The world is full of pilots who use confirmation bias to twist perceptions, facts and posts from this site to suit their own means. If the truth doesn't match then those facts will be disregarded. I think the majority of EK pilots did that before joining and I'll admit that I certainly did.
EK is a minimum 10 year commitment. 5 of that is the initial bond, 2 more years gets you 100% of the pension and another 2 years from there for the command upgrade, and finally a year on type for the command time. New joiners must be prepared to stick it out that long and that is getting to be more and more difficult given the corporate climate these days.
There was a post from another thread where there was some discussion whether pilots felt trapped here or not. I would put forward that in the most technical sense, no one is actually trapped here. There are no chains or shackles and it not as if the government will not allow you to exit the country unless of course you have become a guest of the department of corrections. But the company holds the ultimate control over your professional and by extension your personal life as well. For most pilots they will tell you where to live, when and where you'll fly and when you will be given leave. If you can no longer serve those needs then you will be shown the exit, in cases where the issues are medically related they will attempt to get you back on line but again their involvement in your medical file is more "liberal" than in western countries. That aside, most pilots have kids in school, wives that work and a general personal home life that has been seriously eroded by the demands (there are better words) of the company and they have little regard for needs other than their own. The perception is that there is little else to go to out there so the incarceration becomes self imposed. Lets face it, its easier to stay and hope things get better...but they don't and history proves that extensively.
It boils to to simple basics, you either live THEIR life or you live YOUR life combined with all the other adages of "which bucket fills first will provide the exit door" and "If you don't like it then leave". For me life isn't all about the money, I will never achieve this sort of income in my home country. I do however way to re-aquaint myself with the reasons I started flying, IE the love of it and more than the "push a button and fly" mentality of this SOP. It constantly amazes me how lonely a A380 with 600 people and 30 crew can be. They company have really succeeded in isolating their staff.
In my case, I have a little over 4 months to go and what a weight lifted. So Harry, there is only 4199 pilots who fit your description!