I have been reading pprune for a number of years and find the posts and threads on Korean Air pretty interesting. Some years ago I had done some external audits on Korean Air and I am very disturbed at the amount of disinformation and misinformation posted on the various aviation chat forum on KAL. During my time there, even the expats there had no real understanding of the airline they work for! Maybe this is a deliberate strategy of the Korean management but I find expat pilots in Korean Air largely ignorant of the assets KAL has available for all the pilots. I noticed expat pilots mouthing off nonsensical negatives but had no idea that they did not know how to benefit from all the good things KAL has. It's just herd mentality and the one lambasting their employer the loudest gets the biggest cheers at the pubs and crew rooms. The one making the most derogatory remarks about their Korean colleagues is made the hero of the day. Totally juvenile if not infantile!
In the course of my audit work there I found KAL had been developing a very good system. Their technical expertise as demonstrated by their flight ops technical services is at par with many leading airlines. The sad thing is the implementation in daily line operations. There is utter disconnect; assets and expertise not utilised for beneficial operational use. Most of their local pilots lack that " something " which can help them integrate the technical expertise the company passed on to them into their professional operations. There are several Korean pilots who do but somehow they are unable to inspire or motivate their fellow bethren to learn from them.
I suspect some start ups or even third world carriers can largely benefit from the materials KAL has. I have done audits on some national carriers with nothing close to KAL's technical capabilities.
I have to agree with some Korean posters' contention that their recruitment department had done an abysmal job in recruiting quite a number of riff raffs. A couple of audit flights with some KAL expats were real eye openers and these expats were from the first world to boot!
Space and time do not allow me to expand on the above but suffice to say the loads of disinformation spouted by misguided or disgruntled individuals do not do the expat pilot force in KAL any favors.