Gulf Air T&c

[NGFellow]

As regards to GF, does anyone here on pprune have kids going to the Intl schools in Bahrain? It seems like St. Christopher's is quite popular, however, the tuition is around 900 BD per term (3 terms= 2700 BD plus plus). The allowance listed is BD 1500. Is that total or per school going child? Either way you have to fork out a minimum of 1500BD per year per child out of pocket.

Also the housing allowance of 750BD equals to around USD 2800. Is it fair to say that a truly nice 3-4 bedroom villa will run you around USD 4,000?
Plus utilities.

Is there a pension plan or retirement? Not listed on the pjn website.

Thanks.

[Panama Jack]

Sadly, no pension plan or retirement scheme at Gulf Air for non-GCC nationals, only an end-of-service indemnity, so you will have to do your own retirement financial planning.

Fortunately, if you are keeping your costs of living in check, maintaining regular contributions to some sort of scheme of your choosing is very possible. I deal with Zurich International, and until now have been very pleased with this arrangement.

Although I am very pleased overall with my T's and C's at Gulf Air, this is an area where the Company could improve. I believe Emirates has some sort of a scheme although I am not very familiar with the conditions.

At the same time, I do take some satisfaction with knowing the score and doing my own planning, after seeing what happened to pension plans at a number of US Carriers, where guys for years thought that their T's and C's package included a pension plan, but their company used that money for daily operations and when Chapter 11 rolled around, the piggy bank was actually empty. I am surprised that lynch mobs were not formed.

[Che Guevara]

NG
The schooling allowance has increased but will not cover 100% for sure. The problem in the Gulf is that 'independent education' is a huge business, captive market etc. The overseas allowance for boarding schools is still quite good, depending on which country you send them to of course.

Houseing allowance is adequate in comparison to one or two other Gulf airlines, however the whole face of this has beeen changing so fast throughout the Gulf where greedy landlords are having their day with little legislation to protect the tennant...rip off the expat syndrome I suppose, but hey, we chose to come here so.

I don't know what your standard of living is or what your interpretation of a 'truly nice 3-4 bedroom villa' is. However I personally have what I think is a 'nice' 3 bedroomed villa with an adequate garden with access to a squash court, tennis court and a pool...no golf course though...I pay 650 BDs for this at the moment.
PS... if you are smart you will have a 'truly nice 4' bedroomed house or two in your own country...this is after all why we become expats is it not.

EPR set and others

One Year Basis Salary added towards final settlement. Egilibilty period for this is minimum 3 years with the company.

This statement is incorrect. It should read; one months basic salary for every year of service I think. This is quite similar to what a lot of expats are given in the Gulf. Emirates have a ''provident fund', however if the bottom falls out of it, they will get a minimum of their 'end of service benefits', which I believe to be the same as I outlined, or similar.

Chao

[NGFellow]

Thanks for the informative posts. Are you guys F/O's or Capts? How many hrs do you average monthly, and how many days off, overnights on average. Is all the training done in Bahrain?

[Trader]

Be VERY careful with housing. You will NOT find something nice for 650BD. A few years ago you would have but the rents have gone up considerably. When I left we were paying 620BD/month and the new tenants are paying 800BD - and I owuld say our house was OK. It certainly was not fancy. If you are serious about GF bring your wife for the interview and try and spend a few extra days. Call an agent and spend a few days looking at housing - what is available, where and how much. THEN make the decision with your wife.

Idemnity - you get half a months pay for each of the first 3 years. After that you earn one month of pay for each year of service. If you leave within 3 years you get none of it. If you leave between 3 and 5 years you get half of that. After 5 years you get the full amount (ie. 1/2 month for the first 3 years followed by one month pay for each successive year).

Expect schooling to go up 10-15% a year.

[Che Guevara]

Trader, I thought you left...
I guess I don't live 'somewhere nice' since I only pay 650 BDs, perhaps not up to your standards, but I can assure you it is quite 'nice' and there are many more who live in 'nice' houses in the 700 bracket, perhaps you were'nt invited to visit, wonder why, oh well.....adios.

Noticed you have started 'dogging' EK already....good luck, we don't miss you.

[Sal-e]

Good riddance Trader. Us who've decided to stay do so by choice. Stay where you are and continue being the bitch that you've proven to be.

[Spirit]

Whoa, Big fellas, let's hold them horses now...

What I believe, Trader is saying is, that whatever acommodation we are living in, would have to be rented at a substantially different price today, compared to what we are paying now, provided we initiated the renting of it maybe 2 years ago.

