Okay, anyone is welcome to pm me if I don't manage to answer all your questions..I'm british so will say how much I earned in pounds, even tho we got paid in qatari riyals, it just makes it easier for me to understand if what i was earning was good or crap etc.. The training is thorough with drills and exams nearly every day..We had around 15 on my course and we all got on like a house on fire..we were living and training togther every day for 8 weeks so we had a great friendship between ourselves.. We trained every day except fridays which is holy day so we had a day off..We'd all go out thursday nights to the Sheraton and have drinks and dance etc..fridays we'd go to the malls, shop, eat out or sunbathe by the pool..me and my co british trainees did anyway..
I got my wings finally and then 2 days later 9/11 happenend but our jobs were safe..
We had layovers regularly and the 9 day bangkok with the internal turnaround to manila came around every 6 mths and you can request certain flights with your friends if you wish..The more layovers you do, the more you'll get paid..
On average, bearing in mind this was 2001-2002 I was earning (no tax remember) around £1300 a month no outgoings as accommodation is all paid for..paid in riyals into my qatari bank account..They have a huge HSBC out there which I was a member of in the UK so I could transfer my money into there and then into my UK account if I wanted.
Qatar is a nice place, well in my opinion..The malls are clean, people friendly, taxis so cheap, no crime..The only thing that bothered me was the stares off the arab guys..single white female and they're obsessed..but they would never touch so I got used to it..
It was easy to swap flights if you wanted and bear in mind the rostering dept swap your rosters around weekly so keep checking to changes in schedules..
Akhbar Al baker is like someone said a little hitler but he is hot on professionalism and I took pride in working with professionalism..Yes, theee was the odd occasion when a girl got fired for having a button missing on her jacket, a girl got grounded to the business lounge til she'd lost weight and there were breathaliser tests done..4 girls got sacked on new years day due to still being intoxicated...so bear in mind..these people take no sh*t from anyone and there's no such thing as unfair dismissal or 2nd chances..
I left for personal reasons, I met a guy out there (american), fell in love blaha blah blah and moved back to the UK but I miss qatar every day and we're hoping to move back out there or dubai as it would be great to bring up our 18mth old son..great health care, education and no crime..If it wasn't for meeting my hubby I'd still be flying now and maybe for the emir...
If you don't try it you'll never know but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm glad to say, even now that I'm married and have a son, that I saw the world, my other mates haven't done that!!
Good luck and pm me with any questions, however silly they seem to you..xx