Geldap - Nice and spot on mate. :p

O.I.C. :D

Hey come here and fly the f..... best aeroplane for the f...... best airline in the world.. with the f...... best captains put on the planet (not to mention the f...... best cheeck/"trainers" in the industry) Gnsk gnsk :D and those are more or less the words coming from a so called senior check and "trainer" (on extension of course - because CX for sure would not let such an admirable character go!). Pathetic.

Anyways. Why do I stay. Because of Hong Kong, friends and the life outside CX - in fact its that simpel. Roster is just out - its great.
Why will I leave - because I can.

Just dont to come here in search of a great aviation job - because its not. There are way - and I mean way - better jobs for flying, even big shiny jets.

All very well put. But that was then and this is now. As you correctly state, the rewards were worthwhile once upon a time. I guess the premium has disappeared. That is largely the problem. HK is still HK. Polluted, overcrowded and expensive. Granted, phone calls are now cheaper and I can buy Vegemite at Wellcome, but it ain't home! Show me the money. Even better, how about a little respect from our so called managers. Our FOP management are a terrific example of the abused becoming the abuser.

Question for the "unsatisfied" pilots
 

Lots of good info on here. It is good to hear the bad and the good when it comes to making such a critical life decision for people either looking to go to CX or decide whether to stay.

I fly for a US regional airline and am considering leaving for CX. I am relatively happy and making more money then I need but am now trying to decide whether this airline is the right choice for my carreer.

The question I have is that most of the "unhappy" pilots are living or based in HK. How about the pilots flying out of the US bases i.e. ATL, SFO, LAX, ORD? If you guys are so unhapy why not transfer back to the US? Does it take a long time to get back to the mainland?

I think they are transferring back to the US. But not with CX!!!!

Goodstick - many guys on bases have a good time of it and good rosters ( however boring since mostly all they do is fly between base and HK ) But keep in mind the loss in benefits and the much higher taxes you pay on a base. Right now with constantly decreasing pay (due to inflation and HK$/US$ xchange rate issues) and conditions the only option that still looks viable (financially) in the long term is Hong Kong based. Of course the company would love us all on bases - much cheaper for them....

Still trying to decide whether this os for me. The application and training process is quite time consuming but may be worth it if I can learn a little more about the airline. If this is posted somewhere I apologize but I couldn't find it.

Has CX stated how many pilots they will need for for the foreseable futute?
If hired for a US base what is the current time to upgrade?
Is the airline as strict about certain things as I've heard i.e. (reading at cruise)?
How senior is SFO and how long would it take to get there? (after the 3 yr cargo obligation?
What are typical trips like out of say SFO again?

Thanks again

Goodstick,

As for the number of pilots to hire, that number varies greatly depending on who you ask. It seems they are hiring around a net of 250 year right now, but I suspect that they want more than that. Upgrade time is also very subjective. We have people going for freighter command after two years with the company, but most had significant experience before joining Cathay. That said, I think pax command time is around 9 years right now. There are tons of open pax FO spots in the US right now, I believe including SFO, but it is likely that the company will begin hiring DEFO on the pax fleet in the US soon. This could do away with many of these spots, if they can find the crews to join. Schedule out of SFO would be just as stated by someone else above. SFO-HKG return around three times per month. Hope this helps you out.

box

PS- Always remember that no matter where you work, some people will always wake up on the wrong side of the bed!!!