Accomodation can be very bad. You have no choice but to accept what they come up with. Typically a lot of guys were sent in the middle of nowhere in Mussafah, the industrial Islamabad, where your wife and daughters will be very welcome by the rappists's community.
Villa's, if you are lucky enough to be a kiwi, otherwise forget about them, housing market in Abu Dhabi is short of around 20000 units a year.
The recruiters have a rare ability to lie at your face.
Abu DHabi, if you are lucky enough to be downtown will be quite alright for your wife and kids, a lot of expats, playgrounds etc... schools are expensive but level is pretty good, except the french one I heard, but who cares....!!
It's safe , except the driving which can really be a threat.
Wather, well it's middle east, don't expect snow except indoor, 4 months are unbearable, your family MUST go away, and you will fly in the heat. the rest of the year is fine.
Inflation was pretty high ( 15 %) but as euro and pound decline that's a bit better but still a concern for most expats. That's one of the reason why people leave.
Job security is a joke, no protection at all
Medical is likewise, so many exceptions that it's even ridiculous to call that an insurance.... just a way to employ locals pretending to do something.
You are there to pay back the salary they give you in various services, like identity card, medical expenses, malls , yearly skyrocketing car insurances, house rents, speeding tickets, next year's VAT, visas for your dependants, staff tickets, community charges etc.... and if you buy a property in this loosing market, interest rate is around 9 % with a 30% downpayment.....you pay it 3 times and you give it back to the locals when you leave..... as you don't own the land, clever...
UAE have also their problems. They have to sustain the locals' way of living , which is , you'll se by yourself, anything but low profile. They spend big time and are refunded by the sheikh on various Eid occasions.
Depsite oil money, expat community is a nice milk producing cow.
Ey management is as bad as the others, not even able to be worse, as a few individuals are not even clever enough .
Training, well, skip it , it's a disaster. a blend of copy-paste bush pilots, hardly able to pass the sim sessions they design.
Rostering ? does it even exist ? I thought it was an abu dhabi urban legend.
Remember you may join the best airline in the world..... How pathetic is it ?
Think twice, it's not that bad, but far from nice either.