Correct me if I'm wrong but you & your classmates in Adelaide probably scoffed & ridiculed the many with international widebody airline experience both at CX & other who posted on this web site about the massive pitfalls of C-Scale & the iCadetship?
China,
To be honest, I didn't see a lot of postings on the lifestyle in Hong Kong when I was reading this thread. For one, I didn't spend a lot of time on PPRUNE. I spoke directly with CX pilots. I mainly spent my time preparing for the interviews. There are over 250 pages in this thread, and most of it talks about how to get the job. And,
the issues were not highlighted in a clear, concise manner where new joiners would look. People are trying to sift the truth from the bull****. That's why I set up a thread about this.
What I did do is speak with CX pilots. At the time, the whole iCadet program was very new, and the CX pilot friends I have weren't familiar with it. They never mentioned that they had an expat package when they lived in Hong Kong or how much they were paid each month, so I didn't have a clear concept of how drastically different the compensation is. To top it off, one pilot gave me some poor advice - "Just tell them you're happy with the pay, and fight for better pay once you've joined." What the hell? Now I have become familiar with the company I know
fighting for better pay won't go anywhere with this company.
The best thing you guys could do to highlight this is to let us know what a normal month's pay is like as an FO with expat benefits, and compare that with what a cadet with similar years and rank are getting. People need to understand that the even though your pay is about double of a cadet, the pay you get is still not enough to equate to the lifestyle of someone making half that much, but living in a western country. They also need to know the difference in pay increases as you get more senior.
Post it in the other thread about life in Hong Kong, where it won't get buried in this heap of info on compass tests and interview stages.
If guys like you hadn't of taken the job & begged for your "iron handcuffs" then the airline & industry would be in a better position that what it is in now with respect to experienced pilots, applicants & remuneration package.
Anyone thinking about joining doesn't care whether the airline or the industry will be better off or not. They are asking the question, "Will I be better off after joining the company?" They need to really understand the lifestyle they are signing up for to make that decision. That's why I shared my experience of coming here as an iCadet.