cougar77 - the Aerogulf accommodation is definitely not low average - I have a very nice 2 bed apartment in the heart of town. Some are better than others, of course, but nothing is as bad as that of the other companies I have heard about (I have no direct experience of them, but other guys who work here have). The standard of construction, however, is the same as any other building round here - pretty poor!
The pay is lowish, but while there's a queue to join the company, that ain't gonna change much. However, the money in my pocket at the end of the month is higher than a 50K salary in UK as I simply don't have the same expenses (petrol, etc). Granted, buck for buck, it doesn't compare, but the big picture warrants further investigation (note that the local ISP has blocked Skype with their new multi-million dollar software, so phone bills should be considered. Saying the pay is a "joke" is going too far, I think). And yes, I know that all Chief Pilots have "queues" in the shape of a large pile of resumes, but there is a genuine one here.
Bear in mind that the new pilot exams are now JAR-compliant, so allow a long lead time while you study to convert your licence to a UAE one on top of the usual paperwork. The old one that is 5 years out of date has now gone.
Phil