For those who are seeking to join Kuwait Airways
After 18 years of aviation experience and worked for over 5 airlines, this was a suffering that never happened before in life where I am forced to write about what I had experienced. The purpose of this article is to explain the consequences that people face. I wished someone could have posted the shortcomings, so, many would not have wasted time, efforts and resources.
Kuwait Airways
Offer Letter/Contract;
- KAC will only provide you with an offer letter mentioning your total salary, and in 2 small lines family status sponsorship, medical benefits & annual ticket to home for self and family. They will never provide you with actual detailed contract.
They will give you the contract approximately after 1 month when all legal formalities are completed. This will not consist of salary breakdown, any benefits or privileges. It will only give you information regarding your work, leave days and probation time.
The contract will not consist of salary breakdown, in fact after much requests found out KAC embittered on Salary, where allowances were 45% of and basic was 55%. In compare to major Airlines in Middle East this standard is abnormal. The norm is to have more basic salary and less allowances. Due to the fact Overtime and End of service benefits depends on basic salary.
Joining;
- Once offer is signed, you will be asked to provide a security clearance from your home country, for that; only one has to go to capital to attain stamps of foreign affairs but later an attestation will be required from Embassy of Kuwait.
- When in Kuwait, the main step for employment is the passing of medical which is outlandish. No less than 4 different hospital buildings and at least 16 counters/rooms to visit where signatures will be required. Similarly finger print clearance will be prepared again.
The point is, all this is conducted in old fashion, where language is a huge barrier and if you decide to out class your qualification behaviour and not adopt a slave attitude, you will simply be left behind and will not be even looked upon.
- The hiring process at KAC is very vague. No induction programs will be conducted, you are thrown in blindly from the time you arrive. What makes professionals frustrated is that there is no communication between any of Kuwait Airways department. From HR to Operations department, you are lost in never land. Nobody knows the right path, the process which will delay many of your steps towards completing the formalities.
Family;
- The family visa sponsorship and medical benefits column is a complete Falsehood. In fact you are responsible on your own to sponsor, bare the fees, and you will even buy med insurance for yourself & family as well. It will cost u 8 kwd to 12 kwd ($25 to 50 USD) per mnth per person. On the contrary all major carriers in Middle East will assist you with sponsorship, and provide you & family with comprehensive medical coverage.
Pay Day;
- Salary will never be deposited to you in the first month, my salary came after 3 months due to negligence and laziness from finance department which is norm.
Your salary is also not deposited in first month since every expat is required to hold a valid Civil ID. The irony is you cannot apply for Civil ID if you don’t rent an apartment.
- KAC provides Engineers with furniture allowance which is 2000 kwd. It should be given in the first month to settle down, unfortunately even in 3 months it might never arrive so you simply wait and spend your own money to survive. An estimate of at least $2700 USD you must be carrying cash for renting a furnished apartment, transport, food etc.
- Similarly pay process. In Flight Operations Engineering every month employees face deductions from salary because KAC operations department can't figure out the timings since people do shift work. They are facing each month up to 80 kwd per mnth deductions from their salary and then they have to apply & re clear before they end up getting it in next month salary.
- Overtime in Kuwait Airways is another white lie. Many department employees have not seen their overtime pay for the last 9 months or so now and even more. You have no choice to take off and you have to do it because of shortage. In fact their overtime increased so much that it got converted into holidays and when they couldn't take holidays, it elapses.
Accommodation;
- Most importantly you need home to settle down & even prior to your family arrives. No building owner will let you rent an apartment because you are considered a bachelor. It ls extremely difficult to rent an apartment on your own unless your family is with you.
What you can rent is a furnished accommodation which is at least 30% more costly than the regular unfurnished apartment. Be prepared to even change an apartment if you end up renting an apartment in a family area/block. The ministry of Internal affairs will simply deny your Civil ID application as you are in a family zone. Therefore, the simple solution is to attain a costly apartment for example a 2bhk furnished in city that will cost minimum of 550KWD or $1800USD
Exiting Country;
- For non-Gulf Country nationals one major issue is; one would require an exit permit, due to Article 17 Ministry visa. First your leave form with exit permit approval form gets signed by manager, later you hand it over to passport office and they will take a day to issue you the permit, then only you can leave the country to go leisure or emergency, in other words you don't have freedom. If unplanned travel falls over weekend consider re-planning as the exit permit will not be given on weekends.
Airline Benefits;
- Airline privileges, is another nightmare. There is no electronic or e-system to issue you tickets, they do it manually which is long, at first request the travel voucher, then issue the rebate slip and finally issue the ticket after waiting off your shift hours. For staff travel you can’t just leave at your discretion. Although rumour is myidtravel (staff e-ticketing site) is in progress. But how long it will take to actually launch, no one knows.
- Annual leave tickets to home town is another swindler by KAC. For example, you are hired from IAD Washington, KAC will cover your ticket to JFK but you will have to pay surcharges, also JFK to IAD you will have to buy own ticket. Whereas in all other Gulf carriers you are provided with minimum 1 Annual leave ticket to your home with family without a single charge to your pocket.
End of Service Benefit;
- A major hide by KAC is your indemnity. (Indemnity: each year served banks you approx. 20 days to 30 days salary towards your end of Service Benefit). If you serve KAC less than 5 years you will not be paid any indemnity and even you will have to return 2000 kwd furniture allowance. On the contrary all Gulf carriers will pay an employee with indemnity regardless of time you have served.
Resignation/Termination;
In case if you are terminated/resigned you cannot leave the country, prepare to live at least 1 month without pay and pay all expenses from your pocket, in many cases it’s taken 1.5.
To exit the country, one must acquire clearance, which is not only lengthy but a horrendous chapter to end your career for good in Kuwait Airways. For Engineers there are total of 19 internal clearances required and 5 external, which includes Police, Traffic, Phone Company etc.
Summary;
The point is none of this is mentioned in the contract, you will learn all this as you frustrate.
My 3 months of observation in this airline came to one conclusion, no matter how professional you are, KAC does not care your quality of work and the experience you will provide. The level of professionalism can be seen clearly in many cases. Such as several observations have been made where a technical helper has been made aircraft mechanic or tea boy has been made an administrator or a tech has been made a Sr. Engineer, just because they are in close relation to higher arch of department.
They care when you bend down and don't question their integrity. You maybe pissed, angry, frustrated, thrown around like a ball but don't dare to question them. If you stand up for lies, and rights, then they will never like you later.
I have shared my horrifying experience of joining, working and leaving Kuwait airways with the sole purpose of cautioning any industry colleagues who are considering Kuwait airways. My advice… Think Again.