Agree with last post to a certain level, it is just a job and when viewed agains tragedy that needs to be considered but as expats we tend to live very closely to our work and thus it inevitably becomes more. Also agree with the sentiment to look closely at what you do have rather than don't have.
However airline managers are only interested in cutting our conditions; shareholders get more then and the managers bonus' increase. It is up to us to counter that. We are hopeless industrially as we are all selfish and unprepared to act cohesively to improve our lot. Fortunately the basic laws of supply and demand seems about to help us.
I disagree strongly that conditions won't improve. Barring further GFC's and 911's, things will (and already are) improving economically as will our fortunes. Before the GFC airlines were desperate for pilots and through the downturn very few newbies have been training - why would they for such a rotten career? Even if they wanted to train, academies have laid off staff and won't be able to meet the airlines needs when the inevitable China-led economic boom resumes.
With so many aircraft on order globally (not just Emirates, Ethihad etc) but also in China, India etc and new markets where LCC's are now booming, where will pilots come from? Airlines haven't needed to care about this for the last 2 years but they potentially face a massive crisis far worse than the shortage of 2007. The GFC only deferred the problem. That's a great scenario for us.
Cathay pilots will benefit and not only growth will occur but other airlines will poach. They will have to in order to survive. Dragonair may well not exist in 5 years as the FO's over there already know that CX's destruction of the airline has destroyed their chance of commands. The majority have applications with growth-minded airlines and have had or are about to be interviewed for jobs elsewhere, particularly in the middle east.
So whilst Korean isn't so attractive (too many days away from home) yet, the conditions there and at all airlines will need to improve in order to attract the right talent. Far from believing the situation where conditions for pilots being savaged by eager managers is commonplace, I suspect this will be reversed in order for those airlines to survive.
Maybe I'm an optimist but the ratio of qualified/quality pilots bums to the seats they are needed to fill is looking very much to our benefit. Don't accept crap if you don't need to and always work to improve the conditions you are employed under.