Cathay Pacific Crew Diversity
Jun 21, 2018, 6:58 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: MNL
Programs: CX MPO DM, Le Club Accor Platinum, World of Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 2,284
Cathay Pacific Crew Diversity
Has anyone noticed that the crew on board are less diverse than before? I do recall a few years back, you get a nice mix of cabin crew from Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, India, Singapore, Korea and Japan....not just the senior crew members but also BCs and FPs. I remember flying with a SP who was from Sri Lanka before (although she did say she's only 1 out of a handful with CX)
Lately I've noticed more local BCs and FPs. Just wondering if its a government mandate to hire locally or from China (I believe KA even has a PVG base now)?
Lately I've noticed more local BCs and FPs. Just wondering if its a government mandate to hire locally or from China (I believe KA even has a PVG base now)?
Jun 21, 2018, 10:31 pm
#2
Join Date: Nov 2012
Programs: SPG Platinum
Posts: 1,686
A pertinent and well-founded observation. If HK is going to be Asia's World City then you need the best talent from all of Asia. It is also problematic relying solely on local hires (and especially, PRC origin crew) if the crew training isn't as rigorous as the SQ programme so the uncivilised and ignorant aspects of PRC manner are filtered / beaten out before they enter service...
Jun 21, 2018, 11:17 pm
#3
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: CX Diamond / SQ Gold / Bonvoy Platinum / Hyatt Globalist / Hilton Gold
Posts: 1,098
Jun 21, 2018, 11:48 pm
#4
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,421
Jun 21, 2018, 11:55 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2011
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Jun 22, 2018, 12:35 am
#6
Join Date: Nov 2012
Programs: SPG Platinum
Posts: 1,686
Good point - they could outsource crewing to "Cathay Crewing Services Ltd of Manila" and then pay much less. Shipping companies do this sort of thing all the time.
Jun 22, 2018, 12:40 am
#7
Suspended
Join Date: May 2006
Location: HKG
Programs: A3, TK *G; JL JGC; SPG,Hilton Gold
Posts: 9,952
Yah
”i just served you” in mandarin was fully heard in row 72 after a last minute flight change when i seemingly have pressed the bell twice in close succession with a nap in between.
”i just served you” in mandarin was fully heard in row 72 after a last minute flight change when i seemingly have pressed the bell twice in close succession with a nap in between.
Jun 22, 2018, 12:55 am
#8
Join Date: Nov 2012
Programs: SPG Platinum
Posts: 1,686
Last edited by sxc; Jun 22, 2018 at 1:04 am Reason: Remove prejudiced comment.
Jun 22, 2018, 1:18 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: CX Green, QF Platinum, BAEC Silver, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 10,780
There is a labour law in HK that employees can only be from overseas if it is proven the job needs skills that HK people can't provide. Would probably be difficult to prove there aren’t enough HK people who want and are able to be flight attendants.
Jun 22, 2018, 2:25 am
#11
Join Date: Nov 2012
Programs: SPG Platinum
Posts: 1,686
Just say they need a certain number who speak Tagalog/Malay/Indonesian/Thai blah blah - language skills are a genuine occupational requirement which enable those laws to be circumvented. Or as others have suggested, base crew abroad.
Jun 22, 2018, 8:15 am
#12
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: ORD [formerly] + HKG
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Posts: 2,966
The reason is because legacy contracts (ie those for some current ISMs) offered much better pay incentives (monthly vs hourly) and lots of housing/other types of allowances. Some of them are also, well, ...having a much better lifestyle as they are married and might even just be flying because they love their job, and hence why they excel at it (heck, on a recent flight of mine, my ISM was chatting with me about wanting to send her daughter to my college, it costs like what US$80k+ a year!)
Whereas BCs that join nowadays from foreign countries only receive housing stipend until their 6th (or shorter? I'm not sure, but it's not long) year, and they have to fend for themselves after. That is partly a reason why many leave and the turnover within BC rank is so high. As some points of comparison, it currently takes 10 years and increasingly more for the average non fast-track BC to be promoted to FP.
Since 2015 (if I'm not mistaken) BCs that sign a long-term contract after their first 3 years, face a salary ceiling - at the same time when promotion to FP takes longer and longer and longer (don't forget the new aircraft now requires fewer and fewer SP/FP etc), and forget about how much the cost of living increases in HK year over year. Outport allowances, a crucial part of their salary, are getting cut more and more in tandem with shortened layovers (for example, most European patterns are now 4-day ie only ~24 hours stay at outport - a 4D MAD earns them less than 120 EUR), 10 minutes less briefing time at HKG since this year - yet another pay cut, etc etc...
Some 'foreign' crew also have 'uglier' rosters due to their language requirement/ability having to operate flights to their native countries, which often are not the ones with much allowance whatsoever (ie tons of JP/KR flights).
But to clarify, within mainline CX there are NO cabin crew recruited from the PRC, and there will not be either in the foreseeable future.
Altogether, it just isn't very surprising why CX fails to recruit local let alone foreign talent than how they used to decades ago.
