For prospective DECs and FOs @ EK I would like to post some insider feedback, having fairly recently joined up over here (last year). There are a few large political issues of course, the head of pilot recruitment resigned recently, a bold and correct gesture in the face of EK managements' effort to impoverish the FOs who could upgrade and it was nice to see someone take a stand on the lowering of standards for DECs. A large number of training captains have also resigned. Management have responded by indicating that resigning from a training position will be commensurate with qutting the company to attepmppt to stop this. Great!!! (?) Remember - no labour laws or collective labour action here= no protection. The pay is not great - if you want to live well here in DXB, it costs a lot. Cars are expensive, though fueling it is cheap! Groceries at western style markets cost more than home. Most FOs with children don't save any or much money. The top schools, (depending on nationality and preference), have fees or costs which are higher than the allowance provided. Accomodation is hit and miss, albeit not exactly the company's fault as they have to locate what the market provides. On the other hand, if the purse strings were loosened a bit, perhaps a higher standard could be made available.... Management has been too slow to respond to the DEC concerns amongst the pilot group..The December meeting won't be followed up until the 29th of Feb. Oh sorry, that's now the 28th of February..... Bitterness and rancor have not abated and indeed have taken root now and will continue to grow. The company does a lot to get you over here, and then basically sits back - the burden of dealing with all the local beaurocracy is left to the individual and is a bit of a quicksand - once in you feel you'll never get out. I have lots of experience with global ops and this place has a strangle hold on beaurocracy... it has been raised to a hellishly fine art. As pilot working conditions seem to be in decline globally, this (EK) seems like a good opportunity, but consider it carefully.