dubaigong - where I come from ones 'take-home pay' is what one gets to live on, after taxation deductions (
which are not applicable in the UAE) and prior to deductions for ones personal living expenses (
e.g. mortgage / rent, transport, bills, etc)... and that's why I used this term and have shown the figures accordingly (
above).
Imho, it does
not matter what ones 'salary' is. What matters is how much you end up with in the bank every month - for which I have candidly highlighted my own figures.
Having received ones monthly salary AND ALLOWANCES, how one then choose to dispose of it is entirely up to oneself (
and that's the deal we have with flydubai).
E.g. I could choose to live in a big apartment on The Palm Jumeirah
(I did that for 1 year; it cost me a fortune! ) or I could move to a more modest location and pocket the difference (
nice!).
The same is also true for ones method of transport. E.g. one could choose to forego buying a car and instead get taxis everywhere (
which are certainly plentiful in Dubai) or one could get a car loan (
also easily obtained) or one could simply buy a car outright. I own my own car (
which was showroom new as of 2 years ago) and so now the 4,000 Dhs per month that flydubai provide for my 'transport allowance' is put towards its running costs (
which are minimal) and / or whatever else I choose to spend it upon.
So
yes, the above figures
do include my Housing & Transport allowances but, after paying out for each of these + various household bills, I'm usually having to scrape by on just 46,000 Dhs ($12,500 USD) per month... uhm, I just don't know how I manage ?!
And, fwiw, prior to moving to flydubai I was offered DEC with a number of other Middle East wide-body operators, but I turned them down as I've played the long-haul (
away-from-home-all-the-time) game before, and don't care for it.
Dare one ask if Emirates pilots got the bonus you mentioned when EK had been operating for just 2 years ?! (
nb. flydubai operated it's 1st commercial flight 2 years ago today). If so, good for them, and therein we'll have to work upon getting the same for us too at flydubai !!
ATB,
OKC
Ps. Since making that post above, I've been inundated with PM's for additional information about joining flydubai and / or living in dubai. i will write something to (
hopefully) address all those requests within 24 hours.