Hello mate,
I will try and be honest and neutral here. I can only speak for EK.
Gave up a command to come here as an FO. I was talking to a colleague the other day that did likewise. He was saying that had he known what the reality was here he wouldn't have come.
As you say, money-wise is a no brainer. You WILL get transferred more cash to your account at the end of every month and always on time working here. That's the beauty of it, total job security (unless you screw up, then you will be "resigned" as we say here) and a very decent pay and allowances.
Now, in papers it all looked good to make the move when I looked at it a few years back before I left my old airline.
If there's one thing I have learnt in the sandpit is: it's not only about money.
Unfortunately, they think it is, but us who come from developed countries we know is not. I rather live with 2000eur back home than with 5000 here. Why? Because they are worth exactly the same.
Emirates has been very clever eroding the T&Cs "as the business could support" and neglecting to update our pay and allowances while the UAE soaring inflation is averaging just under 20% a year. Even our President admitted that on a missive not that long ago.
As the aviation in the GCC countries expand, there's less and less of the cake to take for each airline. Ok the cake is growing but the number of airlines with huge plans is growing too and there's a limit to this. Example: Emirates has grown considerably in size in the last 3 years but is struggling to make the profit that was making 3 years ago.
Talking about upgrades, there's all sort of theories around PPrune. You can either believe or not. But there's one truth: seniority means nothing. EK fleet transfers (now for the airbus guys to the 380 and in the past) have created a situation in which people 6-7 years in the airline are still to get their upgrade chance whilst people 3.5 years in the airline are getting their command interviews.
If you ask me, a new joiner on either fleet will be looking at 8-10 years for command. Think that EK needs to have a pilot workforce of about 6000 pilots (against 3500 today) before this person gets a chance (taking into account high attrition rates like they have at the moment).
So to answer your question, would I leave my developed country legacy or no legacy pilot job for coming here? No, definitely not for the experience and definitely not for the thrill. I would do it for money, maybe, but taking a huge commitment to save as much as possible with plans to bail out in the middle-term and knowing that my lifestyle is gonna receive a big hit (with the prices as they are in Dubai).
I hope I am wrong, but I just don't see things getting better here for us. I believe we should be happy if they stay the way they are. And the reason is simple: the business is having difficulties to be as profitable as what it used to be. The 12-week bonus times are gone. I think we will keep our jobs but we will be struggling just like everyone else does. And fighting with a soaring inflation. And for that, I rather do it in my green, relatively fair, developed, educated, legislated country.