Appreciate that answer.
Thank you. :)
I have been there and fully agree.
QOL vs $$$ is a personal choice.
Having considered COPA, I was looking for some info on what I was missing.
Honestly hope they will not be able to recruit with the current terms, and consider sweetening up the deal...
Same with India, China, Japan, Turkey etc.
Living in Panama, may be desirable.
Considering the location and lifestyle.
That is if one can move there full time.

Good luck. Thanks for all the input.

You evidently haven't done your research, there are more jobs now on the international market than there have ever been. The T&C's at copa are pathetic, you can make double the money flying a turbo prop:=

If you go to Panama thinking that you will find a low cost of living, you are in for a rude awakening. Panama is not cheap by any means and the QOL at COPA is bad with constant changes to your roster and very few days off a month. You might want to take a look at LAN, the pay is only a little better (still sucks) but the company is a LOT better to work at

Seems to be a lot of ex-pat pilots from USAir, SWA, Delta, United, happy with COPA. Could be the latin culture, the nice beaches and warm weather?

Everybody has to take his/her personal situation and see if they can manage. The last few classes have been some RJ drivers with ZERO Boeing time, they might be looking for the Type and the chance to get some Left Seat Boeing time? Who knows what motivates these people?

I also heard that they have a TON of applicants from CHINA, INDIA, and the Sandpit looking to get a slot in COPA--so there must be more to the story?

NO MAJOR is hiring right now in the USA.

Seems to me that a few of the "nay sayers" on this board might have some spilt milk syndrome as they were turned down by COPA.

>>there are more jobs now on the international market than there have ever been.<<

If you have certain kinds of experience, yes. If you have 500 hours in a glass cockpit airliner there are lots of jobs. If you don't it is a different matter.

I understand the logic of F/O's using it as a stepping stone (hence the high attrition) but I just cannot wrap my brain around somebody who qualifies for DEC at copa (thus qualifying at many other places) would fly a 737 for less than I was making flying a CRJ at a !!!!ty regional 10 years ago, with less days off to boot. In this business there are bad times followed by not so bad times, if the barrel is empty then you scrape the bottom, but there are some goodies in the barrel now a days. I guess that is why we say that we are well trained monkeys, we love working for peanuts.

Well, sorry if anybody got their feelings hurt because I pointed out that there are options. Good luck

Copa
 

Yes there are always options, you could go to work for a mining company in Australia, make 125,000 Aussie dollars a year, go brain dead and work with the dumbest SOB's you ever met. Take a sixty year old pilot, he is not getting the offers that he used to, highly experienced, glass cockpit time, doesn't matter, 60 year olds are not getting the offers that a younger pilot will. China, for example, even KSA, are not going to hire a sixty year old pilot for an airline, India yes, but thats India, been there, done that. Along comes Copa, where many pilots who retired early or hit 60 before they changed the rules, can still fly until they are 65. Warm beaches, nice equipment, and they want you to work for them. Perhaps there comes a time where,"chasing the money" as opposed to doing what you enjoy doing , is no longer important. Get out of flying for a length of time, lets say two years, and believe me when you walk back towards it, you start to feel alive again. Copa is what it is, offers a job to some of us who are not getting calls anymore, and If your idea is to fly, then all the stuff that goes with it, much of which you already know from the numerous aviation threads and the internet, is all part and parcel of the position. So you see, for some of us, the decision is not that hard.


Foot Note, that mining stuff, that is based upon personal experience.

Also the three year bond, is not valid, and most of the pilots are not signing it and are still be offered the job and working there. This info comes from the States side HR person who has clarified that. The Panamanian HR person initiated this, and apparently was reemed for it.

OUTSTANDING POST !!! :)

:D :ok:

So people at the dawn of their careers with few options and people at the twilight of their careers with fewer options are the ones who would give this any thought, ok got it. For everybody in the middle of those two demographics, here is what of one of their current pilots posted on another site

First off Copa has changed alot since new management. QOL is a big issue now, and of course pay is thin. Main issues expats have with the company are:

1-Pay
2-Pay
3-Pay
4-Breach of contracts
5-Days off requests
6-Jumpseats
7-Family tickets
8-Removal of Housing Allowance
9-Routes and duty times
10-Fuel issues
11-"Culture of Fear" issues
12-Lack of interest towards employee's needs and wants
13-License fees out-of-pocket
14-Scheduling

Basically the list goes on and on....

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on a raise much less benefits.

It is what it is.....
 

1,2,3 = About $6000 net for 80 hours
4 = I don't have any experience with that
5 = You can ask for 2 dates off each month, good luck to get them
6 = Doesn't exist, no jumpseat on Copa or anyone else, obviously
7 = A root canal is less painful than getting a pass for family on Copa
8 = $600 net housing allowance goes away after 24 mos.
9 = no comment
10 = NOT ENOUGH on super-long legs like Montevideo-Panama, an accident is imminent
11 = I have NO FEAR of mgmt
12 = Employee needs & wants, what is that ??
13 = huh ?
14 = All flying is ASSIGNED

If you want to know what modern slavery is – come and enjoy :D

Copa will needs to raise pilot salaries!
 

If COPA going to raise pilots salaries?
I think, COPA and LAN have to raise the salaries or pilots are going to leave to the middle, and far east.
A FAIR SALARY FOR A CAPTAIN HAVE TO BE BETWEEN 8000US and 8500US.
The union have to be tough with negotiation .

I went ahead and fixed your post for you, I'm sure this is what you wanted to say:ok:

Copa
 

According to the HR person for Copa who resides in Houston, she is not renewing here contract, she advised me. She says that somebody is putting adds in CLimbto350, different from her ads, she has NO October interviews, and their are approximately 34 guys who are waiting to hear either Yea or Nay about the job. She has not heard from one of the interviewing personnel for over two weeks. Copa was targeting non-typed rated regional jet guys, one of which I know is in training now, and one who was interviewing with me who got a "NO Thanks", which I find strange, considering they are desperate for pilots. This individual had all the creditably except for the 737 type. So for an airline that is desperate for crew they are not organised on getting the interviewed and accepted people into training. I think under those circumstances, a few aviaiors will lose interest and look elsewhere. Seems to be the ever changing aviation industry, mixed with some un-organised office staff is slowing things down at the moment

My 2cents

Cheers

Next month will be a NEW salary...count from it 2-3 month and then you will see what is REAL Desperation....Lots of opening on th horizon ;)

Copa
 

Immigrant

Keep us posted please

Cheers

FYI
I was told by my friends who flying there,

Copa hires 40 percent of the direct entry captain applicants with an average of more than 10000 hrs

Copa
 

Well based on my test results, they did not offer me a position, thought I did well on those. Guess you never know, do you.

Cheers

@ NZ X man

My recommendation would be to apply to some of the work out here in SE Asia, I know there is an age limit but apply anyway and see what happens, I just had a couple of friends hired as DEC's on B737's with no type or time on the A/C into a job that had a minimum of 500 hours for DEC's posted. The situation is getting pretty tight in the international market and they are starting to bend their rules, who knows if they would bend the age limit, after all they can get 5 more productive years from you. Start filling applications, who knows?

Good luck

Hello Dominican
 

..we had contact before regarding the Haitian accident. Sorry, mistook the event for another. So no news on that. Regarding the NTR jobs in the Far East on the 737, I am really interested. Have a lot of Boeing time, including command. No 737 type however. Can you pm me about the companies offering those positions please. Tried for a while, no luck so far. Thx, Blohm.