Originally Posted by
Braniff DC8
Euromex, You should honestly visit China via a Chinese Airline if you are serious about it. The agencies offer amazing deals for a reason. It's all a ruse. The culture is very different than most and a lot find it difficult to adapt. The contracts are worthless and get violated all the time. Find a place close to home and enjoy being home and not somewhere in an odd place like China. If you've never been, trust me, it's odd.
I will second that advice for the most part. I never experienced any contract violations in my three years, and was always paid as promised and on time. But I do know some guys who are always having issues, so I may have just been one of the lucky ones.
Typically when guys complain to the airline about the contract being violated, the airline response is something to the effect of - "your contract is between you and your agency, we have nothing to do with it. So if you have a problem you have to take it up with your agency." The agency has far more interest in keeping the airline happy than keeping you happy, so guess how far most complaints end up. As virtually all agencies are based overseas, lawsuits for contract violations will be virtually impossible as well. The last big U.S. based contract agency just moved to Hong Kong earlier this year.
China is very different. A small percentage of guys actually do like it over there. The vast majority view it as a necessary evil and tolerate it for 3-6 years because the money is so good. Some are miserable quite quickly. I know one guy who was clamouring to get out two months after he started because he hated it so much. Personally I never liked it. The pay and month on, month off, was great. But the month in China was quite awful and it quickly got to the point where even half of my month off became consumed by the stress of the impending return trip to China. As soon as I hit the midway point of my time at home I began the mental count-down. It was sort of like a train headlight at the other end of the tunnel, and it would just get closer and closer over the next two weeks. I could not get out of the way and there was nothing I could do to stop it or slow it down. Eventually it was going to hit me. It got so bad towards the end that I was almost a basket case the last four or five days before I left for China.
Anyway, China is not for the faint of heart. The money is quite tempting, but remember this: they are not offering the money because everyone wants to be there.