Count,
Were you there 10 years ago? Show me a company where the package hasn't slipped. Cathay, BA, Virgin, Lufty?!?
Most of the companies with the great packages are in the US and they are furloughing like mad and in danger of going under. Yep a lot of it is down to 9/11 but a lot more is down to the fact that they pay their employees too much and have mis-managed the US downturn.
Obviously as a pilot I want as much as they can give me. However, I also want a job and EK is providing a reasonably fair compromise at the moment based upon current market conditions. Unlike Gulf in the 80s, not many guys that have come out here have left. The main reason isn't to do with pay or seniority lists, it is to do with the fact that it is no longer a hardship to live in Dubai. If you want the quick cash nowadays you have to go to somewhere else considerably more inhospitable.
But life isn't just about money; I'm off to take my kids ice-skating and then I'm gonna pop down to the Barasti. Nothing like a Mai Tai as the sun disappears
Ghost
