Jetstar Asia, the truth

[che ci dò che ci dò!]

This is to share my experience with Jetstar with any of you interested in this company:
I received an invitation by email for a selection as direct entry captain, the email said that I was supposed to go through a panel interview and a sim ride somewhere in the 5 days following the interview. Nothing was paid for, I had to pay for tickets and hotel on my own. I come from the other side of the globe and they don’t even try to help by scheduling the sim right after the interview to avoid paying more nights in the hotel.

Interview scheduled at 7.30 am, the panel showed up half an hour later. Five unpleasant and arrogant people, the first part of the interview was spent asking silly questions of different types without any logical order. I had the clear impression that those questions were taken random from one of those pilot interview books just to show off that they’re used to assess people in the same way of good companies. Then one of them spent 10 minutes denigrating pilots of my same nationality and said that they’ve employed some of them and they were all bunch of wimps. I could have never even imagined that in my career I’d have ever dealt with people like those!

Then the sim ride: very simple and uneventful, the same things I’ve done so many times in my career in many different companies, anyway no mistakes. The one supposed to be the examiner dismissed me by saying “you’ll have the result within ten days, anyway it was a good job”. Three days later I received an email to inform me that I was not selected, of course no explanations given. There was also an other European guy at the selection with me, he was invited for a direct entry captain position and at the simulator they told him to sit on the right hand seat because he didn’t have the experience for a cpt position! I reckon he would have never wasted his time to go there if he had known that they couldn’t accept him as a captain.

To any of you interested in Jetstar: don’t even think of wasting your money and time with those people! They don’t have any respect for anyone and the package is well below the market’s average, of course they don’t disclose anything until you get there at your own expenses. For cpts you get 11300 sgd plus 235 sgd per hour above 60, these figures are GROSS! no housing allowance, no joining ticket, no hotel provided for the first few days, you also have to pay for the medical, for the visa, for everything!

Hope you’ve got the picture

[FireWorks]

Hi,

Well, in my oppinion when a company doesn´t provide tickets using its network, means that its level in many issues is poor. This is the first point we have to bear in mind when you make a decision to go for an interview and far away.
Only companies which help you with tickets, or/and accomodation in some cases, are worthy of respect.

Well, if I had been in your shoes I would have answered the following during the meeting: Excuse me, could you tell me if these kinds of questions are showing your way of thinking from the bottom of your heart?
If the answer had been: Yes.
Then, I would have told them: I´m sorry but you are wrong and I am not willing to continue this interview, unless you apologize.

There are many ways and manners to know about a person during an interview about this issue, I mean about your values in relation to Direct Entry Captain.
Obviously, your examiners showed poor level to develop an interview and also bad manners, its their problem. In my oppinion, those people are still under the influence from the past when Asia was a Colony...of Europe and USA...They are as if they were embittered.
Anyway, I can assure you that many countries in Asia are a neat, pure and very attentive culture with foreigners.

As a suggestion, if you had to be in that situation again you would have to show your values as a Captain. I do not mean it´s your fault. I mean you should have asked them to apologize.

Good luck, next interview Captain :E

[Stallone]

well, they can't really pay great 'cause it's a Low Cost Carrier after all...

i think u're better off trying for SIA Cargo

[jamelica]

i am sure they aren't that unreasonable. there must be a reason for that and they would have definitely given you the respect you were looking for if you had earned it. perhaps it might have been the attitude that was displayed and i meant, why come all the way to a foreign country looking for a job on your own expense if you could get one back home?

[thrustpig]

stallone. LCC = Low Pay Airline? Mmmmmmm.
whats the pilot pay at easy jet?? How many revenue hours do they work? Is easy jets pay less than the same type driver at BA / BMI?
whats the pilot pay at south west?? How many revenue hours do they work?
Is the pilot pay at SW less than the same type driver at Cont, United, etc??
whats the overall seat per mile yield on a lcc vs your legacy carrier compared with each operations seat per mile cost?
How much does the CEO of a LCC make vs a LC?
arn't apples and oranges still fruit?
I guess you are worth what you accept.

Now back to the thread.

