Well I'm on my sixth airline, and I thought I'd seen it all as well. This place is flat out bizzarre in some aspects, and it's got a culture and atmosphere of it's own because you hear the same from Brits, Aussies, Americans, etc... It is an overly managed (read micro-managed) traditional airline stuck in a time lock from about 20-30 years ago. As always, if you hear anything discribed as "traditional" it's never a good thing... BEWARE.
Whatever you decide DO NOT disregard the negative you hear about this place unless you disregard a positive for each negative. Because much of it is true.
Schedules ? Good compared to US airlines today, but that doesn't say much. They're running shorter on pilots every day so it will get worse.
Pay ? No US airline beats the starting pay, but it falls behind in 4-5 years
Work Rules ? No legal protection whatsoever, they can so whatever they want and no union.
Days off/overnights per month ? 17-19 days off avg, US base
Commutable trips? Yes, jumpseat options very limited, I've heard Jetblue & Southwest.
Never flown long-haul, what's it like? (can you really not read a book/newspaper in the cockpit during cruise? If not, what the heck do you do for 12 hrs?)
The worst kind of flying there is, if you actually enjoy flying. You're not allowed to read in the cockpit as per cx rules, if the Capt. wants to push it... some do, most don't. Basically you slowly turn into a zombie during those 12 hrs.
How's working for CX compare to some of the US airlines?
It's bizzarre in some ways and better in other ways, but they have a good talent for making people uncomfortable. There's a lot less standardization than the US airlines largely because training is pretty much "do it yourself" and even the trainers & checkers don't know what the
they're talking about half the time since the up to date manuals are only available online and 99% of pilots don't know the new SOPs unless thru word of mouth first.
Job security? You will never have to worry about it the way we do in the US thru layoffs, mergers etc... BUT, they can fire you over whatever they want anytime they want no questions asked. No protections whatsoever.
Cheers