A trailer in a parking lot, or EK? To each his own.

[nolimitholdem]

This article was making the rounds of EK pilots, with the suggestion that EK pilots really don't have it that bad by comparison.

LAX parking lot is home away from home for airline workers (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lax-colony20-2009jul20,0,4549617.story?page=1)

In somewhat irony, I can't really even respond to the author or to the mailing list for fear of being identified and punished. So here's a few thoughts for both those at EK and those who think their life is bad because they live in a trailer in a parking lot.

Can we say it is all that bad.

Yes.

Everyone's situation is different of course.

To live in a trailer is not a life goal of mine - but at least it is community, within a familiar culture. For those unfamiliar with the Puget Sound area where one of the pilots profiled has their primary home, it is arguably one of the more beautiful spots on the planet. I live in an apartment tower in the desert with all of the character of a hospital or hotel, with no access to the outdoors, not even windows that open - not that loss of access to the outdoors in Dubai is a huge loss, especially in the summer months. These folks are separated from their families for days at a time. I live for months away from my family, not days or weeks. Surrounded by a bizarre, medieval, backwards, inefficient, corrupt, wasteful, greedy, selfish culture.

There is the small matter of living in a dictatorship vs. an (admittedly flawed) democracy. The United and other pilots live with a lot of job uncertainty - at Emirates we assume our jobs are secure...because...? The transparency of the financial reporting in the UAE? ('nuff said) We have effectively had our own wage reductions in the form of increased productivity, omission of the yearly increment, erosion of our rostering conditions, and it goes on...so not exactly a comparison that flatters us either.

As far as stability or consistency - who knows what condition of our employment will change next, arbitrarily and unilaterally, with the release of a memo? At least at a North America carrier there is the slight CHANCE they will be able to recover a bit of their losses if and when the economy begins to recover. We can only hope for the benevolence of our employer, which is not terribly encouraging.

I am not meaning to sound overly negative. I am thankful for a job, and have had experiences here both good and bad that I would not trade. I would really like to be spared the "if you don't like it, leave" crowd - rest assured, I am making maximum effort to do so. But if posting the article was intended to contrast how much better we have it, it had the completely opposite effect. If I had the legal right to work in the US and there was hiring going on, even under the conditions described, I would leave in a heartbeat. Because on balance it would be a huge lifestyle improvement. For me. And I respectfully realize this is not the situation for everyone.

[hotndusty]

..well said and couldn't agree with you more...

[sanddude]

Mate,

Korean is still hiring on both fleets. Can live whereever you wanna to. The money they pay is enough to buy an even bigger trailer then these guys in the States. My question is, what keeps you here?:hmm:

good luck with the move,

sanddude

[Wiley]

Some probably won't find it hard to believe that for quite some years, there was a male EK flight attendant who lived in a van in the staff car park, while collecting the allowances for living in non company accommodation.

The guy was pointed out to new hire FAs as a paragon of virtue and someone like whom they should aspire to be, because he had never once taken a sick day. That might have been because the only time he ate (and oh, how he ate!! - multiple meals in one sitting!!) was when he was on a flight - or when he ate food he'd scoffed from flights.

Before he took up residence in the staff car park in his van, he shared with another FA, who told me the guy set traps on his window ledge for pigeons. And you guessed it, the only 'homing' those pigeons unfortunate enough to find their way into his traps did was to the cooking pot.

And before someone comes up with, in his best Yorkshire accent: "He lived in van in staff car park?" I know, "Looxury!" But perhaps not all that much 'looxury' during a Dubai summer.

[Old King Coal]

Wiley, you're showing you're age to be able to remember that sketch!..... 'Monty Python - Four Yorkshiremen (http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo)'

[oldpax]

I am not in the avaiation business but use it a lot.Industrial gypsies is the name generally given to expat contracters.I take jobs wherever I can vis agencys and make my own contract vis a vis remuneration.Sometimes I am away for four months sometime three,its all part of the job.Accomodation can be an apartment or hotel or sometimes portakabins(this in the oilfields of Abu Dhabi in the summer).I do it to make money and its served me well for some thirty years plus so we all have choices in how we make our money, if its not up to your standards then change .

[radial090]

No limit

What I take away from this article is that they have a choice!

What percentage of the Ek pilot body would commute and sleep at the airport or in some crappy hotel in deira, if it meant still residing in their home countries, I think a reasonably high would.

[Wiley]

radial, my guess would be that the Deira hotels would have a very high occupancy rate of men (and some women) who wear white shirts and go to work at very unusual times of day.

I know one very senoir pilot who just did his exit interview told HR that if he could do almost exactly what you suggest, (work a roster that allowed him to get back home to his family for a week each month), they could have his services for another five years. I believe the time will come when they'll have to do let pilots do this, but not until they're dragged screaming into accepting it, and that time is definitely not today.