Full housing allowance - the new "A Scale"?

[ASH1111]

..............

[Loiter1]

Go to the wannabee forum and you will probably be surprised (shocked?) at how they see all of this. I was the same at that age and long term planning meant looking about as far ahead as my nose.

Don't underestimate the desperation of young pilots to fly the big shiny jets at any cost! The real question is will these guys stay much beyond the 7-8year mark on such a ****ty deal?

[boocs]

'B' is the new 'A'

b.

[TopTup]

Longshanks: Are they? Are they? The trouble with Scotland is that it's full of Scots. Perhaps the time has come to reinstitute an old custom. Grant them prima noctes. First night, when any common girl inhabiting their lands is married, our nobles shall have sexual rights to her on the night of her wedding. If we can't get them out, we breed them out. That should fetch just the kind of lords we want to Scotland, taxes or no taxes.

Advisor: A most excellent idea, sire.

[Pollution IV]

This attempt to erode the 'B scale' cond's has been a long time coming and is an obvious step that CX wants to make to remain competitive, but come on guys, we're not actually going to make the same mistake as was made in '93 are we???? Shouldn't one learn from a mistake?

Yes it's true that many expat professionals in various lines of work are now moving to HK with no significant housing allowance paid by their employers, however they are generally young, ambitious, without family in tow and are simply ticking a box in their chosen field or Company and will rotate back to their hometown in 2-3 yrs - ie. it is a sort term exercise only. Us pilots generally do not have the luxury of this short term focus and those who are not cadets are often at least married, some with kids. We join with a long term focus, largely due to the ridiculous reality that our industry values seniority in the Airline rather than quality of experience, making it extremely difficult/unpalatable to change jobs, unlike our fellow HK expats in other professions.

Why on earth should there be a reduction of the current basically adequate housing allowance for anyone willing to move here. Yes it is a more pleasant place to be than it once was, but its also a hellishly expensive city to live in. The keen young thrusters who just want their first jet job, need to be saved from their own ambition and it is up to us to ensure that this happens. A degradation of B scale is a loss for all of us and our rapidly declining profession. Think beyond the 'I'm all right jack' mentality. Just coz you're on B scale now, doesn't mean that after a stint on the base you'll be able to return to HK on B scale at a later date. They wouldn't dare try that ....would they? :eek:

Consider that if CX needs more pilots and doesn't want to pay the housing bill, then they can easily create more based positions and give up this attitude of needing to have hundreds of pilots on call in HK. The current no. is surely enough if managed correctly, with no one on a scummy deal. The upside, more basings for the HK guys who have had enough of the high life and want to repatriate, which will in turn allow based guys to get a taste of the pollution here if they wish. New joiners can be based at home rather than here, a la DFOs, (who are surely cheaper than HK based SOs on housing) until a posn opens in HK. Everyone wins, CX loses nothing....sound fair?

If CX really can't afford to pay housing and remain competitive, then fair enough. They should draw a line under funded HK basings and learn to manage the manpower accordingly, rather than attempt to lure the uninitiated into a bad deal with substandard conditions.

Let's keep this job viable - B scale for all!

[Aussie]

Good post mate. Hope it works out for you all, and the future cx drivers. T&Cs are going downhill faster then Webber in Monaco yesturday!!

[AnAmusedReader]

Webber didn't go downhill as fast as the Aussies in the West Indies.