Mid East forum should answer most of your questions. Unfortunately the good ole days of outfits like Emirates and Cathay being the gravy train are now long gone and a distant memory. In fact finding an employer who will pay you even a half decent wage is hard enough in the current climate.
From speaking to mates the pro's of EK are that you get to fly some nice equipment to interesting destinations. Time to command used to be relatively quick HOWEVER management have been bringing in a load of direct entry captains resulting in senior f/o's being side stepped for command. I don't think the money is all that great for LH either. You would earn £72k after not that many years of service flying short haul for any number of Western European carriers. Finally the desert isn't really the place to be these days for obvious reasons.
Check out ppjn for information on salaries but do bear in mind that the top scale quoted is unlikely to be achieved for someone starting out in aviation now. Each and every year terms and conditions are being eroded.