EK travel benefits?

[jetdriven]

Does Ek provide travel benefits for the employee and family on EK? Can you and your family non-rev on EK anytime you want?
Does EK have a web site where employees can check the actual loads on EK flights and the stand by/non rev priority list?
Does Ek partecipate in the ZED agreement with the other ZED airlines?

[fatbus]

yes, yes and yes(loads on trips)

[Wiley]

Can you and your family non-rev on EK anytime you want?If - (a huge word in this case, 'if') - there's a seat available. They frequently are not. Jump seat for family (or yourself, or another pilot) is an absolute no-no - unless you're management, and then the impossible becomes possible.

The load prediction page on the crew portal can all too often be near to useless, as it can often bear little to no resemblance to the actual load.

[atiuta]

The load details are accurate enough.

Management don't get the jump seat, well maybe the top 3 guys and like they will need it, duh. That rule was in place before you joined so quit the beef.

We cannot check the nonrev/priority on load, just how many are booked.

Staff travel in Emirates is very good, but the flights are usually full. Creative planning will provide options.

It's not an American scheme, although I know which airline & class I would rather travel with.

[Alconguin Crusader]

Emirates staff travel is not good! I don't know where you come from but it is not what it should be or even could be.
The airline charges you an arm and a leg just to travel in economy. If you have young kids you will stuck in sterage with all the other #$%&*@ and you can almost guarantee that a smelly 3rd world #$%&*@ will be sitting right next to you on your 14 hour flight to NY. Once you get to captain then you and the kids can go J class but then again the cost of the ticket goes up.
As an employee you also have to wait 6 months after you are hired before you can use your tickets. Those 6 months will go by fast but still a hinderance none the less.
And as has been metioned in the above posts: no jump seats, crowded airplanes, check in staff that are insanely jealous because you are leaving the country and they are not. You get the point.
When staff travel is a profit center for the airline you know something is wrong or at least that gives you an insight to the airline you want to work for. Making money off its employees.
I am disenchanted with the airline that is true (full disclousure) but I what I say in the above is true.

[Backwater]

The previous poster is being a bit harsh on staff travel.
Yes the company makes a small profit from it, however if the ticket prices seem expensive it is most likely the taxes (which are not discounted). There have been issues with check in staff in the past but generally they have been competent and fair. The biggest problem is issuance of boarding cards 30 mins b4 departure and having to race the 2km to the gate whilst carrying children etc.
As they have always stated, a successful airline and easy staff travel are mutually exclusive. Which would you rather - a secure job, or plenty of empty seats for your Cat A subload travels?
:)
Oh, and I note the previous poster has just joined us from the US. My friend did you not read this forum and take note of all the minuses of an expat life? There are been several years of feedback on this forum. True, some wildly inaccurate and overly emotive but mostly accurate and useful to anyone contemplating leaving home to live abroad. Whilst I sympathise with your feelings EK are not to blame.

[Wizofoz]

AC,

Out of interest, how many FREE, upgradable tickets did your previous airline give you?

[Alconguin Crusader]

Many free upgrades from day one of employment. If you did not call in sick for the whole year you and your wife got two free first class tickets anywhere in the system. If you did something well and the company caught wind of it there was another first class ticket. I received a free first class ticket for giving a tour to some Cub Scouts after my flight. And if by chance I ran out of free upgrade tickets it only cost me roughly $15 for a frist class seat domestically and $50 international. If that was too much for my tastes I could always go coach for FREE.
Just because you are a DEC and are enjoying your time in the sand Wizy don't try and forget about the real world. Don't forget we have to put up with a lot more crap then you have had to but thanks for you concern. I just wished you showed the same amount of concern for us before you deceided to come as a DEC.

[Wiley]

Management don't get the jump seat, well maybe the top 3 guys and like they will need it, duh. That rule was in place before you joined so quit the beef.At the risk of blowing my Pprune cover completely, (if it's not blown already), I carried a middle manager - certainly not one of the 'top three' - in the jumpseat at the request of Network Control only a week or two ago.

His comment at the end of the flight was enlightening: "I'm going to suggest all regional managers fly in the jump seat so they can see how hard you work." (No irony involved. Major ATC screwup had us imitating one arm wallpaper hangers on the descent.)

[Alconguin Crusader]

LR3 it has nothing to do with right or wrong just pointing out the problems of Emirates and their staff travel program. As we all know it could be a lot better and should be better.
I don't where Emirates ranks in the world order of airline employee travel but it is not what some of us are used to.
I guess I could lighten up a little but I am just sounding the alarm of the ills of coming to the sand. As metioned before if EK did not have all the "bonds" I would be returning stateside.
Hope Emirates changes the policy but we all know Emirates and how they operate.

