Spicejet Exodus

[av8r76]

SpiceJet adrift as pilots, cabin crew jump ship - Hindustan Times (http://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/sectorsaviation/SpiceJet-adrift-as-pilots-cabin-crew-jump-ship/Article1-736666.aspx#dsq-form-area)
To anyone even contemplating a move. Think long and hard. Stay away like the plague. You have been warned.

[captjns]

Do you fly for Spice? Pay issues? QOL issues? Heard they are recruiting directly from the Indian Air Force... any truth to that rumor?

[x37]

Hi there av8r76!
A lot of animosity in your posts about Spice Jets and like captnjns I have to ask if you work for them. I might follow your advice and stay away but I need more information. I am offered a job there, and for reasons that aren't relevant to this discussion I can say that I am very likely to accept this position. I read all the posts here with mild curiosity since I have sort of made my mind up but you seem to be able to provide a little more insight than others. Any chance that you or someone else could help out a bit and elaborate a bit about Spice Jets and the direct entry for Q400 captains?

To give some sort of reference I'll let you know this about me. Working as a Q400 captain in the US where I will spend every working day listening to people bitching about contract negotiations, schedules, change in schedules and so on. Reading posts here does not discourage me a lot about moving anywhere in the world because it kind of seem to be same broken record everywhere. I am however curious to hear some real criticism from someone actually working there,

Any chance you are that guy?

Please PM if you don't want to post here.

Fred

[av8r76]

They WILL renege on any and all commitments they make to you. That is a given. Chances are you will be shunted into a ghetto like accommodation with no recourse. The admin department decides your standard of living with no input from flight ops. Let me reiterate that they do not know what a bare minimum western standard is. The company is on a SERIOUS cost cutting mode and the 'pampered' pilots are bearing the brunt of this drive. You will have to compromise on this when you come here. The a/c are once again delayed and there seems to be no end in sight for this uncertainty. They have started posting local guys to the bases but as usual the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing.
All your issues are channeled through flight ops management and they really have no say in the current corporate set up. So be prepared to have all your issues fall on deaf ears. Admin and HR, the ones who really call the shots, don't really care where and how you rot. Just drive the damn plane. The current lot of expats are frustrated and just biding their time till they hit 65. I have seen the Q400 expat contract and there are enough loop holes in it to ensure you get nothing but the basic, which is a fraction of your total pay. They will give you a smorgasbord of excuses as to why you won't get any particular portion of your pay.The company is supposed to handle the costs and logistics of your paperwork (and believe me there is a lot here). But they have transferred the cost and burden onto you and you will get cursory support from the company which is definitely inadequate as an expat.
You can view all of this with scepticism, but the fact is I have seen and borne the brunt of their arbitrariness first hand for over five years and what you are getting here are cold hard facts. While I agree my posts are vitriolic, this a culmination of five long years spent here fighting/negotiating/dodging the system. The pay is good...... Not great...... Definitely inadequate considering the bs you have to put up with. The flt ops team is good and well intentioned; it is the rest of the company which maligns this department at every juncture. And while we would like to envision a job where you put your head down, do a good job and get on with my life, the policies are put in place to inconvenience, harrass and just plain make your life miserable here. And remember coming here as an expat, you are in a foreign land with a lot of quirky nuances which are difficult to negotiate on your own without local support. I know a lot of expats here outside aviation and the support and guidance they get from their respective companies greatly surpasses what this airline has to offer. How a department which is the core of the company can be mishandled to this extent just boggles the sane mind. If you are desperate, give it a shot. Otherwise leaving your home shores for this gig is definitely not worth it. Good luck.

[x37]

Many thanks av8r76, I had a feeling that you were over there somewhere. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to fill the rest of us in about the environment over there. I am always skeptical but not towards what you are writing here. I have heard similar stories from other sources and I have no doubt that they are true. Many of us looking into contract work seek information here and then just tune out the negative posts because we want the job we just landed to be the perfect one.
I have my reasons like everyone else to seek this job and I probably will be going regardless of what others say here but I want to be as prepared as I can. As I said, I am very grateful for your input and I will try to prepare myself for whatever will be thrown my way.

Fred

[av8r76]

http://www.inewsone.com/2011/08/24/spicejet-stock-down-5-percent-on-reports-of-high-attrition/71033

Another PE player means more cost cutting.

[NelsND]

SG was very accommodating for expats (and nationals) when Captain Jack Ekl was in charge of the Flight Operations. That being said, better to rent Slum Dog Millionaire, watch it in in a porta potty in August, on a Houston freeway with smoke being blown in and cars honking and you might get an idea of living in a typicsl India city. As Outsourced says INDIA means "I'll Never Do It Again."
I was a SG B737NG Captain and I would consider going back . . . but it would require a lot more gold than they are willing to offer! A LOT MORE!

[NelsND]

Fred, I read and responded to your first post before this one. Good Luck and you had better hurry up and go . . . cuz it ain't gonna get any better.
NelsND . . . Texas

[x37]

Thanks NelsND, at least you would consider going back. Not many admit to that. I have spent a lot of time in Asia (not India) and I kind of know what you mean when you describe the cities there. We'll see soon I hope weather I can hack it or not. Wish me luck.

Fred