Yani,
You bring up some very interesting points. Lets look at them one at a time. You stated that you are a first officer on a wide body 777 and only been there a short time ie less than 5 years. That's pretty good as in here in the US you would not be hired into a wide body to begin with. You further stated that you would have to be there at the very least 36 months to be able to hold again a wide body captain slot or maybe even the narrow body captain slot, again a good thing overall as over here you would need double digits years to hold even a narrow body captain slot. Now the need to have to fly some time in the aircraft they plan to upgrade you in is in my opinion a waste of time and talent. You have proven that you already know how to fly so this the need to further demonstrate that seems unnecessary.
Housing? Months in a hotel then to an apt that may or may not be up to the living standards that you and your family require. I would have to say two things here. First only in the expat world would you even get housing included in your employment package and second it's free to some extent. Now having said I trust in what you are saying that it is no where near the standard of EK. Lets keep in mind that EK is far more established than EY and I would bet that the beginnings of EK were not fun times at all!! I would expect as EY matures it too will become more like EK.
Medical and Dental? Absolutly no excuses in this area what so ever medical and dental for the pilot and family is essential!! EY needs to have coverage that is accepted throughout the country if not the world!!!!!!
Travel to and from work or an allowence should also be a perk of the job I checked in to Air Arabia and they provide at least an allowence. How new is the interest free car loan at EK and did they offer this from the start of that carrier?
I agree with you 100% in that folks really need to do their homework when making a life changeing decision such as this. I am not so sure that EY really has a lot of takers of the job as I keep hearing that there is a steady stream of applicants but many either don't make it or refuse the position. You would be in a much better position to comment on this as I am getting my information second and third hand.
Given the choice to do it all over again minus any emotion would you??
A320PLT