Originally Posted by
Emma Royds
Two points worth bearing in mind are as follows:
Firstly, unless you wish to buy property in Dubai, then you now have absolutely no control over where you end up living. If you have kids then it is highly likely you will be living in a villa in Meydan but the options are a bit more varied if you are only entitled to an apartment. In the past you could opt for company provided accommodation and have the comfort of still having the allowance available, should you wish to find something else more to your liking. This option does no longer exist. I know someone who withdrew their application after this change was announced, as he was uncomfortable with the lack of control over a decision that was fundamental to his happiness in the UAE. Food for thought!
The second point is that the days of exponential rates of expansion are over and time to command could become a lot longer than what we see now and this has and still is a fluid situation at EK. That may not be of much significance to some but one factor that helped to persuade a number to come here (including myself) was the quick command, which in turn would open up more doors as a widebody DEC after a relatively quick period. Given the overall upheaval and sacrifices that are made when moving to the UAE, ask yourself if you feel it would be time well spent to join EK and then leave without getting your command? One could face the prospect of joining yet another airline as an F/O at the bottom of the pack, whilst your time at EK could have been spent climbing the seniority list at your next airline. If you end up joining here and wish to put the years in and wait then that is fine but it could be a different story if you end up envisaging a shorter tenure at EK, compared to what you may have initially planned for prior to joining.
Is it really like that? Do you believe that the upgrade time is significantly increasing in the next few years?
I always thought that the short time for upgrade was mainly due to the large Number of pilots leaving back home instead of the growth alone. I’m strongly considering applying to QR or EK and this is a main factor to me, once it’s almost impossible to achieve a reasonable payment merged with a nice career in South America.