing eight time zones on the way back.

“Your body clock is totally out of sync and during this whole time you aren’t feeding yourself properly – places like Tokyo aren’t cheap,” he explained.

Utter exhaustion

Ultimately Tom said he quit from total and utter exhaustion.

The massive disparity between how he and his colleagues were treated and the importance of the role they played in maintaining passenger safety made the exhaustion even tougher to bear.

“Cabin crew are absolutely essential to British Airways’ operation,” he said. “When you’re on a plane and you’re miles from anywhere, if anything happens, cabin crew are the ones who’ll be there for you in an emergency. The training required to do this is of massive importance but it’s totally undervalued.”

Most galling of all, Tom explains, is that he and many of his colleagues were on such low pay that they were eligible for working tax credits, which in effect means taxpayers are subsidising British Airways for paying their workers so little.

“That a blue chip, hugely profitable company is getting away with this is downright criminal,” he said.

Tom highlights that this week’s British Airways strike, he believes, has garnered much public support.

“I’m very proud of Mixed Fleet cabin crew for taking a stand to right this injustice and I wish them the very best.”

*Named changed to protect privacy

Pic of January 10 protest by Mark Thomas