Apples and Oranges.. I suppose so.
Depending on where you intend to live on this Air China contract (which I will look at thanks to this thread) the salary can be TAX FREE. Working for a Chinese company and living in Canada, your salary is not taxed by the Canadian Gov't. With the JFK base, this could work well if you lived in the east of the country... easy commute.
And some of the claims made here with respect to the EK package I think come up a bit short.
For instance .. Since when did EK Skippers get 1st Class Travel? When I left 2 years ago, it was Business Class UPGRADABLE to First, space available of course. F/O's were always Economy, upgradable to Business. And these were ONCE per year, I.E., vacation ticket home. Has this changed? If so, good for you guys!! (Traveling with a family of four, we never got upgraded).
The 12% Company portion of the Provident Fund ( I thought it was 10%?).... You keep it all ONLY if you complete 7 years in the company, 70% after 5 years. If you leave 1 day short of five years, you get zero. Has this changed?
And, as mentioned, the Education allowance can definitely leave you out of pocket, as it did me to the tune of almost 10,000$ (35,000dhs or so) my last year there for my 2 children, education and busing.
And yes, the cost of living in Dubai, as I recall well, went through the roof recently, (with the exception of rent/property but who would buy anything a few years ago.. or now?) Moving back to my home country, (as this basing contract allows) saves me at least, $1000.00 per month on every day cost of living as compared to Dubai, the greater part of that coming from the cost of groceries. And my mortgage rate is just under 3%.
If I have some of the EK figures above incorrect, please feel free to let me know!!
The two biggest negative factors to this Air China contract as I see it is that it ends at year 55, and the roster may be unworkable.
Jinglie'd