invitED,
Do you know anyone in CX? I suggest you speak to them and get a no BS assessment. If you can afford it why don't you come to HKG for a visit? Converting the salary on offer into your local currency is a fundamental mistake a lot of applicants make.
When you come here I recommend to do the following:
- see a few real estate agents so you can ascertain what you can (and unfortunately can't) afford.
- go to a few supermarkets and have a few meals in restaurants and get a feel for the cost of living.
- speak to some parents (plenty of them in DB) about schooling and what it takes to get a kid into a good (possibly Canadian) school; extra fees and debentures are just two things to consider.
Most SOs with family I fly with put up to 50% of their salary towards rent; with two kids there is not much spending money left afterwards.
Canadian base - forget it; EU base - well I just had a look at the current basings bid and there are over 90 pilots awaiting one. We hired a lot of ex-RAF pilots on C-scale a few years ago and I don't need to explain to you what that means in regards to your chance of a LHR base.
On the other hand there are plenty of people who just don't want to hear the truth; they come here, live in poverty and get the rating and then will most likely move on to another airline in the Middle East or their home country (recently two 777 FOs moved back to Canada to fly a D8) - if you are one of them and if you are successful and join CX I kindly ask you not bitch to me when we sit together in the cockpit in the middle of the night on our way to YVR.
AB
Last edited by AQIS Boigu; 15th Apr 2015 at 02:50.