Gasnhaul..
You say you don't like only 8 days off a month? Then Ek is probably not going to make you happy.
It's not just the ridiculously unsafe rostering that you have to deal with… it's the complete company culture of punishment at the silliest things to westerners that you just roll your eyes, shake your head and deal with it… as your only recourse is to leave.
And don't forget… if you DO want to leave there's this little thing called a bond which as I understand it is now at a whopping 50K Dollars US if you decide to leave before that 3 year bond is paid off.
Leave is advertised at 42 days per year but seldom given due to the shortage and there are some instances where you'll get them in groups of 5 days only, which for some or most, equates to not much more than a long weekend.
Finally, your rostering at your airline is better than at EK believe it or not in that you mentioned you get a few weeks off every other month or some such? No such thing at EK… you'll fly your 97 hours per month of unsustainable rosters month after month with absolutely no breaks until that coveted vacation comes around 6, 7 or 8 months later. You're a complete zombie by this time.
Oh, and that vacation that you need so badly?? It's not credited at all so if you have 2 weeks vacation for example, the other two weeks Ek will completely squeeze every single second of time in there to make you fly around 60 plus hours during that two weeks. Same with sims… no credit so you'll fly much more during that month.
There is SO much more to EK that what you see… kinda like the tip of the ice berg syndrome. There's a lot worse that you simply don't see nor will you be able to really digest from what those of us who've experienced it, endured and tried to explain to fellow countrymen asking us what it's like at EK. It's like nothing you can even imagine. Great crews to fly with, all extremely professional and that was one thing that kept me going for time there. The flying operation will be similar but that's about all thats similar.
My two fils
Kap