BuildnTime, I second what ggrowler says.
Have a read of the EBAs closely and compare things like:
Days off per roster
Minimum Rest
Maximum Sectors per day
Forced Moves
Direct Entry Commands
Overtime threshold (this can be misleading as sure the threshold is low but the company actually gets people doing 6 short sectors days 6 days a week)
(If someone is bored feel free to make a table it will tell you who's who straight away!!) It would be really interesting to see all the operators compared in a snapshot like that. I'm sure one of the unions has done it.
Interestingly enough J* come out as best for Maximum Sectors per day being 4 and
VB second being 5. Have a look at Qlink (they have an open cheque book in this area). Jetstar also pay more money for working a day off. They fall down however in another are like forced base moves. Qlink probably has better meals and access to lounges whereas
VB pilots are pretty much banned from the lounges (unless paying and out of uniform etc). At Jetstar and QF there is more respect in general for pilots from ground staff. At
VB the culture that was implemented at the start was that ALL staff are equal, and
it shows. You could be paxing to Perth and wont be offered a peanut or a cracker. Only recently were pilots given exit rows with more leg room. There is
no chance of business class (CEO's word/ semi backflip) which is a given at Qlink. At
VB you might get a reserve roster once a year or two but none during the normal roster. At J* you might have rosters riddled with reserves and be called out to do sim for one or all of them at 2 hours notice. Thus its possible on every roster to get a call out whereas at
VB you only have to worry about this if you have a reserve roster. At Qantas and Cathay they seem to be in the Sim ALL the time (4 a year i think). At
VB its 2. At Cathay you do interviews for every position change and at Cathay and Emirates they can just change your terms and conditions as they see fit.
You have to find what the most important things are for you. For a good mate of mine job security was the most important: He works at Jetstar (they will never shut down, the government will close before them!). Another mate can't
fathom not using the QF lounges and drinking the best wine in Business class, he chose correctly by not applying to
VB and staying at Qlink.
In the regional/charter world there is this strange perception that the JQ/
VB/QF/VA pilots have this terrible lifestyle and that it's just not worth the extra coin. Living in hotel rooms and terrible hours are some of the favourite lines. Another one (right or wrong arguments aside) is the 30k for the endorsement. They conveniently forget to mention that it actually works out to 15-18k out of pocket whilst on a higher salary from day one with no training wage either. They also tend to not mention things like the staff travel, flying above 90% of the weather 90% of the time, or performance on one engine, employability, support, destinations etc. I think this is promulgated by people within the regionals. I know because I worked in one. Icarus2001 mentions it to me in the big Tiger thread. My reply to him is that nice is what you like and if you he is happy there then thats great. That is the key. But don't fool yourself into thinking Jetstar is miserable or V Australia is crap. It ain't. Both could be better.
Having done
all stops (over 15 years) from a C172 through to an Airline I can say there is no beating working for a Domestic Airline in my book. I suspect some International (North South) may even be better. Having said that, my second best job was a piston one where the culture was fantastic. One of the best jobs I had wasn't a flying one as well (the boss was a top bloke). I personally drew the line when working for a regional/charter mob and Jetstar New Zealand emailed me. Although I wanted to leave at all costs as my outfit was the pits it wasn't enough to make me want to do that. I would sooner have retrained in another vocation. I don't know much about Tiger but I do know they are a super LCC and that just doesn't work for me.
My current roster regularly has between 11-18 days off per month. The average would be 15. My minimum rest is 12 hours and I get to influence what my roster looks like. When I pax 50% of the time I don't get offered a tea/coffee or a smack in the mouth. I wouldn't dream of setting foot in a lounge or for that matter arguing on a seating issue on staff travel. If I want day trips I put that as #1 in my list. If I want overnights in SYD likewise. My roster changes in the last 365 days are: 2. I'd say the most important things in my list are:
1. Culture (What is the focus here? Are pilots
always the problem here? How do people speak to one another here? Do I have to watch my payslips? How do we generate dollars - Cost cutting or business building? What are the checkies like? Is it training or checking? How many people have been sacked during a check here? Are things improving/being automated? Things like that)
2. Roster Bidding/Building (What systems are in place?)
3. Morale (Are people angry here all the time. Is it always us vs them? Would most people shake the CEOs hand willingly?)
4. Money or Terms Conditions (Am I better off?
I only worked out the culture of the various companies by speaking to a lot of people over years and years.
Good luck.