It's no coincidence that the vast majority of new-hires in the last rush were from Ryanair - by comparison, Emirates feels like a step up (and no doubt is).
But draw your own conclusions from that fact.
Emirates is better than unemployment probably (depending on your country's largesse with unemployment benefits. lol) It's better than Ryanair perhaps, and other various bottom-feeder operators. (Although you have to factor in Dubai, which evens the scales considerably). But I would have to agree with the other posters that leaving your home country and a job there - including even a promised job in a hold pool - would be crazy at this point in time. And in the future, if trends hold. Given the lies of roster relief and relentless grinding down of layover times, allowances, etc, there is no evidence that things will ever do anything but deteriorate.
There is no sustainability for individuals at 90+ hours/month of flying. For the company - maybe. As long as they can find another tube of toothpaste to squeeze until it's empty and discard, repeat.
Pointing to 20-year employees is a farce, as the playing field 20 years ago bears no resemblance to the current one. Hell, the one 10 years ago. 5 years ago. But yes, EK does still pay for your uniform...
