..........

I too am curious of CX vs. WO. Any input?

Maybe he had job offers at both companies?

Cx
 

Maybe he had job offers at both companies

Bingo! I was looking for advice but pretty much came up with the following on my own. Basically the comparison CX vs WO...

Trips: CX either 2 day or 5 day trips, any combination, average 14 days off WO long trips sometimes up to 28 days if you can't hold the right transition period. Still average at least 14 days off. Cathay will be back and forth to HKG. World, who knows...Hawaii, Anchorage, Leipzig, places that have no vowels. Very fun flying at World, I must admit.
Pay: Both pretty close, over a career CX might be ahead if you go fly passengers. Not a deciding factor.
Benefits: Cathay is a clear winner. They pay everything...every kind of insurance, uniform (even shirts), retirement, etc.
Training: World is definitely less stressful. From what I hear, Cathay pilots are almost always in training. One bad sim and your career could be in jeopardy is the impression I have. Had to put a lot of weight on this issue before deciding to leave WO.
Job Security: This was probably the biggest deciding factor. In my opinnion CX has the best job security in the industry. They are the third most profitable airline ever and are not going to lay off anytime soon. Even during SARS no one was furloughed and they still pulled a profit. World has been around a long time and as long as there is a war they aren't going anywhere.
Upgrade Potential: The current average at WO is about 5 to 6 years to MD11 CA. I think that is going to change though as the MD11 are difficult to acquire. As long as there are two seperate seniority lists (North American)there is really no way to know. Cathay is in a period of unprecedented growth. The upgrade to 747-400 Cargo Captain is less than 4 years and the passenger side is currently at 10 and shrinking. But you have to make it through training and be recommended by a supervisory board.
Bases: This one was really tough for me. I got family all over the world and Cathay has so many to choose from as long as you have the right to work. (JFK, ORD, SFO LAX, ATL, DFW, CDG, FRA, AMS, MAN, LHR, Rome, FRA, HKG, Aussie and Kiwi...) However WO offers the best homebasing in the industry. Wherever you live in the USA is where you are based.
Time on Reserve:Everyone has a line at CX, but all pilots at CX share reserve. You have to be available a couple days a month before or after your trip. At WO they call it open time and you are available 24/7 BUT you have something like 16 hours to get to the airport. Never had less than 3 days notice and often rarely used. Lots of time at home drinking beer (16 hours!)
Bidding: Neither too good here when compared to the likes of JetBlue. However Cathays awards are always out on the 15th for the following month. You get what you are assigned and can only request days off. World puts the awards out at the last few days of the month. Hard to make travel plans those first few weeks. You do have a little more control though at WO based on your seniority.
Vacation: At Cathay you get 42 days of paid vacation per year.
Jumpseating: World is in the process of joining CASS. With home basing it is not a big issue getting to work. Cathay is a foreign airline and has no JS priviliges. Getting to and from work can be expensive...ID90, ZED, full fare, or drive.

So, I decided to take the offer that Cathay made. Both are great places to be and have there advantages and disadvantages. If my circumstances were different World would be better. I am happy to be in a position to choose between two great airlines.

BBB

BBB,

What is your flight time breakdown? How long between application submission and interview? Any other useful info helpful for those looking to interview? Thanks.

Age 31, 6500TT, 4500PIC (Mostly ME Jet)
Applied 01/2005..Interview#1 02/2006...Interview#2 04/2006...Class 10/2006 DEFO 744F

CX Info
 

Hello BBB,

Have a preliminary interview in NYC Sept 21 with CX. Might you have some info on what would be helpful to read or interview info, etc? Thank you for the assistance.

BBB,

Sounds like it was a tough decision! Hope it works out for you and good luck at Cathay. We'll miss you over here at World!

How can you commute if you don't live near a base for Cathay? Not quite sure what ID90 or ZED means.

ID90 = Interline (or something like that) Discount fair. You pay 10% (90% discount) of the highest published fare. Or there abouts.

It's a agreement between the airline you work for and other airlines. Some have ID-95s, ID-75s, ect.

It's STILL space available ONLY, and usually at the bottom of the non-rev list.

ZED = Zonal Employee Discount. A fare that is based on a surcharge plus mileage, or zones. I think it's something like 0-999 miles is the first cut off, 1000-4000, ect. I could be wrong, but something like that.

LAX to Aukland, NZ is like $210 round trip on a ZED fare on Qantas. Still space available only. For the most part, cheaper than an ID 90.

Or you could just get a wife who's an FA for Continental!

That was funny! How's life?
:D

Pretty good! It's snowing like crazy and I'm at home (as usual). Gonna have to head up to the mountains to take advantage of all the pretty powder. How are things going at Cathay? Are you in Hong Kong now?

Hi!

Go to pprune.org for MASSIVE amounts of info on Cathay. It's in the "Fragrant Harbour" section.

cliff
YIP

You can take a base any where in the world you like. You do not need the right to work in a specified country. Harder to pull it off with a family but as a single American, you would just have to leave the area before your tourist visa expired (30, 60, 90 days, etc). You do that every time you go to work....would just have to get a stamp on the way in and out. Temp bases are alot easier to pull off.

Example of a domestic ZED....ORD-LGA 33USD one way.

FO