Originally Posted by
Fdxlag2
It is hard to say, HKG seniority is skewed because the sample includes a large percentage of guys who originally, quit successfully, bid it to get Passover. But I would suspect it would go more senior as it pays WB and, to me at least, the lines look better.
Couple of updates...
The A300 excess bid ended the FEPP payments. A few guys who were "caught" by the previous bids came over and have had chances to bid out. Some left, some stayed. I came over the next bid, so being trapped by passover pay was never an issue.
With 140-150 pilots everyone has their own story, so I will try not to over-generalize. A few profiles seem to be common here, however:
Empty nesters...
Dual pilot couples...both Captain/FO and FO/FO
Single guys....
Small families....
Now--there are a few larger families, but I think most of them home school. Our daughter is in an ESF school, and its costs about 20k a year with expenses. Field trips to Vietnam or Cambodia are not included in that number. FedEx pays 15k per family, period. Some out here eat it and put 2 kids in private school. There may be some non-dual pilot families that put 3 in private school but I don't know of any off the top of my head. Public schools are an option if kids are young and you want to immerse them in Cantonese.
I know the FDA compensation could be better, but the company decided its "good enough". They never wanted to set up the domiciles for large families. If they fill the seats, they really don't care.
Which is better? Depends on your perspective. I had lived in Germany during AF days so thought this might be fun to try. I loved living in Europe, but when I was there I didn't ski, didn't have 15 days off a month, and didn't have as much money. I also don't have two kids under 5 now. In short, there is a heck of lot of fun things to do over there and with public transportation and autobahns getting around is easy. At some point I might try it again...
I chose HK for a WB captain spot with seniority better than I'd have in MEM and the chance to fly a very new jet. HK is fun and interesting, but its not for everyone. I see some wives here that don't seem to dig it that much, while others completely embrace it. My own wife dove in and is way ahead of me in finding the gems of living here. She is learning Cantonese and has already made numerous tours into China when I've been on my trips. I wish to heck I could drive to snow ski, and some days I miss GA and some of my stateside hobbies, but I also enjoy the constant exposure to new sights and the fact there is alway something to go see and do here.
My advice is if you are hired here visit both places and make your decision then. Do not take an FDA thinking it is a quick 2 year deal to grab 30-40 seniority numbers ahead of your peers. The latest bid just put some guys out here an extra year before their upgrades. If you wanted to be here--okay--not a huge deal. If you were counting down the days and hours to leave--well--things just got tough. Planning to move back before you kids go to xx grade? Hoping to buy that place coming on the market later this summer? Oops...things change. At some point the bid process will go to the newer system, but until then the company is going to change training dates as they see fit for their planning, not your life plans. Ain't a good system, but it is what it is for a while longer. Buyer beware... It will be interesting to see if this makes it harder to fill subsequent vacancies or if others will bid out sooner because of these types of delays.