Fantastic destinations - absolutely: if you like long-haul. On the other hand, if any sector longer than three hours bores the living crap out of you (not to mention listening to HF and staring at a black windscreen), the novelty wears off rather quickly
Ever heard of Satcom, ACARS and TCAS?? No need to listen to HF or stare at black windscreens. And we have a bidding system so if you don't like long haul, bid domestic, and if you like weekends off, bid for the freighters, and if you don't like london, don't bid for the B744 etc. etc.
Great salary - no doubt. That is of course if you don’t already earn a generous salary, and your roster is such that it allows you to run a successful business
Reptile, without trying to give too much away, our entry level pilots make more than you do. We also get 40 days leave a year and a minimum average of 10 duty free days off per month. We are guaranteed 4 DFD's in a row on the long haul every month, which taken back to back gives us an additional 8 days "leave" every two months. And some of our pilots run very successful businesses on the side - when did you last frequent HiFlyerz?? AND BY THE WAY, we have proven that we are one of the most productive pilot groups in the world!!
State of the art aircraft - always attractive. Would you make a change for that if you are already flying a new generation full EFIS jet?
If it only seats 50 pax and doesn't have an autothrottle, YES!! But certainly a step up from a Dash 8!!
Brilliant reputation operationally. Good thing you added the “operationally” bit!
Shows I'm being honest!!
Excellent benefits. Most large airlines already have those
We have one of the most generous travel agreements in the world (a Captain gets six international flights for free in first class for his entire family every year (kids must be over sixteen to sit in first class) and FO's get the same in business class), albeit that these travel benefits were originally gained through salary sacrifices 12 years ago, a highly tax efficient pay package and a strong regulating agreement.
Give up current command and slot in at the bottom of the list
You'd be making more money and would eventually be able to give up having to run a business to make ends meet!!
Spend hours on end (granted, not every day) in the cockpit with a stuck-up old fart that should be at home irritating the crap out of his family instead of his long suffering FO
You'd be saving some poor SAX FO from being stuck with you and listening to you whinging about SAA!!
Wait a decade or more for upgrade - the official waiting period - while cadets and other pilots more junior pass you by in an attempt to make the airline demographically more acceptable to its political masters. (Not in large numbers just yet - but we'll wait and see. And "no", SAAPA will not be able to prevent it - despite what you might have to say to the contrary
Time to command is reducing to 11 years - and a large portion of our senior short range / junior long range Captains waited 17 years. And EE is not a threat - with the rapid expansion on the way the numbers will start right-sizing very soon.
Sit and watch as the airline slowy descends further into bankruptcy - despite aircrew working their collective butts off - thanks to management so incompetent it boggles the mind. (If you don’t think the plug is going to get pulled on the little circus one day, you might just be in denial.)
Management has now had a major wake up call and are finally making the tough decisions they should have years ago i.e. Expand the airline operationally to get the number of employees per aircraft right (more aircraft, more pilots and more flight attendants, LOTS MORE!!), get rid of surplus support staff employees, cut back on excessive non-essential duty travel (freebies), and various other initiatives which are currently confidential!! And with 2010 coming and a couple of LCC airlines taking huge strain with the introduction of Mango (mainly due to their inability to retain flight deck crew) but also with revenue being affected, SAA is in a strong position and things can only get better!!
And by the way, welcome Reptile, you are first on the denial list. Sorry to hear about you not making it through the SAA interview process though!!