Quick update on the situation:

The company has been squeezing everyone for the maximum hours (up to the overtime threshold, but not beyond) and it starts to show. People are calling in fatigued and some even throw in the towel and go elsewhere, even though conditions are not necessary better.

For example, we have been getting (net) nine more pilots year over year compared to jan '09, while taking delivery of 18 more airplanes. Monthly flying went from ~78 hrs a month to ~90 hours a month. Luckily I'm on the Boeing and get some variation in my schedule, I have a friend who's on the Airbus and he says, he's lucky if he gets one layover a month (And that's Kolkata), everything else is India, Middle East or North Africa turns in the middle of the night. He says he's never been so tired in his live (And he flew Lear charters and air ambulance before).

I just flew with a canadian captain, he sent his family back home a while back and he get's to see them about once a month for a few days, sometimes only every other month. Commuting is just not possible, you literaly have to take vacation to see your family.

The major issue right now is management. They just have a complete disdain for us and it shows.

For instance, two weeks ago, there was an unexpected opening for captain positions on the Boeing (How that can be "unexpected" is beyond me, but give's you an impression of the amount of "planning" that is going on in Flight Ops), so the guys in Flight Ops started calling captains on the Airbus if they wanted to come across.

Well, if you were on vacation, on a trip or your phone was off, you were out of luck. They've filled the class within a couple of hours with whoever answered their phone and everyone else who was eligible in seniority was out of luck.

They not only did this, but they also had the balls to boast about this out of seniority upgrade (And a lot of airbus guys would call it an upgrade even though it was a left seat to left seat transition; the lifestyle is really that bad on the Bus) in the weekly "update" email to pilots.

In a nutshell, there is a reason why recruiting is currently emailing everyone and their mother for applications.