Originally Posted by
ThunderLizard
It depends what you want. If you want glamour & luxury, Emirates is the place. Staff travel is also good and depending on passenger loads you can book a firm ticket (ID50) if you really need to get back. Once your application goes shortlisted, it'll all happen. Training is backed up so of course there's a bottleneck. If you meet the qualifications you're still in the running.
In terms of the product yes EK is more glamorous and yes something to be proud of, but a mixture of QOL and pay is usually top of mind when looking at an employer. Glamour or no Glamour is low on most people’s list!
As far as EK staff travel it pales in comparison to a U.S. legacy (or LCC even). We can travel unlimited standby on any US (or Canadian) carrier anywhere for free (taxes on intl destinations of course), Business class standby upgrades for free on our own airline, Discounted firm tickets and the normal assortment of OAL Zed fares (many with J class agreements). For someone coming from a US legacy EK Staff travel is not a selling point.