@120ft
Sure you can disagree.
But to be honest, nothing that you write really surprises me(which is sad, I agree
). Have seen (and flown) this 6-8days night shifts back in beautiful QR some years ago. I am sure not much has changed there.
Europe - well, depends where you end up, but such things are possible as well as with JAA things just got worse here. All the rules really just in favour of the operators and not really caring about pilots(and how important it is that fresh, fit crews operate an aircraft).
In my opinion EK just arrived there where most of us are already sitting.
But again - that is NOT just an EK thing you are speaking about. It's modern airline business.
Of course there are still this easy jobs around (but then normally the pay sucks) or you can decide to move onto a part time contract back here in Europe(not everywhere and normally you need to be in the company already for a few years).
But again, you never reach the salary of EK.
So it really depends what you want to do and how you can manage with your family and your sleep schedule.
But clearly the pilot profession has become something not very nice (in my personal opinion).