They pay better, 30% if rumours are to be believed, and the management seem a great deal more able than the ones we've had to deal with recently.
Shake, how do you know what their management is like? You can't even find out what Etihad's package is officially. Its all rumour. EK have had their recent difficulties as they have transitioned from a small to medium sized outfit. Etihad will go through the same crap down the line.
I would agree with you though that Etihad might well be a good place to go to because you will go in at the top of the seniority list and they obviously have ambitious plans with the financial muscle to back it up. Question is then whether or not Abu Dhabi is for you, I live 100 miles from it and don't feel the urge to go there very much.
I am generally happy at EK, its not perfect but beats a lot of other places to go. As to the changes in T&Cs and morale, there is no doubt that AAR has screwed a good company by his misguided management practices. But if you read about AAB at Qatar; who is to say Etihad will be any better.
Just food for thought!
Freespeed, I am sure you have seen what has been written on the web. All I would say is look at all the info provided dispassionately and weigh up whether or not you think you will be better off. I will guarantee that EK did not 'promise' a certain time to command to anyone; but some guys will still have pencilled in their command date before joining. I think some joined with unreasonable expectations, some of it company generated but a lot of it self generated. One plus for me is that I can go and have a cold one in the sunshine and bitch about it rather than sitting in the pouring rain before disappearing into a 200' cloudbase for the rest of the day.
Good luck.
Cerberus
