Ok this is my first ever post on pprune and I do so with some trepidation and fear of being blasted for being a troll etc. Anyway hopefully all goes well and if possible I would like to ask if we could keep this to hard facts and figures.
I am personally struggeling to see the issues being raised and there are couple of reasons for this
I currently work for a small(ish) European regional airline. Coming to Emirates as an F/O would put me on more money then captains are making here. I also feel that my monthly outgoings would shrink. Me and my partner spend the equivalent of about 13000Dhs a month on bills. This includes 5000Dhs on a mortgage. I do not see how my bills in Dubai could add up to anywhere near this ammount.
I have seen on here people quoting figures of 5000Dhs-6000dhs a month for food for a family of 4. We currently dont have kids but our food bill for 2 is about 2500dhs a month here in the UK.
I then see the statements about schools. Yes there is state education here but unless you are lucky with schools you are more than likely looking to go private for a good school. I dont know exact numbers but you are therefore looking at potentially 65000dhs a year on schooling and thats with no extra help from my company.
I then read people quoting info about tennis lessons etc for kids costing a lot. Tell me if i'm wrong (preferably in a nice way) but aren't these just costs generally associated with having kids? I would imagine that sort of thing would not be cheap here either.
In terms of flight times and fatigue etc. again things here are not peachy. I am currently away on 5 day trip to then finish late on friday and start again on earlies mon. This is generally my life; what is the equivalent of a 5/2 roster being away at least 3 of those 5 days. We tend to do 4 sector days and personally I find that it is the turnarounds that tire me out the most. When I do get home because my partner works shifts as well more often then not she is at work and I wont see her. I feel that in Dubai at least there would be no pressure on her having to work and so she would be home more when I get back from trips. You also get no support from management and requests for days off being denied.
From a personal point of view I therefore cannot see how my life could not be better in Dubai.
I look forward to the onslaught but hopefully everyone will play nice and maybe stay on topic