[airdualbleedfault]

Che ci do, sorry to hear that, and I believe you 100%. I was lucky one of the little pi55ant, small men, contacted me 5 days prior to interview to tell me my DEC was now F/O. All I lost was the price of the ticket, did'nt waste 3 days and a hotel room. I found out later it was political because the Aussie CP kept failing the pathetically useless DECs this little :mad: was putting up.

You have dodged a bullet by not going there, good luck with your future :ok:

i am sure they aren't that unreasonable

Theres always one is'nt there ? Yes, I am sure Che ci just posted this for his good health, do some research !

[Stallone]

stallone. LCC = Low Pay Airline? Mmmmmmm.
whats the pilot pay at easy jet?? How many revenue hours do they work? Is easy jets pay less than the same type driver at BA / BMI?
whats the pilot pay at south west?? How many revenue hours do they work?
Is the pilot pay at SW less than the same type driver at Cont, United, etc??
whats the overall seat per mile yield on a lcc vs your legacy carrier compared with each operations seat per mile cost?
How much does the CEO of a LCC make vs a LC?
arn't apples and oranges still fruit?
I guess you are worth what you accept.

Now back to the thread.

well, it's direct local competitor, Tiger Airways, is paying its Captains S$203k annually based on 950hrs..

is that also considered low to you? How well should LCCs pay their pilots then?

[Touch'n'oops]

I'd just like to add that I did attend the interviews with Jetstar Asia recently and found the experience to be quite different.

I am from England and I certainly didn't feel any hostility from any of the five member panel, which included Singaporeans. For those unaware, Singapore was part of the British Empire.
The technical questions I felt were relevant to the environment I would be operating in and yes I do agree some were coming out of left field, but I sensed these were more designed to discover whether someone had just learnt their lines or was a professional pilot. i.e. What do vortex generators do and where do you find them on the A320? Below average pilots would struggle to answer all or part of this question.

Does ANY airline in europe pay for foreigners or even locals to travel to and attend interviews? British Airways does not, Virgin Atlantic does not!

Regarding the pay. Yes the basic is lower than european airlines, but take home is higher AFTER TAX. Singapore rate for F/O about 7-9%, Captain 10-12%. Where as England 40%.

One thing I did sense from the Chief Pilot was he really DIDN'T want guys arriving with stars in their eyes. He wanted to make it plain clear that we would be flying our arses off and yes Singapore is expensive housing and children schooling wise.

As for me having to pay for the medical and visa... erm I've got the visa, haven't paid a dollar and as for the medical I will have to wait to see if a bill arrives!!!?? :confused:

che ci dò che ci dò!: by any chance are you Italian or Spanish?

I'm not trying to sell Jetstar to anyone. I am just offering up my experience which was different. As I have only just joined, time will tell what sort of airline Jetstar will be like to work for. But, so far I haven't seen any seasoned Jetstar pilots on here, so I take that as a good sign.

[thrustpig]

Hey stalone,
Let me get this straight.
Do you think its ok for a LCC to to pay less than a LC for essentially doing the same job only working harder! If so, then from your logic then:-
Does that mean its ok for a LCC Pilot to train to a lower standard?
Does that mean its ok for a LCC Pilot to have a worse life style than a LC Pilot?
Does that mean its ok for a LCC Pilots' family to be worse off than a LC's?
If this is ok to you from a commercial, geographical and moral perspective, then please ask yourself why tiger singapore had a huge exodus of it's (203K) pilots last year and came within a gnats nut of closed its doors?

[Stallone]

hey relax, i'm just asking a question and not being skeptical on what you've said..

from what i see in the middle east subforum, those A320 drivers in Etihad ain't having a good time either.. and Etihad isn't a LCC..

[Touch'n'oops]

Thrustpig: I'm with you on what you say, but it is a case of Supply Vs. Demand.

LCs demand the best pilots as many have taken decades to build their reputation. A serious incident can wipe out all that hard work in a flash of a news headline. So for these top notch pilots they have to pay well.

LCCs knows at this point in time there are a lot of good experienced pilots kicking around looking for work, so market forces dictate that salaries can be set lower.

Give it a couple of years, as airlines expand and there will be more pilots retiring than training up, market forces will dictate that LCCs will have to raise pay to hold onto vital experienced flight crew or suffer the consequences of poorly qualified ones.