Relax, no one on this forum has claimed to be a lawyer or dishing out legal advice. Understanding the web of laws in Hong Kong is a nightmare so consult a lawyer if you like. It's not a bad idea and sound advice. But we are all anonymous pilots relaying what we have heard or experienced or what we have witnessed first hand and/or can attest to it or even provide proof sometimes. Some of it is hearsay or suppositions or assumptions or occasionally, the educated guess or deductive reasoning.
I doubt anyone should walk away from anything on the internet whether it's on the this site or somewhere else without doing a bit of research or follow up. If not, like anything in life, you might get crappy information. But I think often, the utility of these sites is to spark conversation that may lead to people, in this case pilots, to go out and do a bit of research on the topic or subject. Again, with all things in life, sometimes everything is not a 100% accurate. But maybe we can all agree that where there is smoke, sometimes there is a fire and it's up to the individual whether to take the smoke as verification;or maybe to inspect the scene more closely to get secondary evidence. As is the case with this forum, I hardly doubt that when you see dozens of post from people that say the same things, that they are all just crazy, in some way they are all testifying to the same thing.
It's funny to me years later having been advised or read things on forums. Finding it completely accurate or very close to accurate when I finally witness it myself. Things I heard about Cathay, a good portion of it was pretty spot on or KA or HKA or HKE or China. I will soon put out my version of my take on life in flying for a Chinese Company. I think at least it will give a perspective of things that might help guys and gals prepare for the plunge before they arrive in China for those "high paying job." Part of it for me is a bit cathartic I must confess. But just like a gold rush, even when the gold mines stop producing, you will always have people coming with shovels to prove that there is still gold. We are just always hopeful as human being sometimes we just have to see for ourselves.
But with regard to bonds, generally, my experience with HKA is that they don't waste the money trying to track you down and the answer I think lies in the fact they can not enforce the bond in court. But this is just what I have heard from many sources and what I have witness while at the company. But I do believe, they might be able to twist the contract language or invoke parts of the contract language to spin the bond issue into some other financial obligation e.g. a loan. Yes, I agree, I am not lawyer. But based on my understanding having worked in Hong Kong for a number years, the bond isn't legal. But I am sure they might have other means if they wanted to run into court to try to pursue you on other grounds. In fact, generally speaking, I think you can probably run into court in a good portion of the world and file something against anyone for anything. Whether you prevail in the long run is another issue. In the world we live in, most western countries have seeded all governance to the corporatocracy who can do whatever they want. I have no doubt that the laws are written in some way that companies can find ways to touch you if they really wanted to. However, your argument is a bit one sided in the matter because it leaves out the idea that a pilot would be able to file a counter claim or grievance in court regarding many possible unfair work related issues. HKA just lost a recent labor case in court so it's not just a one sided issue. The corporatocracy may have an army of lawyers but they are generally expensive ones. But even if bonds were legal in Hong Kong, which I and many people say is it's not (consult a lawyer or just leave with your final pay check in hand), there is no need to drop a MOWAB costing millions on 5 low level Taliban out in field, if you don't have to. Generally, when guys and gals leave, they leave somewhere in the middle or later stages of their contracts so the bond is supposedly reduced every month from your line check. So, you do the math, is it worth for the company. In my experience, cases take a long time in HK courts and especially from observation in Mainland China. Now you introduce a cross jurisdiction case to track down someone you may not even know where find to begin with and who knows how long you have before you recover. But I have a friend who says he was happier flying in another S.E. Asia country for less money. Well, this particular country I think you would have a very hard time collecting anything and spend a crap load of money to make a point not worth proving. At least at HKA, most of the pilot are not from Europe or America, not even close, most are from local countries Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc Places that from observation MAY have cross border corporation on major things like murders or treason or spying etc ; but for tracking down one guy to recover a portion of a remaining bond issue assuming it were legal. yeah, I am thinking it is a bit of an uphill climb.