It is not the time as SO. Those of us who did interview for the job "back then" have the hours to back it all up if need be. When I interviewed we were well aware of potential SO time. Look at past and present QF or ANZ SO time.... QF SO's are expecting 3-5 years and ANZ guys have done > 7 years not long ago. Have even heard of 11 years. (Not sure how true).
Time as SO on a P2X rating, the iCadet lack of experience, the bond (sorry! "forgivable loan") and the inability of those iCadets to hence leave until at very least 500 - 1000 hrs on [a] type, as well as the required "total time" of most airlines min entry levels leaves you in chains for far longer than 6 years. Management know it, they literally bank on it, but these kids choose not to see it.
Plain & simple it's the
package. I have done the maths in every possible way, including offshore accounts, shelf companies, etc to make it work. I wanted CX and tried to find a way. The cold hard facts are that I WILL NOT be able to comfortably retire. The pilots and crew cannot trust management to honour a contract. To own my own property is not unachievable but a very distant goal: up to 15-20 years of strict (very strict) saving because initially as SO I won't be able to. Add any possibility of wife, kids, education, associated costs....? No. It can't be done on this salary in HK & the costs of living.
It's never been the seat I sit in or the bars on the shoulders to parade about the mirror in. It's about a CAREER that leaves me able to show a responsibility to a hopeful family & eventual retirement. This package CANNOT offer that.
There is no such thing as a free meal, unless you're in CX management receiving the MASSIVE bonuses as a result of this C-scale. Some of you claim it's easy to sit back as an employed pilot & judge. Yeah.... As Samuel Goldwyn said, "The harder I work the luckier I get."