Living in Dubai is probably an upgrade for some nationalities but it's a hardship tour for most Americans in my view.
Anyway, some right seat widebody time is probably enough to get you an interview with a U.S. carrier these days. Some folks get hired by cargo outfits like Atlas, get the B-744 P2 type rating, and go to United before they complete OE (formerly IOE).
The only advantage I can think of for waiting to upgrade to 777 captain before trying to get on with United, Delta or American is that you will be ready when the door slams shut, bitcoin crashes and the furloughs start. I'm sure EK will take you back as a DEC, right?
Some Americans went overseas in years past because their airlines went bankrupt and they were too old to get a job in the States but too young to retire. Others did not have a 'collage' [sic
] education required by the major airlines. Still others had 'unfortunate dates of hire' during airline strikes and were on the infamous 'Jumpseat Protection List'.
Originally Posted by
Matvey
If you're moving to a low/no-tax environment, you need a much larger differential to satisfy the "expat bonus" and still stay ahead of the taxman.
And I don't think the 'expat bonus' is there anymore at EK. Five-year FO's at places like Delta make more than Emirates captains and the cost of living is much less. It's been a couple of years since I've been through DXB but it really seems pricey compared to say, five years ago. Of course, you could argue that the supplied EK company 'villas' would be worth a lot somewhere like SFO. And, you don't have to pay union dues at EK, right?
Originally Posted by
WakeTurb_69
If they charge $40k for a service they should train to a pass. Correct?
Lets go even further than that, If its my cheque book on the line...Can I select the trainers I want to be trained by? or the time of day I do my sims?
For those folks who go to U.S. carriers they really do train you to pass the course in my experience. The idea is that you are screened as a captain the day that you are hired and almost everyone passes the command course on the first try. The line operating experience is there to build confidence, not destroy it.
And, perhaps not for the initial course, but after the first year you can indeed bid for your sim times and refuse to train with someone under most U.S. airline contracts.
It's a different attitude from many overseas programs. I've mentioned here before running into the Qantas crew in SEL (before ICN was open). They were bragging that their command training was so good that only about half of the enrollees pass on the first try. I was impressed but not favorably.
