It has a lot to do with it. There is a cost associated to offering better customer service and the airline that receives a subsidy is accordingly better placed to procure a higher standard of cabin crew at higher salaries who are less likely to go on strike or be sullen and surly
I'm sorry Capetonian but I can't agree with that.
I agree that simple logic should dictate that more money=happy worker. But if that were the case, surely BA for example, who are known to have some of the most favourable terms & conditions for their cabin crew when compared to other airlines, should be the happiest, cheeriest most caring bunch in the skies. I can only speak from personal experience, but that is definately not the attitude I have picked up from BA cabin crew in general.
Not only that, Emirates operate in a part of the world where Trade Unions are illegal, so no collective bargaining for improved Ts & Cs meaning the employees are at the mercy of their employer and yet despite this, as someone else has mentioned in this thread, they are heavily over-subscribed at recruitment fairs.
I personally know a few Emirates cabin crew, and they work phenomenally hard, on horrendous working hours for a pretty average salary taking home between £1,200-£1,600 a month give or take.
Yet they keep on smiling and are polite to their passengers.............
Again I say that if anyone is that unhappy with the Ts & Cs on offer with their company that it affects they way they do their job, then they should get a different job...............