ChinaBeached
OK, so I waded out of this debate many pages ago. I resisted the urge for ages to not come back on and get frustrated again, but in the end, I gave in.
CB: Your figures are wrong, assumptive and misleading. I barely know where to begin, since you seem so keen to spout figures that you clearly don't actually have.
Firstly, as clearly advertised to CX employees (and anyone who applies, hence why I don't feel it's unjustified to put them here), the bands are:
SO/JFO - 10k
FO - 14k
SFO - 18k
CN1-SCN2 - 24k
SCN3-SCN6 - 30k
SCN7+ - 36k
You say 4 years as JFO when in fact JFO is more like a designation given "in transit" between SO and FO. I've never known anyone take longer than 18 months in this phase except in medical cases. In fact, I would be surprised if you (or anyone else) could name someone who has not achieved FO within 6 years of joining. Mostly, it's more like 4-5. CX simply doesn't keep SOs who can't make the grade.
Do you have any idea what it's like to live in HK? Have you ever actually spent any decent length of time here? Who are you to therefore say that $90k+ when you reach FO is "disgusting" as a package? Sure, the entry package for first year SO is quite tight ($45k a month) if you have a family, but it doesn't stay there for long.
You also seem to imply that it was a CoS08 package that gave expat housing - new joiners now are also joining on CoS08. There is only one tangible difference between what the expats were receiving then and what all new joiners are being offered now - the replacement of expat housing with the HKPA. It's still the same CoS08 that locals and expats alike joined on previously.
Likewise, I fail to see any possible logical reasoning for assuming there will be absolutely no increase to the HKPA over the course of a 42-year career, as you have assumed. My pay scales have recently been increased, so is it right to assert categorically that there will never be any increase whatsoever in the HKPA? I'm not convinced.
And 22% inflation?? Seriously?? Which planet were you living on? Show me where you picked that out from.
Once again, I come back to my core argument: it is not the expat package. It is a local package. Is it expensive to live in Hong Kong? Yes. Is it expensive to live in the UK/Australia/Canada - yes, especially when you factor in nutty tax rates. I don't see many housing allowances being offered in those places.
Above all: is it a good package? Yes. The best? No. But if it was all about the dollars, EK/QR would be the only ones who are receiving applications. It is certainly not "disgusting" or anything like it, and those who receive it may well be justifiably insulted by those kind of comments. Indeed, it is still up there with the highest paying legacy carriers around. It's just not, for experienced pilots, leading that pack any more.
For pilots with few or no hours, I'd say it's just about the best deal you will see.
People applying who compare their packages to what may have been could just as easily say "y'know, I wish I was born earlier so I could have applied when A-scales were around". Those packages are gone, and won't be back. Make the judgement not on what "might have been", but on what is offered in front of you.
/rant