Flight100
Who are you upset with? The cadets who still have little to no experience and are applying to Cathay, the same way the cadets have been since 1988? Or the DESO/DEFO poolies that have made the decision to accept the Transition Training Course terms and give-up their expat benefits.
I’m actually not upset with any of them. I’m upset at the company for offering it in the first place. Also for the record out of the 62 DESO's in the hold file since 2008, 61 knocked CX back when offered the new iCadet package not once, but twice.
For every cadet you talk to that says he/she is struggling to save for taxes, I'm sure there is one who is doing just fine. Furthermore, if the local HK population can make it with an average income of $15-20K HKD, I'm sure a cadet with $45K will be fine. As said before by many, the research must be done. It's not impossible, but some will have to scale back from the lifestyle that they are accustomed to.
What you seem to be failing to realise is that locals have a support network that expats generally don’t. They generally live in places and conditions you and I wouldn’t and eat food you and I wouldn’t eat on a prolonged basis. Expats generally come from countries where the houses/apartments are bigger and we eat food that is generally more expensive. The whole basis of the expat housing allowance was to attract experienced pilots to CX and allow them to live in Hong Kong in conditions similar to what they would expect in their home country. I’m sure there are some cadets that are living very frugally on what they are being paid. They reality is though I fly with more than my fair share of them and the numbers speak for themselves. Whether this is because they didn’t do enough research is debateable. I personally think it is more to do with immaturity and lack of money skills. One day they have very little money and the next they have what appears to be a lot and don’t know how to handle it.
I am aware that when the iCadet scheme was introduced it was only for ab initio candidates. This was mainly because it took some time for the HKCAD to approve the advanced and Transitional courses. The original iCadet scheme had no HKPA, children’s education allowance or the forgivable loan. While CX refuses to admit it, “suitable” applicants particularly for the Transition Course, have been and continue to be thin on the ground. To entice more applicants especially for the Transition course, the HLPA, education and the forgivable loan were introduced. What would have been more sensible would to just call Transition Course iCadets what they really are and that is DESO’s and pay them full expat allowances. CX will say they can’t do that because of the “Race Discrimination Ordinance”. As I have mentioned before the RDO doesn’t apply to cadet’s v DESO’s as cadets were and still aren’t employed based on their race, but because of their right of abode in HK and now because of their experience as in the cases for ab initio and advanced course iCadets. CX has never employed cadets based on their race therefore the RDO isn’t applicable.
Ideally I would like to see all cadets get what I have when I joined CX. I am also a realist and understand this may not happen. I believe CX should stop the charade with the iCadet program and call each candidate what they really are and stop hiding behind the RDO, i.e. they are either a cadet if they have little or no experience or they are a DESO if they have significant experience. Pay full expat allowances to DESO’s and pay the HKPA to iCadets until they have completed a fair return of service.