Qatar Airways demands payment for training from terminated flight crew (opens in new tab)

https://onemileatatime.com/qatar-airways-fires-pilot/

https://viewfromthewing.com/qatar-airways-firing-pilots-and-...

It's suggested in the first article that the pilot had failed to pass the necessary exams:

"The other side of the story here is that the pilot has spent the past six years completing a two year training course, and still hasn’t passed any of the tests necessary to become a pilot. The airline became fed up, and since they’re firing pilots anyway and trying to cut costs, they also decided to terminate their contract with her at this point."

But this has always been the flip side of doing business in the Gulf: you're paid well, but once you're no longer useful, you'll be discarded without a second thought. This happened during the GFC as well and there were plenty of stories of once high-flying expats sleeping in their cars.

Given an equal choice between buying something from two companies I'd choose the one that had been nicer to its employees and community.

Case in point - I own a (quite small) number of shares in UK retailer Hotel Chocolat. I'd probably have sold them if it wasn't for their apparently decent policy: https://www.hotelchocolat.com/uk/corona-virus-updates.html

I distinctly remember EasyJet: you basically had to go to a bank to get the loan for the whole cost of your pilot training (300k GBP iirc) in your name. If you failed to pass any of the mandatory exams and steps during your training, you’d be kicked out and have to repay the loan back on your own. If you made it as a pilot, EasyJet would deduct part of your salary to pay back.

It seemed like a very shitty arrangement for the cadet/pilot wannabe where you basically shoulder most of the risk for the privilege of working as a pilot for EasyJet.

I didn’t enroll to become a pilot. I don’t regret it.

Qatar Airlines pilot requirements are ICAO ATP, which you can convert to an FAA license, or just go fly in China.

(It's more difficult to go the opposite way, from FAA to European (EASA.))

You will never hear of such a situation where the pilot is billed for ab initio training in the US because US airlines do very little such training, if any. When US airlines partner with a flight training academy, they just promise to let graduates apply. :)

Sometimes US airlines will pay for (jet) type ratings, which cost in the $20k range, and charge the pilot if they leave within a year.

From what I remember this company does not get the better reviews, even when compared with other companies from the same region.

Really, we need a law that turns it into a loan automatically with reasonable terms at the end of employment. But other than that, this is no different to any other student loan. Boomers killed free education, so now everyone pays one way or another.