North America Cathay Questions

[Stewage]

I am living in Portland, OR and hoping to get a job with CXF. I am a former USAF guy, currently flying KC-135s in the reserves with most of my experience on the Hercules. I have a few questions that I appreciate anyone taking the time to answer:

1) Does Cathay have ANY jumpseat agreements in North America? What about foreign airlines? What about ID90 or ID95 fares? Family benefits?

2) What kind of medical coverage in NA does Cathay provide?

3) Can you eventually bid somewhere else. My wife is a Brit and in 3 - 4 years want to live in the UK (due to her I have the right to work there). I am willing to go either CXF or can one bid directly to a passenger domicile with the proper seniority?

4) As an American do I need a work permit to fly out of Vancouver BC. It is obviously closer to where I live.

5) I have been reading a lot of posts and am particulary interested in what any Americans or Canadians working for Cathay feel about the company. I realize that it is not a perfect company, but how is it now? Big picture, to me the pay seems OK, and my end game is time off with my wife and kids. For our goals as a family, Cathay seems like the perfect company, start out in North America and work our way back to Europe with some seniority. Is this realistic?

Thanks in advance to anyone providing information.

Safe Flying

 

[hawkerjock]

This can all be answered at pprune.com

 

[Jolly Roger]

My best answers:

1) No official jumpseat agreements after 9/11. I use ID 90 to travel, have commuted from Phoenix-LAX (Cathay), and PHX- Corpus Christi TX (Navy Reserve) for over three years. No troubles above normal commuting headaches. Portland to LAX should be easy. Immediate family gets same benefits, two nominees (parents, etc,) get ID travel as well. Immediate family gets one free round trip per year to any CX port.

2) Medical... couldn't be better, Cigna. 100% coverage on just about everything but dental. It's part of the deal, you don't pay for it.

3) Don't quote me, but a London base on the passenger fleet in your mentioned timeframe is very doable... I don't know the availability of the base, I have never considered it. Another option might be a temp base or base swap for London on the freighter. I know several guys who have done both. Just be aware that the NA routes are busier than the UK, so it might require some footwork.

4)You don't need any permit to fly out of YVR; plenty of Canadians fly out of the US for CX. However, you would not want a YVR base since the canadian dollar pay scale is lower (the main reason most Canadians opt for the US base). There are loopholes that might allow you to fly out of YVR on a US base, and since you would end a pattern in LAX you often might remain aboard as the A/C stops in YVR on its way to ANC.

5) No real complaints here... some real strengths and of course some others, just like every where else. You will certainly meet the goals you mentioned here. Hope this helps.

BTW, forget about PPRUNE, they will just flame you ... many of those guys just love to take shots at each other, and would complain if they had to bend down to pick up a 100 dollar bill; 99% of CX guys stay clear of that web site.

 

[Stewage]

Jolly Roger,

Thanks so much for the quick reply. One other question: how do the reserves work with CX. By Corpus, I assume you are in a non-mobility job (had a lot of buds that taught there and knew plenty of co's that came through Corpus - great program). I assume since Cathay is foreign, if I were activated with the reserves, I'd lose my job. Does this cross check with you?

Again, thanks, great info.

 

[Xfr8dog]

A couple of people have asked... and i've done some unsuccesful research on my own.... but what the heck does Cathay pay? starting? top end Cpt? whats upgrade like?

also, how hard is it to get a US base? whats the most junior of the four? Really what i want to know is how long till i can be NYC based?


-thanks

 

[starchkr]

I got some basic starting info from some other people...

If you are HK based, you receive 389,000 HK Dollars your first year (exchange rate of 7.8 HKD=1 USD), plus they give you a 21,000 HKD stipend for housing(basically they pay for your housing up to that amount), then they also pay for 100% medical, they contribute to your retirement fund...plus some others that i don't remember. So it is basically $50K your first year if you stay in HK plus the $2700 for rent so that makes $82400 your first year before the extras. Now remember, the info i got said that cost of living is higher there, which is why they will pay for your housing. Some apts rent there for 15,000 HKD easy and they are only 1/1's or very small 2/1's. So keep that in mind. After first year i do not know pay increases.

I do know, that if you do not live in HK then you receive NO housing allowance, and your pay is less in the US. I heard it is almost like a 3 tier system, with the HK pay as A, other places on the pax side as B, and the freight side as C...of course descending in pay from the A rate numbers i gave above.

Oh yeah, one more thing...Taxation is at a flat 15% right now going up to 16% next year...that's it, no state and federal or anything like that, just one simple tax.

Now i hope this is right, i received this from numerous sites that i have spent many hours perusing lately to see what it would be like to work there and live in HK. I could be wrong, so if anyone else has some info please chime in.

 

[SFR]

How long do you think it would take to get awarded a US base in the pax side of Cathay?

How about upgrades to CapT?


How is living in HK for an average American? with wife/kid?


THanks!!!

Also, can I stay there till I retire @ 60?

 

[starchkr]

I believe(<---read that as i am not sure) the requirement says you must stay in HK on the pax side for 1 year(it may be 3 years), then you can be "reassigned" to another base. They do not have a seniority system like we do in the US, they pretty much put you where they need you, but they do give you some say in it...although very little from what i have heard.

Upgrades i do not know....

Living in HK i don't know either, just what i read on the Embassy website and some other general sites i searched for on Yahoo...I just typed in "living in Hong Kong" and it came up with a bunch of stuff. Also typed in "apartments for rent in Hong Kong" and that can give you some ideas as far as living. From what i got it is like living in NYC, no cars needed, great public transportation system, low crime rate however(guns are illegal over there).

Right now retirement is 55 there, i read they might increase it to 60, but for now 55. That is why they have an unspoken rule about not hiring anyone over a certain age. Which is LEGAL there because they do not have anti discrimanation laws. They can also legally ask you questions about your race, sexual tendencies, whether you are married or divorced...all the little "private" things we do not have to disclose here in the US. I have heard that it really throws the average american for a loop when they start asking that stuff...and we MUST answer it all, or no job for us.