Jet2 Leeds after four summers: the seasonal contract question, the winter, the 5am shuttle and why northern crew stay
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#1 Four summers at Jet2 out of Leeds Bradford, and there are two things people get wrong about Jet2 on this forum: they think it is only seasonal, and they think it is TUI. Neither is right. Here is the shape of it.
The contracts
Jet2 hires a lot of crew on seasonal contracts for the summer (roughly March or April to October) and a smaller number on permanent contracts. A lot of crew do two or three summers on seasonal before being offered permanent. The winter question is the one everyone asks: on a seasonal contract you are laid off for the winter, with a return offer for the next summer if they want you back. Some crew love that (a winter in Australia, a ski season, a different job). Some crew hate the uncertainty. Permanent crew fly the winter programme, which is the Canaries, ski flights to Geneva and Salzburg, and city breaks.
The flying
Leisure. Spain, Greece, Portugal, Turkey, the Canaries, Cyprus, plus the city break routes. From Leeds it is mostly two sector days, out and back, with the occasional night stop. The passengers are families and groups going on holiday, and the Jet2 thing is that the service is genuinely friendly and it is expected to be. The crew who do well are the ones who can talk to a hen party and a family with a baby in the same row and mean it.
The 5am shuttle
Leeds Bradford at 4:30 in the morning. The crew car park, the shuttle to the terminal in the dark, the first wave of Alicante and Palma and Faro all going out together. Northern crew have a particular relationship with this. It is grim and it is ours.
Pay
Better than the ultra low cost carriers on basic, sector pay on top, commission on the trolley and the in flight sales. A summer month nets a decent northern salary. Seasonal crew obviously earn nothing in the winter unless they find winter work, which is the part to budget for. Permanent crew do fine year round.
Why northern crew stay
Because the bases are where we live. Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, East Midlands, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham, Stansted. If you are from Yorkshire and you want to fly and sleep in your own bed, Jet2 is the obvious airline. The crew groups are local and tight and a lot of people know each other from school. The company has a reputation for treating crew decently and mostly earns it.
Who it suits
Someone northern, who wants leisure flying and a real crew community, who can handle a seasonal year or two on the way to permanent, and who is warm with people for a living. Someone who wants the world does not want Jet2. Someone who wants Palma four times a week and home by 3pm does.
The 'is it TUI' question
No. Different company, different fleet (Jet2 is 737s and now A321neos, TUI is 737 MAX and 787s), different contract, different network overlap. TUI has long haul leisure, Jet2 does not. Both are good northern employers. Pick by base and by whether you want a Cancun in January.
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#2 TUI Glasgow, so the other one, and Lauren has it right. The Cancun in January is the reason I am at TUI. The Palma four times a week is the reason my friend is at Jet2. Both of us have the 5am shuttle.
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#3 Manchester, and I did two Jet2 summers before going permanent. The winter question broke a lot of my first year batch. The ones who planned for it (a bar job, a ski season, travelling) came back happy. The ones who assumed something would turn up did not come back.
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#4 Birmingham, aspiring, and Jet2 Birmingham is on my list with TUI and easyJet. The seasonal to permanent path being two or three summers is the number I needed.
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#6 easyJet Manchester, cabin manager, and the northern crew community thing is real across all three of us. Half my base knows half the Jet2 base from school or from a previous airline. It is a small world up here and it is a good one.
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#7 Cardiff, TUI Bristol application in, and reading this because the seasonal versus permanent question is the one I could not get a straight answer on. Thank you.
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#8 Birmingham, different airline, but I want to say the 'grim and it is ours' line about the 5am shuttle is the most northern sentence ever written on this forum and I love it.