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07-16-2007, 03:29 PM

#15

FDXBUSCAPT

Line Holder

Joined APC: Jan 2007

Position: Airbus Capt (duh)

Posts: 37

Here it is:

Minority Opinion Regarding Paris and Hong Kong LOA
During the Special MEC meeting of June 27th I was the only MEC member to vote against sending the
Letter of Agreement (LOA) regarding Foreign Domicile Assignments (FDA) to the pilots for ratification. I would encourage all of you to read my brief opinion and after that I am confident that you will find this LOA unacceptable. Please excuse the delay in publishing this. The delay was unavoidable and it rested
squarely on my shoulders.
I believe that for us to consider this LOA a quantifiable gain, the company’s offer would have to be an additional benefit to what we currently have and not a choice between two marginal packages. That
means that if their offer would have been to add a housing allowance and tax equalization to the FDA relocation package that we already have in the contract, I would consider that a quantifiable gain.
However, that is not the case with this LOA.
For the purpose of simplicity I will refer mostly to HKG in the rest of the letter, but I think we can
agree that CDG is also a very expensive place to live and the comparison to HKG would be a fair one. I personally believe that the goal of any expat package would be to provide the employee with a
reasonable amount of money to try to maintain the same standard of living that you enjoy in the US.
My personal opinion is that a $2,700 US housing allowance for HKG or CDG does not even come close to addressing our requirements. For some perspective on other allowances for HKG we can use Cathay
Pacific and the US Government. Cathay Pacific gives their pilots an average of $6,000 US per month
for a housing allowance and school tuition for their children. I believe that amount represents the
minimum that Cathay Pacific feels is necessary to attract the quality of pilots that they require. For
those of you with military backgrounds an O4 receives approximately $6,200 US between the housing allowance and the COLA for HKG and of course, school tuition for their children.
In this LOA the company is offering some seed money to help you relocate to CDG or HKG. It is my
opinion that $10,000 US is not nearly enough when you factor in all the cost that you will incur with a
move to either one of these two FDAs. I did some research about the HKG rental market using the
websites of different relocation companies. I found that to be able to provide an adequate standard of
living for you and your family it would require that you spend between $3,500 US to $4,500 US.
According to standard rental practices in HKG, a two or three month security deposit will be required to
rent an apartment. In addition, it is customary to pay the agent securing the apartment for you a
commission. Half of the monthly rental is the normal fee. By the way, the communities I referenced
above are about 35 to 45 minutes away from Central Hong Kong, so this means that you will have to
depend on public transportation and this could become an issue for you and your family.
I would like to point out a few of the benefits that you will not enjoy if you pick the company’s
enhanced option. The seed money or relocation allowance in the contract is 79 credit hours at your
current pay rate or $10,000 US, whichever is greater. By the way, you would get this allowance when
you go to the FDA and when you return after your FDA assignment, which is not the case with the
seed money in the LOA. Under the current FDA relocation package you can ship up to 12,500 lbs, plus
1500 lbs per non-spousal dependent, as opposed to the 500 lbs in the enhanced package, which I
don’t think is enough for a single pilot or a family. Also, your storage in the US would be paid by the
company during the duration of your FDA assignment, so you are not limited to $4,000 US like in the
LOA.
There are numerous other benefits that you give up by taking the enhanced option, too many of them
to list them all, but here are a few:

[*]

As you can see the choice is not easy. If you choose the current FDA relocation package, with all its
benefits, that means you will be giving up the housing allowance. If that is the choice you make then
all the money you will pay in rent, as much as $42,000 US per year if you pay $3,500 US per month in
rent, will come out of your pocket with no gain in equity.
I think primary schools in HKG and CDG will be an issue. The cost and the lack of tuition assistance are
just a couple of the problems. Even if you think that paying for the school in HKG or CDG is acceptable because you pay for private schools in the US, think again. Once you have read the information
provided thru the following links, www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=9340150and http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/12/business/sxb4.phpyou will realize that unless FedEx is willing
to help us out in securing school for our children, the chances are minimal, at best, that you will be
able to get your children in a good school. When we visited Guangzhou with FedEx representatives, we
were told by the Headmaster at the American School of Guangzhou that if FedEx became a sponsor of
the school, our children would have no problem being admitted. If FedEx did not do that, our children
would be put on a waiting list with no assurances of being admitted.
There are still some questions that need to be answered before anybody can make an informed
decision about bidding into these FDAs. Medical facilities have been one of the more difficult things to
deal with in SFS. Where in HKG and CDG is our new medical plan going to be accepted? I would hope
those facilities are near the areas that we can afford to live in. Although I believe that being based in
HKG is more desirable than Guangzhou, it would be nice to find out how the pairings are going to be
affected by having that long ground transportation leg to start and end almost every pairing. Will a
long night of flying be followed by a 4hr limo ride to HKG in the same duty period?

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