Rookie: better consider the cost of living..... $8500 HKD per month for a SHOEBOX to rent, etc, etc. Cost of living is a NET equation. Then the "experience" you get as SO: it counts for nothing as no airline recognises it. As an SO at CX you don't even have would could be called a "real endorsement". CX guys could elaborate further.
I have some colleagues quite senior at CX. They too cannot fathom why these guys are taking the CEP route with the experience they have. The extra training in time and hence money for ground school, sims, base and line training, etc, required to get a CEP pilot up and running as opposed to the DE path is great. But, not their job or ability to change things.
There are several (at least) pilots on the DESO file who interviewed some time ago with heavy jet time: A330, MD11, 777, as well as 73NG and A320 present experience. I have no idea if they are still waiting for the call. Back when they interviewed (2+ years ago?) the career package (training, lifestyle, salary, housing, general operations, and so on) was and still can be an attractive package.
Now would you, with that above mentioned experience, come to HK as SO with ZERO housing? Hell no. I suppose it will be seen whether CX honor the T & C's under which these guys (DESO's) interviewed for.
CX's management is hell bent on leading the race to the bottom. It appears that the present generations of CX pilots are being bred out. CX is fast becoming "just another airline". 3 years ago it was still held in very high regard as a career for a pilot. Can management still say that now? Do they care? They'll retire with the millions through cost cutting and the bonuses as such. And the union there? They seem to generate enough hot air to be the cause of global warming.
Welcome to "CX Express!" ??