Thanks LIP-EZE, I agree with your point that people will put up with a lot of BS to stay at home.
Being short of crews and overworked one might think that a large group of Americans coming to Save the Day at Emirates is just what's needed, right?
Well no, the reason people are leaving and quality people are not joining is because of the battering being administered to the EK package, in particular the "cost neutral' revision to the credit system, followed by erosion of buying power due rampant inflation in Dubai, followed by diminishing prospects for First Officers due to the DEC program and so on.
On every flight I have been on in recent months I have witnessed a coversation between flight crew, cabin crew and engineering about the slide in standards within this company. Due I believe to micro cost management by middle management, leading to a devalued product for staff and perhaps more importantly the customer. I understand that middle management take 10% of what they notionally save.
'Keep Discovering' has become a joke catchphrase on the line, and not in a good way.
So, what is the answer for flight crew?
A return to the previous credit system and a salary hike only half way towards the level of the Cathay package would turn this flight ops department around.
Resignations would reduce to a trickle, quality people would want to join again, the DEC program would gradually fade away as it did in the early '90s when EK started to become an employer of choice.
Whatever happens, its going to get worse at Emirates before it gets better. The problem is, it may never get better.
At the moment its a sick airline.