[atiuta]

Wiley,

The manager you carried, was that for pleasure or business? I presume the carriage was for duty travel in which case it's perfectly legitimate.

Making comparisons,

If the American system is so good, WTF are so many of them over here?

Damn if what they left was as good as some of them claim it to be, then that would make them pretty stupid to be here. Stupid as GWB I guess?

[Dropp the Pilot]

Dearest "Alconguin" (sic)

If you have convinced yourself that Emirates has a training bond your basic finance understanding is on par with your countrymen who have graced the entire world with the subprime idiocy.

If you would be so kind as to post a facsimile of the personal check you wrote to Emirates for your "bond", I will personally pay it off for you if you promise to stop posting your vitriol-laced self-pitying damp squibs.

[jetdriven]

Thank you all for the info provided so far.
As an example, could anybody post how much it would cost to non-rev from DXB to VCE, routrip for 2 adults. Does anybody know if EK normally overbooks reservations, and if so by what percentage? Also, if coach is full, will a non rev pax be accomodated in business or first class, if that's all is available? Thanks.

[nolimitholdem]

Bond? What Bond?
Dearest "Alconguin" (sic)

If you have convinced yourself that Emirates has a training bond your basic finance understanding is on par with your countrymen who have graced the entire world with the subprime idiocy.

If you would be so kind as to post a facsimile of the personal check you wrote to Emirates for your "bond", I will personally pay it off for you if you promise to stop posting your vitriol-laced self-pitying damp squibs.

Don't be a pedantic jackass. That $36,000 USD in your contract pro-rated over 36 months is a training bond in everything but name and only "idiocy" would try and suggest otherwise. Trying to use the US financial crisis as a cheap excuse to take a potshot is pretty weak. The UK market is in even deeper trouble as the housing prices there rose a lot more...

Back on topic...EK staff travel does suck.

In actual fact compared to a lot of other airlines the staff travel here is ok.(if you can get a seat).

Kind of a crucial proviso, non?! :=

[OrryFace]

As a long time pprune lurker, why is it that all threads (like this one!) go so quickly off track ?
ie - it goes like this:

a) reasonable question
b) possibly reasonable reply
c) moan about pay and conditions (unrelated)
d) moan moan moan about the person above who moaned about the pay and conditions
e) moan about the moaner of the moaner
f) moaner moaner told to shut up by new moaner
g) new poster tries to bring it back on track
h) new moaner introduces new moan about, yep, pay and conditions
i) etc etc etc ad infinitum

So, in an effort to be example g) and bring this back on track -

to check 'approximate' loads on other airlines try www.iddeals.com (http://www.iddeals.com) then you can try one of the other gulf carriers if EK is full.

Apologies for not moaning...I'll think of something to whine about next time!

[atiuta]

Point of order Paddy.

I'd like to moan that you have incorrectly interpreted my post. I was expanding on an answer that said "Yes" x 4, to give a broader answer to the first post.

...now stop moaning and go back to growing potatoes and brewing Guiness.

[White Knight]

Never been bumped, always made it on to the flights I wanted... Just plan ahead a little - no brainer really:hmm:

EK lawyer - on ALT then ALL the family gets the lounge invite (if you're captain that is). I've also been given lounge passes when travelling subload.

[fatbus]

ALT childred under 16 NOT allowed in lounge and when was the last time in DXB anyone got the lounge on a subload, that was a long time ago.
You will not get upgraded in Y is full and there isroom in J/F.
You really have to pick your days and trips , many flts full/full/full

[White Knight]

Well, on my last ALT flight my kids (under 16) were given lounge access both here in DXB and at the other station...........

Indeed, pick your days and flights - seems to work:ok:

[planesmack]

I have been back and forth to the US at least 16 times on Emirates over the last four years. Check the loads and pick accordingly. Yes I have not been on several flights that I thought I would have been and I have hauled myself and my luggage to an Airport hotel and successfully gotten on a flight the following day. Yes I have had to pay several dollars to change confirmed US flights to another day. HOWEVER, a 14 week profit sharing check way exceeded monies I was out attempting to non rev. If you have to be somewhere, May I suggest you buy a real ticket.

Also use your ALT wisely. If you are planning to be somewhere else besides Dubai in the summer, thats probably the time when you need your ALT and use subload A's or Cat C at less traveled times of the year.