Jim Morehead
26th Dec 2003, 03:29
I would like to invite a discussion about any Pacific Airlines that hire expats that may or may not now be hiring. The first few that comes to mind in the North PAC are Korean, Asiana, Cathay, Dragon air, and the various Japanese contracts.
I would like to know what hours people fly, what the day off programs are, whether one has a bidding system or does seniority matter at all, and how promotions occur.
To start it off, I can give you China Airlines overview.
The hours range from about 70-90 and CAL pays only for flight time(off to on). You get paid for the hours you fly and not schedule or greater. So if you get in early.....you lose pay. You'll always get 70 hours pay.
The expat days off are 8 and they are 8 in a row. They have bases for Captains on the 744 outside of TPE. The 744 makes up half of the CAL operations. They are contemplating some additional bases. CAL provides an ECM to pilots each month to a location where they fly. This ECM is free and gets the pilot to his home. The travel is in uniform and one travels on the GEN DEC. Captains are assigned First Class and F/Os Business. You can be downgraded if it requires. There can be multiple ECMs on one flight.
Days off are generally given to the pilot based on their choice. Certain times of the year do not allow this. Unless Christmas or times like Chinese New year, the requests for the 8 days are uusually given. Vacations or annual leave accumulate at 2 days per month or 24 per year and can be taken adjacent to the home leave each month.
There is no bidding system and no reserves as all trips are placed in someone's line each month. Pilots usually serve one day of standby duty from TPE and this negates the needs for reserves. Absences and sick leave are very low,so people on standby rarely get used.
The 744 fleet is the largest and it is divided into four groups. West 1, West 2, East 1 , East 2. This defines the direction one flies FROM TPE. This was implemented a few years ago as the fleet got bigger. It is confusing in that some east direction flying to North America is done by WEST pilots,since there is more flying eastbound than westbound. Also CAL just decided to let Westbound pilots do the daily SFO flight to keep the number of people heding to SFO to a more defined group. I was just indoctrinated to the west group to stick with a SFO base. The good news is that I get to go to AUH,LUX,FRA,BKK,DEL, and Manchester. This will be a welcome change for me for a while.
Anyway, that's what I would like to know about some other carriers that hire expats. My only other experiences are being familiar with traditional bidding and seniority systems in North America.Apparently most airlines outside of this region have differnt methodologies.
I would like to know what hours people fly, what the day off programs are, whether one has a bidding system or does seniority matter at all, and how promotions occur.
To start it off, I can give you China Airlines overview.
The hours range from about 70-90 and CAL pays only for flight time(off to on). You get paid for the hours you fly and not schedule or greater. So if you get in early.....you lose pay. You'll always get 70 hours pay.
The expat days off are 8 and they are 8 in a row. They have bases for Captains on the 744 outside of TPE. The 744 makes up half of the CAL operations. They are contemplating some additional bases. CAL provides an ECM to pilots each month to a location where they fly. This ECM is free and gets the pilot to his home. The travel is in uniform and one travels on the GEN DEC. Captains are assigned First Class and F/Os Business. You can be downgraded if it requires. There can be multiple ECMs on one flight.
Days off are generally given to the pilot based on their choice. Certain times of the year do not allow this. Unless Christmas or times like Chinese New year, the requests for the 8 days are uusually given. Vacations or annual leave accumulate at 2 days per month or 24 per year and can be taken adjacent to the home leave each month.
There is no bidding system and no reserves as all trips are placed in someone's line each month. Pilots usually serve one day of standby duty from TPE and this negates the needs for reserves. Absences and sick leave are very low,so people on standby rarely get used.
The 744 fleet is the largest and it is divided into four groups. West 1, West 2, East 1 , East 2. This defines the direction one flies FROM TPE. This was implemented a few years ago as the fleet got bigger. It is confusing in that some east direction flying to North America is done by WEST pilots,since there is more flying eastbound than westbound. Also CAL just decided to let Westbound pilots do the daily SFO flight to keep the number of people heding to SFO to a more defined group. I was just indoctrinated to the west group to stick with a SFO base. The good news is that I get to go to AUH,LUX,FRA,BKK,DEL, and Manchester. This will be a welcome change for me for a while.
Anyway, that's what I would like to know about some other carriers that hire expats. My only other experiences are being familiar with traditional bidding and seniority systems in North America.Apparently most airlines outside of this region have differnt methodologies.