This thread is hilarious. People here saying go to EK. In EK thread everyone says you are nuts to join EK. MAKE UP YOUR MIND.
I think the arrow here is misfired. May I suggest that for most people advising against an airline is more of a case of advising others of the negatives as too many deliberately put on the rose coloured glasses, take a healthy dose of "SJS", and see their choice as sunshine, rainbows and frolicking unicorns....
My experience has been that almost all pilots make a (career) decision with the knowledge that from all they've seen, read and heard from trusted sources that it is the right and best LONG TERM decision. The words "long term" are key words. Those without the same experience (maturity or industrial) will do so based on pure self, short term interest.
But when the contract you were offered & mutually signed is laughed at by management, the union you trust to protect your rights and contractual terms both now and in the future is more of a self serving department for the elected committees, your lifestyle is not what the agreed terms and conditions were, then you have a right to be angry and upset.
It's the expats who come to a new country, a new company who whine loudly about getting exactly what they asked for: the type who would still do so if the free beer was chilled to 9.5 deg and not 10 deg. So you go to EK and find out there's no union permitted, it's 49 deg in the shade for 4 months of the year, locals get fast tracked ahead of you, your FDTL's are an extreme version of whipped till nearly dead, Shariah Law.... Or you go to China / SE Asia and find out there's a thing called a rainy season, or pollution, or you're expected to pay a bribe for your promotion, or they're smoking in the cockpit so much so it's a CAT IIIB approach to find your control seat from the cockpit door. Or the Sub Continent, or the US, or Europe, etc, etc.
Those who complain full into 2 categories in my opinion:
1) those who have a right to because they did their due diligence and find their contractual terms treated with contempt and degenerating at the hands of greedy, or corrupt, or incompetent management, or;
2) those who don't have a right to complain as they didn't do any proper research and feel hard done by because the sunshine and rainbows from the pamphlet in no way represents reality. The unicorn was bludgeoned by the new MBA hero in the office. All the while the reality was there for any fool to see had they chosen to look, ;et alone listen.
EK or CX or UA or ANZ or BA or VA or anyone else: what works for one doesn't necessarily work for the other. But don't complain about getting what you asked for. And defend against those who take from you what is agreed to and is legally yours.