Two different sides of the same story, EK is what you make of it, as simple as that. The same applies to Dubai.
I would never tell anyone not to come to EK simply because I know a big numbers of guys who are happy here. Personally EK and Dubai worked well for me, I was mostly happy about the way I was treated by the company during my time here, except for some occasions while in training events . But the time passed and now I'm tired and after over 30 years flying I need a lighter job. Boeing rosters are good when you talk about the top bid months, mainly with a reasonable seniority. But they can be horrible in your bottom bid months. I don't mind flying 90 hours if I have 12 to 15 days off plus a few rest days or arrivals just after midnight. That's the Big Bus life every month. But I'm Boeing and flying 90 hours with just seven days off is something I can't do it for long anymore, and I had that recently.
Besides that I have to admit that after over 20k hours of experience in airlines I want to have piece of mind when it comes to my recurrent PPC's. I'm tired of having to regain my job every six months. The uncertainty of how your sim rides will be is what makes me unconfortable. My two last PPC's were amazing, really positive experiences, but unfortunately you just know that for sure when it ends. I had other ones which were quiet painful and even though I managed to pass they were simply horrible experiences.
Money wise as it was already said here is quiet good, but it's becoming harder and harder to save money due to the escalating prices for anything you need. FO with children saving money? Well done Aviation enthus, this is really not easy.
Company accomodation isn't bad at all, lot's of internal space and not the worst areas in town. MS and MH have small garden areas, but still have very generous internal areas. I don't think too many pilots could afford to live in villas of the EK average size before coming to Dubai. The building standards are not great, but acceptable, and at the end of the day it's not yours and EK pays for all maintenance. All your bills related to the villa are paid by EK as well, even the gas for your BBQ. So it's definitely not "rubbish" as Kobus mentioned. By the way if Aviation still saves money with four children you should tell him he's a magician, if you want, but not hit him hard.
I left company accomodation for a much better standard a long time ago, but this isn't viable today. Even you manage to buy something really nice the bills and the interest will kill most of the alllowance, if not all. The option now (my opinion) is to buy a 3 bed townhouse for just over 2 million dirhams and make every expense fit inside the allowance. By doing this you just spend the down payment and then EK will pay the rest. Once you leave you sell the house and take all the money back home. But keep in mind that this choice means a downgrade in terms of space, though not necessarily a downgrade in terms of community standards.
Savings are possible, but it depends a lot on your choices in how to spend your hard worked for money.
I was visiting a friend in the Meydan South a few days ago and I've seen a Ferrari that looked quiet new parked in a colleague's garage next to his villa. That's a good example of someone that most likely don't save much, cause that toy probably costs him more than 4 children. Ferraris are not very common in company accomodation but Porsches are everywhere and they're not cheap at all. Fancy sport cars are the most common way of burning your money, mainly if you buy a brand new one.
So my advice to all that are planning to come to EK is to look at YOURSELF and YOUR family and decide if it's going to be worthy for YOU, considering YOUR priorities and YOUR future plans. Don't let others decide what will be your future life.
Unhappy people use to come here more often than the happy ones, keep that in mind as well!