Maxrev,
It is hard to make a proper factual or even statistical comparison for 4 reasons:
Firstly, the EK package provides different levels of 'cover' dependant on nationality. By that I am not refering to local vs ex-pat issues.
Nationality effects how the package is spent for a number of reasons. What one nationality might spend their money on is significantly different to others. Critically, the difference is what they are forced to spend their money on. The cost of schooling is bench marked against British schools. If you are required to send you kids elsewhere to ensure that they could return to your home country schooling system it could prove much more expensive (15k+/year/child). Dependant on nationality, there are a whole host of other issues. The question is, is this really the responsibility of the company?
Secondly, most of the cost of living indices around the world are heavily skewed towards the cost of housing which does not effect the EK package as long as you remain within company accomodation. The snag with this is that it removes the choice that is offered in all other countries within the survey if the housing allowance is not set at a representative level . Most of the surveys available show that:
1. Tokyo is the most expensive city
2. London and NYC are not far behind
3. Dubai typically comes in at around 20% less than the cost of these cities alongside cities such as LA, San Francisco and Paris
If you take out the cost of housing the picture would be different.
Thirdly, and most importantly, if you live in any of the other countries you have the option to live away from the city. Typically, in the UK and US, few pilots would actually live in the big city, most would commute which can reduce costs by as much as 25%.
Fourthly, no arab city ranks within the top 50 in terms of quality of life. That may not be for day to day reasons but due to a whole host of geo-political criteria. In addition, any money that is held within Dubai has no investment value and depreciates every day at the rate of inflation due to local banking practices.
Lies, damn lies and statistics. The potential for management to run with the favourable statistics without taking account of the undelying criteria must be considerable.
Cerberus