Here is what I just posted on the Far East forum about China Southern:
Guys who joined 8-9 months ago still have not had a check so are still languishing on training pay and stuck in China.....
These are the black and white facts that people should know about CSA:
- It is an incredibly difficult job to get (takes about 2 weeks all in all of vacation time)
- Mind bending bureaucracy
- Extremely long, poorly organised training - up to 1 year.
- The real risk of not going home at all for the first 2-3 months at the start of training. How would your family cope?
- Once in line training, only getting 5 days at home per month after commuting, for the next 8 months or so of line training
- Blocked from going home even a few hours early, even if it means you will miss a fight and lose a whole day or two of your days off. If you have rest days 1-2 days before your days off - tough! Those "rest days must be taken in Guangzhou before you can go home for your days off. Punitive in the extreme!
- The crap shoot if the purser will "allow you" into business when positioning
- Poor training pay during all this time.
- Having to pay for the cost of hotel after first couple of months - taken from your low training pay.
- No bases as promised
- It is essentially a cruise pilot job
- Many of them smoke in cockpit
- Poor/no quality of nit picky trainers
- 3-5 day roster only
- Constant schedule changes - even up to a few hours before the flight......
- Russian roulette with medical
- No job security
- A regressive punishment culture
- You are unable to change job in China unless released to do so by CSA.......
Did I miss anything?
I heard that applications for the job had dropped off massively........ I wonder why???