Originally Posted by
TiredSoul
Cathay Pacific used to be one of the hardest airlines to get hired and one of the best paying.
For years it was THE destination airline for a lot Brits, Kiwis, and Ozmates.
Seems to have lost some of its shine.
Fixed it for you
True story. Years ago I am out with a friend in Dubai during Ramadan. Bars are all pretty slow then because, well it's Ramadan. So we walk into a bar in Bur Dubai that has very few people in it and sit down for a beer. A few minutes later an older gentlemen gets up from a table nearby and starts heading for the exit. My friend sees him and calls out his name. The guy comes over and they exchange greetings and make introductions for me. The guy is an A scale Cathay 747 captain on a layover who just happens to live in Thailand where my friend does (small world). Anyway we get to chatting and they get around to the topic of my friends brother. My friends brother (American by the way) was at Cathay for 8 years in the 90s and early 2000s. He was not successful at upgrade on the 747 fleet and left Cathay because of that.
When I say not successful, it's not that he failed any training events. He went through training fine, in fact very well by all accounts. So this guy we are talking to, a British 747 captain relates what he knows of the story. Back then (and still now, I don't know) all upgrade decisions went to something called the Star Chamber which was a group who decided whether or not someone would be blessed as a captain after their training was finished. So my friends brother's file gets there and the decision is made not to allow him to be a captain. The reason, now relayed to us by this guy sitting across the table is that the (British) 747 fleet manager/chief pilot said, "I will not have an American as a captain on my fleet".