Originally Posted by
V1Rotate
So I'm a regional airline captain with somewhere around 7,000TT and over 800 CRJ PIC. I'm really fed up with this country for many reasons, and have a strong desire to leave. I want to have some amount of work/life balance and be paid fairly decently. I'm not crazy about the idea of living in mainland China, but I have applied to Cathay Dragon (which is Hong Kong) and I'm interested in Korean Air though it's unclear to me whether I need to be typed. Does anyone know of any good jobs for pilots with my experience?
Are you married? Do you have kids? Do you want/need to get back home in the USA often? Have you ever lived in a foreign country before? Why are you fed up with the US? Remember, that a lot of these places are 50-100 years behind the US with government, corruption, politics, racism, and cultural nuances/beliefs etc. I have first hand experience with this.
In my opinion, these are the most important things to consider when going for the overseas stuff. I work for a non 121 company flying in a lot of crazy places around the world, I'm happy I made the jump and have had some incredible experiences with a fat paycheck along the way, though to be honest I'm getting ready to come home I think. It certainly isn't for everyone and I have a more ideal situation for this type of work than most. As for the big shiny jet stuff, it sounds like Korean or JAL have the best overseas contracts right now. Great pay and benefits and a month ON/OFF plane ticket home, although its an astronaut medical. Philippines is probably one of the best QOL countries for an American culturally that I've been too (in most areas anyway). English is very widely spoken and Americans are generally treated with a high level of respect. Problem is, it's not worth it unless you go in as a DE Captain, which won't happen without an A320 type, and only at Cebu Pacific. AFAIK PAL won't take non-Filipinos. Your main focus should be on getting something that will come with an upgrade, that is where the real money is. EVA isn't worth it for the pay and the long upgrade, though they have commutable contracts also.
FlyDubai will most certainly take you, and upgrade you. But if you have a family with a lot of strong connections back home it would be tough, only 42 days off per year. I have a couple friends there that love it, they just got a size-able pay increase also. Two to three year upgrade and great flying. The schedule is pretty rough with a lot of red-eyes though which generates a lot drama on the forums. You also don't do as many times zones per month as you would at the Big 3 which is why I don't recommend them. But again, if you are young and single and can handle not seeing family for months at a time it sounds like a good gig. I also want to stress that I'm only recommending FD because of the people I know that are having a blast there in Dubai. I've never met anyone at the other Big-3 (and I've met quite a few) that had good things to say.
Hope it helps, sorry if some of the info is redundant and you already know it, just trying to help. Good luck.