CXORCIST...whilst I do agree with a lot of what you say, and you certainly say it very eloquently, I have to say that the replies reflect the weight of negativity that prevails on this forum. The proportion of this on fragrant harbour I have to tell you isn't the same proportion that prevails at CX in general.
I admire your decision to pursue other paths to an airline job many of which will provide you with a a far better grounding than the CX cadet route, but some misinformation has led you to a number of your mis-givings about the job at CX....I'll try to address them in turn
SALARY........true ..without the housing, the pay is crap.....FOR AN AIRLINE PILOTS JOB, but how much worse would be the equivalent GA salary be with a freshly issued CPL.
ACCOMMODATION....I agree..you wont be able to get too much for the 3 or 4 years you are an S/O.... Down route though, the quality of accommodation is variable....tops that I know are the Shangrila Dubai and the Hyatt in Frankfurt.....bottom the Hilton Milan and the Park in london....but they're certainly not 1, or even 3 star...night stops are generally comfortable and fun and not the slumber ridden nightmare you describe and fatigue is always going to be part of any long haul airline pilots job
LIFESTYLE...... one of the major plus points about being an S/O...most of the guys I fly with whilst keen to upgrade and do a bit of regional flying are very reluctant to give up their 15-19 days off a month and all the swanning around Asia that allows....Its a similar lifestyle as a based relief F/O although changing a bit now, but make no mistake ..life as an S/O is cushy
FELLOW PILOTS.....apart from a lot of the militant whingers you'll find on this forum, they're as good and bad as you'll find in any other Airline
CABIN CREW...Agree..nothing on a virgin girl...non existent social contact on night stops
CAREER PROSPECTS....in a word slow!...but no lower than any other national Airline...and certainly not the potential 5+ years as an S/O that I hear Qantas can be
...you will be upgraded though....and there are 747-400 passenger Captains now who joined CX 10 years ago
FLYING.....not good as an S/O, Relief..1 or 2 landings a month.....same or a bit less as a senior bloke at BA...but doing long haul only what can you expect. But if you upgrade onto the 777 as an F/O based in HK then you'll get a good balance of short haul and long haul
HOW HARD I HAVE TO WORK....as an S/O.... not very, as a based F/O....not very, as a HK based 330 F/O or Capt...very!
BOTTOM LINE...dont listen to everything everyone tells you...there are a lot of problems at Cathay, but maybe not as many as some would have you believe..I was warned away from joining by some at my last company who hadn't the first clue about anything...they were just regurgitating what they'd heard from others ...It sounds like you've done some research but heard a very biased view of things ,which is mostly what you'll get from this forum.
I wish you all the best and am sure that eventually you will arrive in the job you are looking for