Arik Air recurrency bond

[737XL Pilot]

Hello all!

Wondering if any of you has any experience regarding Arik Air recurrency bond. If you would break the bond, what can they actually do about it. They got an office in London, but the bond is with the Nigerian part of the company.
It seems like everyone is getting different amounts as well on their bonds, for exactly the same thing. How can that be???

Thanks for your help.

[eagleflier]

I'd suggest speaking to the relevant department at Arik. You might have to pay back some of the TR training costs incurred by the airline.
Its best to break a bond on good terms rather than just walking out on them.

[Romeo E.T.]

you have the right to see your contract, you should actually have read it thouroughly before signing it in your "glea" to commence training.

At worst you will be held to exactly whats written and agreed by your signing the bond, at best (after a very diplomatic consultation with the company) you could recieve some lee-way on repayment and the time scale for repayment, if you handle the situation with adult approach...running away and trying to dodge your "signed" responsibility will make the situation worse for you as well as those to follow in your footsteps, as the managements stance could turn very militant.

[bear11]

A couple of points:

1) they more than likely have the bond due to someone like you skipping off before you, so what do you think they will do?
2) If they want to, they can make your life a misery legally apart from any time you ever look for a reference in the future.
3) The fact they bond different people for different amounts will not have any effect on how they will chase you up if you walk away.
4) Define recurrency bond - if it's actually a simple recurrency, it can't be for much, and it's probably illegal under UK law. It's one thing bonding someone for type rating or line training under UK law (and you can only bond for the actual cost incurred, I think), but I doubt an employer can do 6 monthly recurrency training for someone and say you can't leave for the next 6/12 months as a result. UK law would apply if you follow point 5).
5) If you're going to walk away, do it while you're home rather than in LOS.
6) Have you really got something else to go to? The market sucks at the minute, if you don't best keep your head down.

I'm not being judgemental about this, rather making some practical points to counterbalance your own one-eyed perspective. "Breaking a bond on good terms" sounds a bit like half-pregnant. And you do have my sympathies; for some Excel boys when it went boom, Arik was the only game in town. If you're going to do it, do it with both eyes open and minimise it as best you can (eg; reference, location). There are some extraordinary stories out there (some true) of how airlines have chased up F/Os with bonds (again, I emphasise type rating and line training bonds), have no doubt if Arik are so inclined they can do you damage. I just don't know if Arik will do it or if they're organised enough to do it properly, but on the word of people I know who worked there, they're well capable of it.

[737XL Pilot]

First of all, I'm not saying I would walk away without trying to settle the bond. It was just a question. I know it's a very sensitive topic for some of you, as noticed in your replies.
The bond is, for recurrency training only. Type rated already. I guess since a lot of people have left with little or no notice they've introduced the bond to stop people from doing just that, but in all honesty, if a job offer came from home, what would you do????
As you can probably tell from my username I'm ex XL so I now it's a tough market out there.

[gabonbabon]

Recurrency bond is not introduced recently it has been there for last good 14 months . However , best way to know wether they can do any harm to you or not incase you left would be to get in touch with your XL mates and ask if anything happened to them when they left Arik .

[18left]

Its a small world
pay the man what you owe him,you never know it can come back to haunt you in the future.

[Ben178v]

Pay what you owe?

My bond was for 6 months and 10500 us dollars. I did 4 shared hours in the sim in Amsterdam. CAE must be charging a fortune. I pretty much saw my bond out.I heard that as it was a ltd company in Nigeria you would have to go to court in Nigeria to be pursued. Not sure what kind of extradition treaty we have with them but I would imagine you were safe.

Here comes the barrage of "you shouldn't have signed if you didn't like it" but when your sat on no other work its very hard to argue.