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Old 4th Apr 2019, 09:53
  #84 (permalink)  
DALTA
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Europe
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Originally Posted by Mgggpilot
are you serious no plans to get a kid or wife?
Ooh dear let me stop here.
Good luck by the way.
Yes currently no plans to get a kid or wife, that's a personal choice, probably later on when i will be 35+

I've sent a message to a FO who worked for them for 4 years on the 737NG. He is French and in his late 20's. I asked him what is his opinion and there is his anwser :

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Korean Air was for me, so far, the best airline experience. I’ve seen charter airlines flag carrier (KAL) and now low cost and I would, at all times, choose for flag carriers again. In my case, I needed the job at KAL because my company went bust. If you go to KAL, you have to realise that you may have the opportunity to go on longhaul, but you will NEVER be able to upgrade within KAL. You would have a 5 year contract and therefore no seniority as opposed to the Koreans who have permanent contracts. As the Korean culture is very different from my own, it took me about 1-1,5 years to realise what the hell they want from me, but after that I had a fantastic time. The advantage of the 737 fleet is that it is the “beginners fleet” for both the left and right seat, which means your captain who spent about 10-15 years as an FO on longhaul will most of the time just have finished with his upgrade. They are mostly young and in a new function, so most of the time they are very nice and open to suggestions. The key is how you communicate with them. Diplomacy is key. If you master this, you get pretty much whatever you want in this company. KAL is not a “raw data manual flight” kind of airline. They have a “no failure policy” with regards to their maintenance, which means you’ll always have a spotless (and clean) airplane. I can remember of only two MEL’s in 4 years. Also, we shut down the engines everytime with around 5-10 tons of fuel. KAL flies under FAR rules which means discretionary fuel is subject to a joint responsibility between the PIC and the dispatcher, . This means you’ll always get extremely conservative flight plans in terms of fuel. Training. It takes 5-8 months in which they don’t let you go home. These months are, for most, not perceived as funny. There is a life before final line check and one after that. It’s the life after training in KAL thats really nice. The roster. You have 6 “hard days” off, additionally you have 3 “soft days” off (which KAL would use to get you from home in case the Koreans would go on strike). Additionally you have 3 travel days. Also, you have 24 annual leave days which you can add to any of your off days. Then you have 10 sick leave days per year, which many make use of as well. Salary. On the 737, I earned 6500 USD per month tax free. South Korea has a tax agreement with many countries which enables you to avoid taxation. I addition, you’ll get per diems on an two accounts in a korean bank. One in Won for domestic flights, one in USD for Intl. flights. To conclude my story, if there would have been possibility or another to, one day, upgrade to captain, I would have stayed in KAL until retirement. This company doesn’t necessarly makes a lot of net profit (in fact except from 2017, they always made loss), but I think it’s safe to bet on the fact that, as long as the Korean flag is shown on their airplanes’ tail, they will not let it go bust.
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