LostInAsia

You're welcome.

SuperPilotJesse

Anyword on how many have accepted?

WstCstCmtr

Oh great another comment on how horrible it is and no news؟ Just what I asked for؟

There is that better? See that little punctuation? I would say it's new but it's not. I'm bringing it back.

Irony mark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

LostInAsia

You're welcome؟

That better??

WstCstCmtr

Oh I get it now! Thanks!

TonyWilliams

Not a chance that they will (successfully) demand more money. The SkyWest Airlines side of the house still hasn't been offered this, which has twice? as many pilots to chose from.

I think Jerry, Inc, needs to lower the pay. Since that's hard to do when the pay has already been advertised, I expect that there will be "fees". Leave early? Fee to break the contract. Not ready to work? $$$$$

Obviously, there are several posting on here that don't want to be bothered with any of the details of expat flying, but I predict with over 30,000 hits on this thread, there are many who do, and don't post.

Let me relate a few (more) expat money related stories at my airline. We NEVER get paid on time. Ever. Not once. Yes, we do get our money, but the last one was 14 days late. Should that happen to you in Vietnam, how long will you work for free? I've heard of contracts not being paid for months, with the pilots finally going home (after working for free that whole time) getting nothing.

Our company typically will not pay your last month's pay. Once you're gone, how would you persuade them to pay you? You won't. So, pilots (who do frequently leave) use many tactics. One is ZERO notice. Get the last paycheck, and RUN !!!! The company will figure out you're gone when you don't show for the trip, and find your hotel room emptied. The other is just stay home on rotation (this Mekong contract won't have to worry about that, as there is not a rotation schedule).

We had one captain who had the Boeing in Johannesburg, South Africa, and called and said that since he hadn't been paid, he wasn't sure he was still an employee, and wouldn't be able to fly the plane back as an uninsured non-employee. They paid him.

Our company will ask you to buy your plane ticket home (again, not a Mekong issue, since they don't buy tickets) and they "promise" they will reimburse you. Of course, you only have to do this once to find out that you won't get paid for months. Should you quit / fired / etc in the interim, I'll guess you'll never get paid. I don't recommend acquiring any debt in ANY way with a contractor.

When we have van service, as has been suggested at Mekong, we find that the drivers will only do the minimum, which is taking you TO work. They know they'll get in trouble if you're not at work on time, but really don't care when you get back from work. Going to anywhere except work, expect a "tip" to get their interest. I usually just take a cab, and pay the price.

There are pluses, of course. The comaraderie with your fellow pilots will be second to none, but should you have problems with one or more, it will be a huge pain. Your interactions with locals must be tempered, because you never know who's setting you up. The soft sells happen often... my relative is sick, can you help? Need gas money, $$$ ? By the way, even the police will do that here. Had a new-to-me scam the other day where the guy quickly chats you up, then puts something in your hand as a gift, which you must reward with cash (or have his goons beat the &#^$&^# out of you). Outright theft out of you hotel room is common (happened to me).

All the issues with expat flying have a price that is difficult to factor in until you've lived it. Some companies are VERY professional, well respected places to work. Emirates, while not without problems, is certainly world class in its service, and has tons of expats flying there.

A start up in a third world country for the lowest price ever written will probably be closer to my experiences than that of an Emirates experience.

Bug Smasher

Tony,

I'm one of those quiet ones who just sat back and watched. Thanks for pouring so much time into this thread when you could've just sat back and said, "I'll let these dorks learn on their own."

I'm a furloughed guy who's working night shift as a hangar mechanic there. Some instructor pilots were here this morning as I finished my shift, and they were asking if I put in for Vietnam. My reply to the negative contained enough expletives to get me kick-banned from here, and I ran right into a tirade about how we're ruining a decent career for some folks by undercutting them - just as we've done domesticly.

After the smoke cleared, the instructor just said, "Wow. Finally someone got a thinking head on their shoulders here. I just talked to a four-striper who was all brainwashed and gung-ho to go."

Honestly, I was all for it when I first heard about it. Then when the figures came out I started trying to talk my friends out of it who'd signed up for an interview. Once someone posted an interview gouge where all questions were answered by the Air Mekong folks as "We don't know," I laughed all the way to the bank.

I spent most of last night covered in brake dust, replacing the outboard wiring harness on a CRJ gear leg. The washbasin ran black for 10 minutes as I scrubbed up at the end of the shift. As miserable as the work is at times, I've never missed a paycheck, never had a paycheck bounce, and I sleep well at night in a relatively safe place. There will be better flying opportunities coming soon. Real soon. I'll stick it out. Thanks again for sharing the scoop.

samuraiguytn

Bug Smasher,

I know for a fact you don't sleep at night.

TonyWilliams

No problem. I'm currently not working, since my license to work in this country expired last Friday, so I'm bored out of my skull. Internet blather gives me something to do

I've noticed not one "prospect" has mentioned what I would think would be number one in a third world, communist country.... security.

Not sure if I posted this before or not, but just in the past month, two pilots were robbed at gun-point in front of the hotel I'm currently in. They got out of a cab in front of the hotel, and didn't make it through the security gates before 4 thugs on two motorcycles zipped up, and took everything they had (camera, money, cell phones, etc). Fortunately, they weren't hurt.

Another pilot had his camera taken by police when he took their picture. In a communist country like Vietnam, I'll bet taking pictures of police / army is illegal there, too.

One pilot (retired Delta) was put in Nigeria "detention" while they sorted out his visa. Fortunately, it wasn't long, and the company paid whatever bribes to get him out. I can only imagine how fun that was.

One crew was overnighting in a town called Maiduguri that had a 1000-2000 body massacre while they were sleeping. They got an AK-47 pointed at them, and ordered to open all the bags on their way to the airport the next morning. They got the honor of seeing scores of dead bodies all over the highways. I overnighted in that town just a few weeks before this massacre. Since then, there's been a couple of massacres in a town called Jos, that we also service.

One crew was jailed in a foreign country for two weeks, when that country found their overflight permit wasn't correct. There were both forced into a single jail cell, NUDE, for the entire time. That will give you plenty of time to consider how much pay you're accepting.

The last hotel I was in collects bullets. Yes, they have a collection of bullets found in, on, and around the hotels. One went through a pilot's room's ceiling while he was in it. He thought a light burnt out and "popped", but all the lights kept working. Then he found the bullet. Bullets have been found in the pool, and other areas. Every building has a perimeter wall / fence / barbed wire, etc, to slow the bad guys up from coming in.

Many, many things that you take for granted don't exist. Car may or may not have seat belts, and probably don't have air bags. Electricity goes on and off. Internet works when it wants, and NEVER plan on using passwords to access your bank back home. Somebody will end up with your info. Most banks in the 1st world will automatically block your access from an IP address in the 3rd world.

Just heard about a pilot last night who had his email hijacked, when they got his password, changed it so he couldn't get on, then sent emails out to his whole contact list saying, "I'm stuck in XXX, please send $3000 to this bank account to save me".

YMMV

I want to make it clear to those considering this. It is what it is, and you need to be compensated for the "features".

hotelmode

And people go on vacations here?!?? Gosh, that stuff NEVER happens in the US!!

Maybe when the locals find out how much we're getting paid, they won't have any interest in mugging us!

All kidding aside, you are right, these are things to consider.