Well Guys,
after reading through all this I did the calculation myself and was damn surprised! In 2006 I did earn ( including housing allowance ) 358.989 AED, and under the new scheme ( including layover allowance ) I would have gotten 452.695 AED.
That's an increase of 26%, if my calculation is right! 2007 will not look like this, I know. Under the old scheme sitting at home and waiting for a license didn't earn you much credit. But, as pointed out from Management as well, the new pay system is supposed to do just that, detach our pay from factors like leave, sick days and waiting for a license. By the way, I flew 538 Hours in the past 12 month... in EK they dream of that!!!
I would rather see some improvement in rostering. One request per month is pretty slim adding that swapping flights is almost impossible and an average 5 days AVBL are 5 days not having a roster!
Overall I'm happy with the company, though I don't know how long I can cope living in the UAE...
Happy Landings everyone....