Here’s my estimation of a “typical” Airbus 330 roster at Emirates.
Bottom Bid: A full month of night turns with 1 or 2 day turns or a layover if you’re lucky
2nd Bottom: A full month of night turns with 1 or 2 day turns or a layover if you’re lucky
Middle Bid: A full month of night turns with 1 or 2 day turns or a layover if you’re lucky
2nd Top: A full month of layovers with maybe 1 or 2 day or night turns
Top Bid: A full month of layovers with maybe a turn thrown in
I did run across one or two guys in the bottom 3 bid groups who did a little better, but those are outliers, definitely lucky and the exception to the rule. My theory is EK manually loads one to two of those a month to give guys false hope that it’s really not so bad on the Airbus. Most guys I looked at got what I described above. Even the cabin crew know Airbus pilot rosters stink. And don’t think you’re always going to get a layover in your bottom 3 bid months. They only assign you one if they can’t get you enough hours with all the short-hop crap turns you’ll be flying in the middle of the night.
And don’t necessarily count on going to the 340 any time soon to improve your roster. There are a lot of FOs already waiting to go from the 330 to 340. Last I heard, they are only transitioning 4 FOs a month, which of course could change tomorrow. But all the 340-300s are slated to be gone by the end of 2012 whereas EK has decided to keep the 330s so you’ll likely be getting lots of night turns for years to come. Yippee.
On the other hand, when I look at the rosters of mates on the 777 their trips, schedules, destinations and days off look WAY better. To me, the Airbus & Boeing fleets are almost like 2 different airlines. And you’re stuck on the Airbus if you accept it. Fleet transfer is rarely done, and only if it suits EK’s needs.
My opinion: Do yourself a favor. Hold out for the 777.