Whereas BCs that join nowadays from foreign countries only receive housing stipend until their 6th (or shorter? I'm not sure, but it's not long) year, and they have to fend for themselves after. That is partly a reason why many leave and the turnover within BC rank is so high. As some points of comparison, it currently takes 10 years and increasingly more for the average non fast-track BC to be promoted to FP.
Since 2015 (if I'm not mistaken) BCs that sign a long-term contract after their first 3 years, face a salary ceiling - at the same time when promotion to FP takes longer and longer and longer (don't forget the new aircraft now requires fewer and fewer SP/FP etc), and forget about how much the cost of living increases in HK year over year. Outport allowances, a crucial part of their salary, are getting cut more and more in tandem with shortened layovers (for example, most European patterns are now 4-day ie only ~24 hours stay at outport - a 4D MAD earns them less than 120 EUR), 10 minutes less briefing time at HKG since this year - yet another pay cut, etc etc...
Some 'foreign' crew also have 'uglier' rosters due to their language requirement/ability having to operate flights to their native countries, which often are not the ones with much allowance whatsoever (ie tons of JP/KR flights).
But to clarify, within mainline CX there are NO cabin crew recruited from the PRC, and there will not be either in the foreseeable future.
Altogether, it just isn't very surprising why CX fails to recruit local let alone foreign talent than how they used to decades ago.
Jun 22, 2018, 11:26 pm
#13
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: PNW
Programs: FreeAgent; DL Silver; IHG Diamond/ Ambassador
Posts: 689
The reason is because legacy contracts (ie those for some current ISMs) offered much better pay incentives (monthly vs hourly) and lots of housing/other types of allowances. Some of them are also, well, ...having a much better lifestyle as they are married and might even just be flying because they love their job, and hence why they excel at it (heck, on a recent flight of mine, my ISM was chatting with me about wanting to send her daughter to my college, it costs like what US$80k+ a year!)
Whereas BCs that join nowadays from foreign countries only receive housing stipend until their 6th (or shorter? I'm not sure, but it's not long) year, and they have to fend for themselves after. That is partly a reason why many leave and the turnover within BC rank is so high. As some points of comparison, it currently takes 10 years and increasingly more for the average non fast-track BC to be promoted to FP.
Since 2015 (if I'm not mistaken) BCs that sign a long-term contract after their first 3 years, face a salary ceiling - at the same time when promotion to FP takes longer and longer and longer (don't forget the new aircraft now requires fewer and fewer SP/FP etc), and forget about how much the cost of living increases in HK year over year. Outport allowances, a crucial part of their salary, are getting cut more and more in tandem with shortened layovers (for example, most European patterns are now 4-day ie only ~24 hours stay at outport - a 4D MAD earns them less than 120 EUR), 10 minutes less briefing time at HKG since this year - yet another pay cut, etc etc...
Some 'foreign' crew also have 'uglier' rosters due to their language requirement/ability having to operate flights to their native countries, which often are not the ones with much allowance whatsoever (ie tons of JP/KR flights).
But to clarify, within mainline CX there are NO cabin crew recruited from the PRC, and there will not be either in the foreseeable future.
Altogether, it just isn't very surprising why CX fails to recruit local let alone foreign talent than how they used to decades ago.
Whereas BCs that join nowadays from foreign countries only receive housing stipend until their 6th (or shorter? I'm not sure, but it's not long) year, and they have to fend for themselves after. That is partly a reason why many leave and the turnover within BC rank is so high. As some points of comparison, it currently takes 10 years and increasingly more for the average non fast-track BC to be promoted to FP.
Since 2015 (if I'm not mistaken) BCs that sign a long-term contract after their first 3 years, face a salary ceiling - at the same time when promotion to FP takes longer and longer and longer (don't forget the new aircraft now requires fewer and fewer SP/FP etc), and forget about how much the cost of living increases in HK year over year. Outport allowances, a crucial part of their salary, are getting cut more and more in tandem with shortened layovers (for example, most European patterns are now 4-day ie only ~24 hours stay at outport - a 4D MAD earns them less than 120 EUR), 10 minutes less briefing time at HKG since this year - yet another pay cut, etc etc...
Some 'foreign' crew also have 'uglier' rosters due to their language requirement/ability having to operate flights to their native countries, which often are not the ones with much allowance whatsoever (ie tons of JP/KR flights).
But to clarify, within mainline CX there are NO cabin crew recruited from the PRC, and there will not be either in the foreseeable future.
Altogether, it just isn't very surprising why CX fails to recruit local let alone foreign talent than how they used to decades ago.
I remember seeing CX ads about the diversity of their crew. They used to advertise heavily on Reader's Digest, AsiaWeek, etc., and there was this ad where they had their crew wearing the national costumes of their respective countries. I think the caption at the bottom read "...our cabin crew hail from 12(?) different Asian lands..." I thought that was really impressive.
Jun 22, 2018, 11:56 pm
#14
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They dont hv to import from prc. There are enough of them in the universities in hk who dont speak a reasonable amount of english -actually noone does, after 20 years of brainwashing on china china china china china only until the last 2-3 years where the problem is taken public.