OK lets state the facts Oblaaspop,
If you worked in the UK doing the same type of work for VS or BA you would be getting 4000 GBP Take Home and have more days off.
You would definetly be treated with a lot more respect.
You could even go onto 50% or 75% rosters and pay, which is not an option at EK.
I would not compare British Middland with EK.
For that matter I will not even compare Ryanair, Easy Jet, Jet 2 that some of our colleagues have joined over the last 18 months.
The fact that the Salary is Tax Free does not realy matter as all that counts is how much you take home.
EK pays F Ohs around 3000 GBP.
The accomodation allowance should no be included as most of us who moved to Dubai kept our houses, and most of us chose to keep one of our properties vacant as we needed a place to call home.
Even if you do rent your property out, some months of the year it remains vacant so you do have costs associated with non Dubai property.
The EK schooling allowance is good, although I must admit that I did not have the choice of sending my kids to a public school in Dubai (Not that I would), but back in the UK and any where you come from you have that choice. Public schooling is very good in a lot of places around the world.
Schools in Dubai are good though, we had no problem with JESS.
I would not include over time, because again at VS and BA that changes the salary significantly. People do not join an airline to do over time. If they care about money, they go on contract and get paid loads...
Allowances around the world have been dropping at EK, I remember doing LGWs for 70 quid and when I left they where down to 55 GBP.
It seems that the other airlines have not yet encountered deflation around the world.
All reputable airlines in the UK and in Europe for that matter have a private pension, and they all have private health insurance for their pilots and their families.
The EK Clinic is nothing more than the GP we have in the UK, and I get the same standard of service.
All reputable airlines in Europe allow the use of Jump Seat priviledges, and they allow their employees to be upgraded to a higher class without asking the permision of the Head of State and his mother.
I can live in France and commute to the UK to work, and on my days off I do not have to to ask for permission from fleet management to leave.
I can go into parks with my children with their bicycles as it is allowed, unlike Dubai.
The beaches both in the UK, and in France do not belong to a Sheikh, and I can use them without an EPC card...
My houses in the UK, and in France do not cost 60-70% of what they cost when I bought them.
They cost 200 % more over the last 5 years, and they will continue to grow. This in itself is an extra amount of money that I have and I would not have at EK.
I am not worried about how many thousands of new houses will come on the market, nor am I worried about what George will do in the region, or how many subcontinent people decide to move to Dubai.
More importantly my life does not revolve around Emirates, as I do not live in a very nice company labour camp, and I do not constantly worry about what the new cost neutral policy is going to be.
Emirates policies are an extension of the Emirati view on expatriate workers. We are all "labourers" with a beautification policy to make us believe that we where not. We lived in very nice labour camps, got picked up by company transport, where given a liquor licence and a pilot's club card so that the company could keep an eye on our social life, and where forced to spend our money back in the Dubai Economy as leaving Dubai on short breaks required permission from fleet management, and seat availability which did not exist.
As the Master Card advert goes, living in Europe 3000 Euros, pay taxes
50% of the salary, happiness of self and family priceless...
Keep Discovering....
I realy do hope that EK sorts itself out, as I have good friends there who are top quality and deserve a lot more than what they are getting, and they deserve a better treatment than what EK is giving them. The quality and talent of flight deck crews that EK is blessed with, is unfortunately not appreciated by management, and they realy do not deserve the people they have working for them.
I would not be touching EK at present, unless I was jobless, homeless, or looking for a step on a bigger aircraft as a DEC and then hapily move one to less sandy pastures...
Last edited by formerekdriver; 19th Jun 2006 at 20:20.