Hate to say it, but 411A is right on one thing......"CX used to be top of the pile...not any longer."
And guys, the numbers are neither a secret nor outrageous. When a 400 sq ft flat in Mid Levels costs HK$4,000,000 then an allowance of HK$55,000 is not an exorbitant amount. But the guys joining now without Housing Allowance are screwed; there is no way you can afford to live in HKG on current CX salaries with no housing.
And SP's recent article in SCMP was a pretty balanced one, I thought, more on the pilots' side than CX's if anything.