Rice bowl licker
Before you start trying to debate me about CX, I suggest you do a little research as to my opinions of CX. I am one of the few that don’t get on here and bag CX at every chance. What I do stand up for are facts. I don’t care if you are pro or anti CX, if what you are saying is incorrect and I know it is I will correct you. To come back with some snide remark about “those poor CX pilots” just illustrates to me that debating you is probably pointless. You made a statement that we don’t pay tax on our housing. That is wrong but you seem to have a problem that?
can't think of any airlines in the U.S. who make a housing allowance available to their flight crews.
By the way CX pays a housing allowance because most pilots here are expats. I and most of my colleges wouldn’t be here if housing wasn’t paid for. How many expat pilots work for the US majors? I doubt if it is more than 90% like it is here. CX isn’t alone in providing housing for expats. Most reputable airlines that don’t have a natural pool of home grown pilots all provide housing for expats. Airline like Emirates, Korean, Jal, Singapore etc all provide housing for expat pilots because they have too. Airlines aren’t alone either. Most financial sector companies in this region also pay housing for their expat employees. No one would come here for the long term if it wasn’t just because of the cost of getting something that is similar to what one would expect in their home country.
Like most everyone else in the world, my retimrement & health care benefits are deducted straight out of my paycheck every single month.
They do here as well. One must make contributions to their own provident fund as well and medical insurance isn’t free.
The statement contradicts itself...
It isn’t contradictory at all if you had read and pasted everything I wrote. The HK$ is pegged to the US$ so for an American working for CX and based in HK, he/she is effectively earning US$, just like their American based cousins. Americans though are definitely in the minority here. Most are from Australia, UK, NZ and Canada. All those currencies have significantly appreciated against the US$ and hence the pegged HK$. This has resulted in a significant pay cut for most HK based expats as most have significant debts and expenses in their home countries and hence home currencies.
Evidently at least someone else besides me viewing this thread knows how volatile FX markets really are.
By the way a volatile currency environment is one when the rates are all over the place. For the last five years though the trend has been pretty much in one direction for the US$, down. This isn’t the definition of a volatile currency market when I use to be a currency dealer in my last life.
Good luck though if you want to come here. I would be the last person to try and stop you or suggest otherwise. It isn't the bad place some make it out to be.