The Dominican

I appreciate you saying that but I don't think that I have made anywhere near to the contributions that Typhoon has!

Since the merger of pax and cargo flying, the roster stability at work has decreased quite a bit, the days of months and months without a single change to your schedule are long gone, so it varies from month to month as to how many nights you will spend at base, could be as little as 6 and as much as 12 nights in Narita, don't count with doing much passenger flying though! These days it is a selected few that does most of the passenger flying. Thus far the days off requests have been granted on the majority of the times but as we grow I'm not sure that will remain the case, the scheduling department is extremely inefficient since rosters are done by hand. Japan has scientists exploring the biginings of the universe with their particle accelerator, their space program rivals some of the big players, their advances in robotics are just breath taking, but AJX does their rosters by hand lending itself to gross inefficiency in pilot utilization and fatigue management, someone explain that one to me because I sure as hell don't get it! Ok, done with the rant!

AJX will NOT sponsor you nor your family for resident visa, we have been pushing for this for years now and they will not do it. Some guys stay for periods at a time on their shore pass but it is without an official residence status, as to the ability to claim foreign residence without the gaijin card? That is something that I will not explore, our dear uncle is pretty heavy handed when it comes to collecting his taxes and it is notorious for letting it go for years and years, just to come with a BTW you owe us the GDP of a small nation in taxes and interest! Lets just say that I file my taxes conservatively!

myoface

If memory serves you typically get a gaijin card when you come out for training and some guys were able to parlay that into a longer term thing. How exactly they did I dont know, but I do know that a fair number live there almost full time.

The Dominican

There is absolutely no chance that they will extend your student visa beyond training, there were a couple of guys that managed to get residency but since it has been eliminated, they have strengthen their stance on that issue and now there is no chance. The guys that live here full time are either married to a Japanese lady or staying with their shore pass by splitting their days off throughout the month, if you are single it is possible but if you are married, unless your wife gets residency by other means (a teaching job, for example) the company will not sponsor you for residency status.

tofly

Dom

Noticed in another thread you went through Parc. Was wondering why you chose them over Crew? If you don't mind me asking?

I have read that Crew has better medical insurance for a US citizen.

From what I have read I get the general idea that the crew leasing companies are a necessary evil and some are even pretty shady.

Anyone else has any comments to educate those of us that don't have any experience with these leasing companies would be greatly appreciated.

The Dominican

CREW is by far a better option for US based pilots than PARC for this particular job, I'm spending a significant amount every year in supplemental insurance for my family and now PARC just announced that the unemployment/disability insurance benefits will be degraded to those times where you are at work only. That disparaty between benefits alone is a good reason not to go with PARC, I have to say that since it became CAE/PARC, I'm really disappointed at them lately.

Although this is not my first time going to the expat market for shelter (first time was back on the downside of the 90's) it is the first time dealing with contract agencies, back in the day I knew about them but it was mostly for guys with type and time in type. PARC called me one day to give reference for another pilot to whom I had given training, he was applying for a job in Africa and during the course of the conversation I was asked about my experience, one thing led to another and six years later.......!

Contract agencies! That is such a complicated topic and virtually impossible to tell you go with "A rather than B" you see, the agencies have a couple different roles that they play with the interested airlines, 1) they just look for pilots and get their paperwork together and the airline selects and hires directly 2) the agency hires you (which is the case for this job, you are NOT working for AJX, you work for the agency) and then places you with their client to serve as a temporary worker under contract.
To be honest with you, the agencies are there to act as a buffer (both as a legal liability and cultural buffer) between the pilots and the contracting company, and the company IS the agency's client, not you!
The experience between the pilots and a specific agency is very subjective and it all depends on the personal experience/circumstance, there are good and bad experiences with every agency. It all comes down to the relationship the agency manages to forge with each particular airline and how much influence they can exercise to create change, but at the end of the day the airline will do what they want with very little (or effective rather, some of them do try) resistance from the agency.

RyanP

Do a lot of guys just live in hotels for blank days off in Narita with rent being so expensive? Is this feasible with the $550/mo allowance?

-Thanks-

The Dominican

Some guys chose the hotel but most guys are in apartments now, the hotel will get old rather quickly, rents vary from ¥60,000 to ¥120,000 depending on how far you are from the train station, I pay ¥70,000 for a 50sq./M two bedroom that is 8min. walk from the station. As you probably figured out by now, the allowances will not cover all the expense, but keeping your sanity is worth it. There is only so much of cabin attendants *****ing about scheduling down in the hotel cafeteria before you realize you need to get away from airline workers!

RyanP

Thanks.

Are you able to get a furnished place for 70000? Seems like it would be quite difficult to buy furniture without a vehicle.

Are utility costs included there with rentals or is that extra? If so how much/mo?

The Dominican

Setting up an apartment at the start is expensive, you have to buy your own furnitures, unless you move in with somebody who is already set up, openings in someone's apartment happen from time to time. Utilities will run you about $150 per month. The details about deliveries of furnitures and such are easy to figure out, most furniture shops deliver, set up your furniture and haul away the boxes etc. there is also a very helpful real state agent that will help you with setting up utilities and such, so easy in fact that is practically a non issue.

RyanP

ok, thanks for the info