$20k is descent scratch, but like you pointed out, you had 4 days off resulting in 6 on 1 off all month. How many schedule changes did you get that month - at least 15, right? How many days did you get in your Tokyo apartment or Kobe apartment - Around 6 whopping days? Did you enjoy starting at 5am on Day 1 and finishing at 11:15pm on Day 6 and doing it all over again after your 1 day off? Did you enjoy eating your 7-11 bentos that the company provided? Did you enjoy your SDJ Smell Hotel/NGO Tokonome/NGS Chikan Inn/ISG? Did you enjoy being so tired after doing 10 hour duty days with a 1 hour to/from HND commute or 3 hours to/from NRT commute that all you could do is go to the Family Mart next to the hotel to eat because everything else was closed or too far away? Did you enjoy not being able to have a Starbucks coffee in the cockpit and not being able to ask the FA for a cup of coffee? Did you enjoy showing your licenses every day to the dispatchers to prove that you remembered to bring your license because the company doesn't trust you? Did you enjoy not being able to go take a piss during flight without having the FA sign a form stating that the remaining pilot put on his o2 mask and maintained outside watch for you to turn in at the end of your flight? Did you enjoy getting punished for FOQA's? Did you enjoy having an even harder recurrent check by some twit checker that forgot to turn on the bleeds for a flight? You also sacrificed 1 month of NOT going back home to see your family. I'm sure that your wife and kids appreciated all that money you are making instead of being with them. Sure you'll get a C-Class ticket the following month, but is seeing your family for 10 days (not including travel time) every 2 months worth it? I hope you remembered to save your boarding pass to turn in so you can get reimbursed for your ticket because they don't trust you. I think you'll learn that this life style is unsustainable and you will end up paying the price in one form or another. You sell your soul every time you sell your days off and continue to allow the company to treat it's pilots the way that it does because you help them out to cover the flying that otherwise couldn't be made. This is not the best commuting job and nor is it even close to being a descent job in Japan. BTW, this is clearly your first contract in Japan. So let me say that this job is the furthest thing from how the other contract jobs are in Japan. This company is not the norm. The management there hates pilots and considers them at the bottom of the totum-pole beneath every other person and position. This company is an embarassment and has brought great shame to the airline industry. Skymark is the laughing stock of all the other airlines in Japan for a good reason. I hope it works out for you before it's too late.
Last edited by blink; 8th Mar 2014 at 12:20.