EK USA Road Shows
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Join Date: Feb 2001
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EK USA Road Shows
Just a heads up for those planning to attend the upcoming US road shows. There is a lot of info concerning EK on this board. But one big issue that isn't discussed much is how the vacation scheme actually works at EK. You will be told you get 42 days of vacation per year. Sounds great. The reality is that you will rarely get more than 30-35 days per year and the rest will go into a leave bank that you can never use, absent a family emergency back home. It will be cashed out on resignation.
But even worse is that your vacation days represent zero credit when building your monthly roster. So one month you might have 88 hours of flying with 13 days off and the next month you will have 88 hours of flying and 14 days off, INCLUDING your 7 days of vacation. It's a total sham but it's the way it works here. Unless you can get 21+ days of vacation in a month there is a very good chance your total flying and days off will be identical to a month when you don't have vacation. You also don't receive credit for ground duties or sim duties. So during your training months you will likely get 2 days of sim, one day of recurrent ground school, maybe a CRM/sep, and a full month of flying. They also roster you for a manual handling sim (usually in between days off) every three or so months and it does not count towards your monthly maximums either.
Back to vacation. Scheduling often puts a ULR trip at the end of your vacation. Company policy dictates you are in Dubai 3 days prior to a ULR. You can disregard this rule but you run the risk of delaying you upgrade if they notice and give you a warning. A 7 day vacation can quickly become a 3 day vacation back to the states. Usually the only time you get more than 4 days off in a row is when it is followed by a ULR. So you're essentially trapped in Dubai unless you want to go visit ME destinations or the sub continent on your days off. All in all it makes it very difficult to see friends and family back in NA more than a couple times per year. The recruiters will not mention any of this during the road shows.
Some of the 380 pilots still get good rosters. But coming from NA most will have an idea of what a widebody roster looks like. It's nothing like what you will experience in the ME. Think of a US regional roster but you will be flying a 777.
But even worse is that your vacation days represent zero credit when building your monthly roster. So one month you might have 88 hours of flying with 13 days off and the next month you will have 88 hours of flying and 14 days off, INCLUDING your 7 days of vacation. It's a total sham but it's the way it works here. Unless you can get 21+ days of vacation in a month there is a very good chance your total flying and days off will be identical to a month when you don't have vacation. You also don't receive credit for ground duties or sim duties. So during your training months you will likely get 2 days of sim, one day of recurrent ground school, maybe a CRM/sep, and a full month of flying. They also roster you for a manual handling sim (usually in between days off) every three or so months and it does not count towards your monthly maximums either.
Back to vacation. Scheduling often puts a ULR trip at the end of your vacation. Company policy dictates you are in Dubai 3 days prior to a ULR. You can disregard this rule but you run the risk of delaying you upgrade if they notice and give you a warning. A 7 day vacation can quickly become a 3 day vacation back to the states. Usually the only time you get more than 4 days off in a row is when it is followed by a ULR. So you're essentially trapped in Dubai unless you want to go visit ME destinations or the sub continent on your days off. All in all it makes it very difficult to see friends and family back in NA more than a couple times per year. The recruiters will not mention any of this during the road shows.
Some of the 380 pilots still get good rosters. But coming from NA most will have an idea of what a widebody roster looks like. It's nothing like what you will experience in the ME. Think of a US regional roster but you will be flying a 777.
