Sigh..... It's been a long time, and I haven't said anything about this but...... having seen a person saying CCL is totally professional makes my blood boil. I'll tell you why. I was on 3 months LWOP waiting for the arrival of my first child. I was relatively happy as a skipper with KAL and probably would be with them to this day if it wasn't for CCL. While on my 3 months LWOP I was offered a position with a Chinese carrier. They would pay for my type rating BEFORE I signed a contract. I did it (type rating) while on LWOP (no contract signed and every intention of heading back to KAL when my LWOP finished). When CCL discovered I was in China doing this course they told me to return to work within 1 week. I said that I was granted 3 months LWOP and I was expecting my first child within 2 weeks. I would return or hand in my notice at the end of the LWOP. To cut a long story short, they got a debt collection agency in my home country to hound me. I ignored them and pointed out that I was constructively dismissed from my job. Also KAL owed me over 30 days leave (a point I had been bringing up with CCL for years - but they ignored..... I have the emails). Finally, when I was about to buy another house back home the bank told me they couldn't give me the money as there was a claim against me from the debt collection agency for #$#15,000. Because I has been with the same bank all my life, I gave them the story and they gave me the money. No problem. In the meantime I threatened the debt collection agency with legal action and they retracted the claim immediately. My point here is...... CCL are a bunch of criminals. They tried to clamp down on my credit rating when it stated clearly in their contract that any contract disagreements would be solved by the courts of the Isle of Mann (where they're based - and don't tell me that's not for their own benefit.....). In short.... I have been contracting for over 17 years. In that time I have come to realise that agents are scum...... no different than used car dealers or estate agents. They are a go-between..... they tell us what we want to hear, they tell the company we're working for someting different. When we sign on the dotted line and things are not as promised they run away. Trust me, I have promises IN WRITING from agents that are complete lies. Their attitude - so what, what are you going to do about it?
I now happily work for a flag carrier and am directly employed by the airline. No scumbag agents involved taking money for nothing.