Sweeping statements that the "majority think it was a good move" do no favours to anyone looking for help.
Silence is not approval .
1500 pilots are happy??? Find that hard to believe ,admittedly based on my own personal experience..
Emirates is a financial trap for many people, almost half of our pilots are still bonded, out of he other half, many are in their last few years till retirement and a move is not a good option, we also have lots of white Africans who would love to go home, same for the canucks..but who to???
We have lost a large number of the people who can move easily, out of the rest, well we have lost quite few of them too..
Being an expat has a certain amount of inertia attached to it, once you are here it is difficult to move. Family to uproot, the actual cost of the move in and out to be factored into the equation, but as the other post says "still they move" , despite of the factors I have mentioned.
Financially it has been a black hole for me, and that is with the prospect of command fairly soon..
Guys joining now , at best guess will be 5 years to command , 5 years on F/o's wages would be a real struggle, not impossible but why put yourself and family through it, like most of us you have no doubt had financial hardship in your career, why do it again voluntarily??
Dubai is what you make of it, same as any place.
Day to day living is survivable for most, apart form traffic, that is not survivable for all
...It's just that when you have to deal with any form of "management" in EK, or any sort of officialdom that involves Locals/Nationals .It can very,very frustrating .It's very hard to keep your cool, at least with our own management you wont end up in jail for being "rude" to them...just lose you profit share
Dubai is built on one premiss..."Fleece foreigners for money...".....it saves the locals from having to work..