To the guys in poo harbour or those considering EK/CX.
Strong advice is that EK will not offer basings in the near future. Put a big X against EK Basings on your list of for/against when comparing the two airlines.
Ditto for commuting in EK.
May happen in the future (EK basings) but at the moment you'll find them somewhere beyond Pluto.
If they do happen, basings will either go to pilots already in EK or to new hires on poor conditions. Remember ASL. So it's not a drawcard at all.
EK does need a lot of pilots and if you're qualified you will get an interview. I suspect they will hire turboprop drivers before they increase the EK package or offer basings.
As for the rest of the gloss, a lot of it comes down to individual choice/needs.
Interesting comment about EK appealing to the newbie CX guy. I can understand looking at 5 vs 10 yrs to command and RA65 issues but in that case, why did the newbie go to CX in the first place?