Dont Apply To Cathay
 

Staggers: If you are going to act as "spelling police" then get your own spelling in order! HEAR/HERE! ! Unless of course you meant you were used to listening.

Staggers : A real measure of the "old CX" would be if you remember/experienced the 3 hour Noel Jones debriefs!!! I only experienced it once on command training and it almost resulted in a physical response.

"Thumbwheel" :-)

'Down, three green' (singular!)

I feel like your message would be better received by pilots aspiring to work at Cathay (at least DESO/DEFO's) if it was communicated more like this: "Don't apply to Cathay. We have been fighting for better working conditions for far too long now. We need more pressure on the company which is made easier if people stop applying. This is for YOUR direct benefit because once the resumes stop piling in for long enough, the company will have no choice but to raise the pay and improve conditions. At that point, you'd be smart to think about applying again because this company was and can be a great place to work if things are changed. The current pay and conditions make it difficult/borderline impossible to live in a 500 square foot apartment and the majority of the contract is amendable at the company's discretion, including pay and benefits which will no doubt be decreased. There is much room for improvement and you stand to directly benefit from not applying or at the very least not accepting an offer until a better contract is presented to the pilot group (unless you're scud running a 1900 in Mali getting bombed every night...)."

Start making it about them, not you, and you'll find much more support. I'm on your side, but you guys need to re-read your posts before you send them and to think about how it would have come across to yourself years ago when when you were applying to the airline. If you guys aren't willing to strike, the only thing you can really do to make things better is to try to convince people that working at CX shouldn't be something that's desirable. It shouldn't be that hard to do, but I'll take a wild guess that tons of people are still flocking to HK given that the company feels confident in offering COS18. The cadets are another story though. I wouldn't doubt it if, for a lot of them, COS18 is an upgrade in life or at least on par since most of them are just finishing high school/university. They don't have a ton of choices in HK aviation wise with no experience, and they do not have GA/regionals like in OZ, USA, Canada. Labour laws make it impossible to go to another country for experience unless they hold dual citizenship. I'd assume that most of them are applying to CX because they love flying, which I'm sure most of you did too at some point in your life. My guess is that the only way you could get across to someone like that is to tell them how Cathay has destroyed your love for flying in a relatable way, because it'll be hard to find sympathy from them when talking about how much you're paid.

Sincerely,
Someone who will no longer apply unless things are improved.

I have a request: to Apollo19 and others - please name a company which is hiring now and offer good work conditions. When reading PPRUNE my impression is that this is worst time to become a pilot ever.
However the whole reason I am even on this forum is because if I compare current job market to what I could see throughout my entire life now it is best time ever to get hired. And if Cathay is hiring - I would go there in a heartbeat. Again - if not there - WHERE?

&

Forty three...and you want to be sitting as an SO for up to 5 years, with no flying, and on a package that will barely allow you a modest lifestyle (with a family, forget it). Ok, come on in...the water is lovely :rolleyes:

I would submit that, when cost of living is considered, many US regionals would offer more (real) flying experience, better pay (what you need to make depends entirely on where you live), real work rules, CASS/KCM, and a better future and lifestyle. Probably being more fun and a better work environment to boot. Even better with the majors.

You might not get a shiny new jet (although many are) and will spend more time actually working (i.e. actually flying). You won't get to galavant around Asia and CX generally takes better care of you on the road.

So it depends on what you are looking for. If barely eeking by living in a shoebox and watching air go by (facing declining future conditions as different factions of your workforce are divided against each other and conquered) is for you by all means have a go. Things ain't gonna get better until the healing begins--there's no indication of this ever happening (indeed the wounds from the early 2000s were never addressed and have continued to fester and get worse with the various purges not helping things).

In fact, I think the only thing that's really changed for the better is information availability of what someone is getting themselves into.