Originally Posted by
Flyingsailor93
Firstly, Quick answer to your question I have never seen an airline hiring EXPERIENCED first officers asking them to deposit half of the amount of a bond. Most airlines such as Ryanair (not RyanAir or Ryan Air) do this for cadets (who have never flown a jet).
Furthermore, in Ryanair the 30k is for cadets who have never flown a jet and mostly as you say don’t get nothing which is not true you got hired based on your performance. For your information Ryanair do fly A320 as well if you are experienced on another type and get hired as a NTR EXPERIENCED FIRST OFFICER there is nothing to be deposited on the 3years bond.
In addition, comparing Ryanair and Air Astana might be low mate. Ryanair is a low cost airline Air Astana is a flag carrier (would you put them in the same box mate?). What can be questioned is why a national carrier do the same practices as a low cost airline?
Alternatively, in Wizzair, cadets and NTR EXPERIENCED FIRST OFFICERS are bonded but they don’t have anything to deposit. Jet2, British airways have a cadet scheme with a job secured for cadet and there is no money to be deposited and so on.
Additionally, in Ryanair NTR EXPERIENCED FO there is a bond for which they don’t have to deposit NOTHING again I’m talking about NTR EXPERIENCED FIRST OFFICER.
Last, I’m not here to argue you seem to know better just make sure to what you get on and as mentioned in my first message if you need further information about Air Astana conditions as a NTR EXPERIENCED FIRST OFFICER hit me in private I’ll send you a copy of the contract they sent me
In conclusion, I do reiterate that I am not sure its attracts EXPERIENCED First officers.
Kind regards and good day (or night according to your timezone)
PS:
This message is for whoever reads this in order to inform itself. I do repeat make sure about the conditions of whatever company you get in. My short experience in life and aviation have taught me once you see any entity being defensive for a statement that can be empirically verifiable run for your life.
'Mate', you can hit Caps Lock on 'EXPERIENCED FIRST OFFICER' all you want, but the reality is you are a 32-year-old 737 FO. You do not have an A320 rating. To the company, that means you are a raw financial investment who needs to be trained from scratch on this jet, regardless of what you flew before.
Let’s do a proper reality check on your Ryanair (did I spell it right for you this time?) comparison. Yes, guys drop €30k there. But what you conveniently left out is that the job is only guaranteed after you pass the Type Rating. At Air Astana, you have a job guarantee on Day 1. You get sent to Toulouse for a month for the TR, the airline pays for it entirely, and you are collecting your salary plus roughly €70 a day net in per diems the whole time. That €12.5k is a refundable deposit. It is a retention mechanic for an expat market, not a low-cost carrier cash grab.
You claim you're perfectly fine with being bonded at Wizzair or Jet2 as long as there's no upfront deposit. But let's look at your actual situation. You are currently flying the 737 at a European LCC and throwing applications at anyone who will listen.
Let's call a spade a spade: your real issue isn't the 'principle' of the bond. It’s just that you don't actually have the €12,500 cash to put down. Dressing up an empty bank account as a moral crusade against an airline's 'conditions' is just embarrassing. Especially when you look at the math. The net salary here clears €5,000+ after taxes. You effectively offset the value of that refundable deposit in your first two and a half months. Good luck finding that kind of net income at the European carriers you keep quoting.
Nobody here is a 'defensive entity.' But honestly, seeing how quickly you have a multi-paragraph meltdown over a refundable deposit, which perfectly matches your public crying session over your UPRT training delays. I can only imagine how you handle an actual stressful situation on the flight deck.