Some other thoughts
Yes for the long term forget HK.
Friends of mine with F/O with kids have no savings what so ever.
Many cannot even bye a house and that is with Expat allowances,
simply it is too expensive & impossible to save for a deposit.
You need to have a holiday in HK and see 4 urself.& don't trust anything Management tell u.
Medical = Sorry the medical is crap! It is one big GREY area, nothing concrete! It only directly covers u & ur family in HK. Even then u can only see a limited choice of panel doctors everything major needs pre approval,and has a limit. In an emergency u need to pay up front and have a fear of not getting a refund. So in many cases it may be a good idea to go to government local drs'
Surgeon fees are more than double that of UK.
Many things are excluded, 99% of dental, Pregnancy, miscarriages ops, etc..
When ur family travel overseas (and u get no Free tickets home) - you have NO MEDICAL worldwide, only HK!!!
So u may aswell take out your own policy and be safe! as u'll have no buffer & simpathy from CX..
One F/O temp lost his medical CX only simpathy was when u get is back u can work for us again but at bottom of Snr list. What airline does this.
It never happened here in the old days.
Be warned these guys are modern crooks..
Just ask the current Instructors in Adelaide about there empty promises and slavery for the last 4 yrs.
Please understand nothing is guaranteed here, they change there minds all the time, even when they break the law they say take me to court. If u dare & win the just take it to final appeal and win eventually.
My advice is 3 fold.
1) choose another career all together.
2) Choose a carrier in ur home country, if no experience at 1st work in ME, SEA or HKA & take out loan if u need pay for endorsment etc. but using CX as that route will take 6yrs min.
3) Join CX and I told u so.
For info a London tube drivers Salary starting 50,oooP per yr. and takes less than a yrs training from scratch.
BA Direct entry pilot F/O 47K but increase alot over the yrs.
Think long term..
Last edited by crewsunite; 26th Mar 2011 at 13:47.