Originally Posted by
Asturias56
"During the 1980s Cathay was the best paid airline job in the world for those on the "A" scale, industrial relations were good, Hong Kong was still under British rule. The Middle East 3 didn't exist and CX was a premium long haul airline and the gateway airline into a rapidly opening up China.
Recruitment was highly selective and most applicants were rejected. Captains from other airlines joined as first officers and often doubled their pay. No one left for any other airline, if you got in you were made for life and retired a UK pound millionaire in the days when that meant something."
Kris - did people think it would continue forever? Or did they recognise that it was very likely to change - especially when you were being paid more than US pilots, BA, Air France etc
I'm genuinely interested as a lot of the bitterness expressed on here about CX seems to be a an overwhelming feeling of betrayal................
Look at the pay and conditions for US pilots now. They had their B scale, their pay cuts, but they got it all back.
And their unions would not allow pay to fly lowtimers to be hired.