I guess that I would be one of TP's co-workers who is full of it. While it is true that it is all relative and you can surely find places that are worse (pay, working conditions etc.), you have to ask yourself why so many are so unhappy here. While some are happy and I don't begrudge them that, I have to honestly say that if you chopped the most extreme 5% (happiest and grumpiest) from the posts on PPRUNE, that you would have a pretty good indication of the mood of the pilot force.

To be quite frank, we are stuck with a management force here that is literally going to fly this airline into the ground. Rosters and fatigue are a big problem here to the point that the company doctors have registered their concern. The company's response is to petition the aviation authority for an increase in annual flying hours, constitute a "Fatigue Committee" that has NO crewmembers that fly more than 20 hours a month and to hire Flight Department Managers who have never flown at this airline, never seen our route structure and who, quite honestly are so out of touch that pronouncements from on high have the flavor of something out of Catch 22.

I've been here for 12 years now and in the past 4 years I have watched the conditions continuously erode. Maybe the snapshot right now is of something better than what you have, but the trend is not positive. Any person considering coming here would obviously compare what is here with what they are coming from. If the comparison is positive, they will be disposed towards taking the job. Fair enough. Some are even happy though I caution you, the happy ones have generally been here for less than 2 years. There is a saying in the expat world - You have two buckets, a money bucket and a **** bucket. You leave when one of your buckets is full. With the cost of living here, you will be hard pressed to fill up your money bucket if you have a family and the filling of the **** bucket will be slow but constant. I reckon at about 3 years, it will begin to overflow.(I'm just starting my 5th bucket) Now the question is, is it worth it to move my family half way around the world for that? If so, jump in, the waters warm.