I took CX
...but have friends in EZY (some like it, some hate it with a passion). Not everyone's happy at Cathay but I dont know anyone who's even thinking about leaving.
If you're focused on hand flying a jet about and counting take-offs/landings then Cathay is not for you!
As an SO you get no sectors as PF (obviously), As a JFO 15 landings/mth, as an FO 3-8/mth.
There are few visual approaches, a couple of VORs but by and large its fully controlled and fully automated monitoring of the jet!
3 sectors are the max per day - although like EZY - some regional patterns can see you doing 12+ hour days, 2 man.
Over 11hrs is 3-man, over 5 timezones is 4-man (pilot, woman,crew...ops)
The often touted 'fact' is time away & time off.
I have all my SO, JFO and FO rosters (A330/A340). Here are some facts:
Rank - - Av Days Off Per Month - - Av Days Away Per Month
SO - - 18 days off - - 7 nights away
JFO - - 14 days off - - 3 nights away
FO - - 17 days off - - 5 nights away
Days off can be in varying blocks. You must have 1 day off in 7 and 2 days in 14.
This month I have a 11day block, 2 day block and a 3 day block. I have 5nights away from home.
*As a JFO you'll get blocks of 1-2's & one block of 5 days.
*As an SO you do approx 4 days (3 nights away) on & then have 5 days off.
a. Permanent basings are NOT available to SOs. However you can do 2 x 2 month temporary basings each each (companies discretion). Temp basings mean you can keep your HK Expat Salary Package.
b. Commuting: Can and is done by hardy souls. A 12hr trip home after a duty is awful (esp if confined to Economy). Rosters & flights can be swapped and even sold. This helps a lot. A good core group of friends/believers is essential.
c. You can request flights, patterns, days off etc every month.
d. There is a currently a requirement to be based in HK for your JFO upgrade and consolidation (9-12mths).
e. Once in the company, even if you joined as an SO, you can apply for FO Freighter slots and take a permanent basing as soon as you are promoted (again, companies discretion).
e. Jumpseating possible on most Cathay flights & you can use a cabin crew seat if desperate.
f. Load factors of Cathay are very high. Staff travel is ID90 (with surcharges read ID80'ish). Economy from HK to Frankfurt (return incl taxes/surcharges) is HK$2210. (Euros €220)
g. After 6mths you can use other OneWorld careers and after 1year you can join the back of the queue on ZED carriers.
h. SO Salary is:
Year1: HK$32000 + HK$23450 (housing) - 16% (tax) = approx HK$46600 ( Euros €4720/month)
Year2: Euros €5100/mth
Year3: HK$40000 + HK$44000 ( " " ) = approx Euros €7100/mth
*This is after tax but highly dependent on how you use your housing allowance (rent or buy in HK). Add 15% as CX's contribution to your Superannuation Fund and add approx US$800/mth in per deims and flying pay.