There is, I believe, something written somewhere about prices under the same contract only allowed to be raised by 10% on renewal.

I'm paying 550 BHD for my 3-bedroom'er, but have recently been told, that should I start renting it today, the price would be nearer to 800 BHD.

I'm kinda sorry for the harsh replies towards Trader on this account, because I don't think, he might be that far off...

[bird dog]

Keep it up Trader

I also think Trader is 100% right!! I live in a OK 3 bedroom villa and I pay BD650, it is a 2 years old contract and if you want to sign a new contract for the same one it will be BD 800. By the way Trader has always been very honest and by no means bitching in his previous posts; I witnessed by chance he trying ask managers about issues and then posting on pprune. Very professional in the way he posted here, totally different than the majority of people spreading nonsense rumours. If the truth is not honourable for GF, then it is not his fault...

[Trader]

Che - as I said, if you have been there for a few years and with the increased housing allowance your house will be covered. One 10% increase and even you will be paying out of pocket. For the new guy just joining it will be difficult WHICH is why I suggested he actually look around. If he can find something suitable - great. If not then at least he and his family can make an informed decision.

By the way - not dogging EK at all. Happy as hell I made the move and would never look back. But then again I never hid behind a handle on pprune.

Sal-e - hmmmmm..OK I see. If you leave you're a bitch. That kind of logic will get you a long way.

[ironbutt57]

With proper shopping, and a bit of "right time right place" luck it is possible to find decent accomodation within the allowance figures....but as a general rule, you will probably have to make a personal contribution above and beyond the amount....and I would submit that this is the case with ALL employers here in the gulf..reading these pages it looks like the EK housing utopia is crumbling as well...and the fellows west of there have had issues from day one...

At least here in BAH one doesnt have to pay the year in advance, and rental properties do come with the appropriate fixtures and basic amenities...

[tbaylx]

Sale

Trader was there a long time before you and knows what he's talking about...just cause a guy left the company doesn't mean he can't provide factual information.

GF has it's good and bad points like all the others...at least let a guy who has been there make an educated statement without jumping down his throat cause he left for what was a better opportunity for him. Getting tired of you jumping to GF's defense every time a guy who isn't there anymore has something to say..give it a rest. Their opinions are just as valid as yours.

[Bombay HF]

IB during our time in Bahrain we made friends with people in the Finance business as well as a couple involved in engineering and their employers coverered their accomodation costs 100%, often in 1000BD + villas.

Sal-e before you get your command i hope that do something about your anger management issues otherwise you'll make a terrible Captain. You have a long history on this forum of abusing people for simply having a view contrary to your own.

[ironbutt57]

Yup I remember the day when I had a very nice villa on a nice compound for 550BD...and marvelled at the "banker's compounds" where people paid an astounding 1000-1200 bd per month!....the same house at my former compound now goes for that! (and the house is 5yrs older as well) my my how times change...and not for the better..but at least the GF housing "contribution" I'll call it pays a much higher percentage of the rent, and in fact like Che mentions..you still can find decent places within the limits..but one must know how and where to do it...not as easy as it was before for sure...but better than the UAE

[brassplate]

Bombay HF,
i hope you're not gonna be assessing ppruners for command eligibility. a lot will be ducking for cover.
tbaylx,
are you really getting tired of people speaking their mind?
Sal-e,
how long you been at gf? one, two years? i can see it's starting to have an affect on you. better get some r&r before it's too late.

[DesertHawk]

tbay....understand what u are saying. SAL-E comments are not valid this time. I think the more relevant point is that people in general are sick of Traders continual negative comments about GF and our future. Whether he is right or wrong is not the point. For instance look at the post the other day about the article on GF. Totally uncalled for bashing and imop unprofessional. I understand that "Trader" has some expereince here and would like to share it, ie housing, which as a new comer I would appreciate. Other than that his opinion on our future and how GF runs should be kept to himslef.

[Che Guevara]

Hey Trader
Sorry I was so abrupt ....had a long long day. You were spot on with your info re. the indemnity by the way.
The rest of it, well I could have taken it the wrong way I suppose, however, like IB says if you look around, you can still get a 'nice' place for the amounts quoted.
By the way, we all use handles on this board, and no I don't have to hide behind mine thankyou, be glad to speak to you next time I see you. Quite frankly, some of us are just a little tired of people that have left coming back on to slag / dog GF etc. if only to justify their decisions I guess. The very same people who came looking for jobs, type ratings or what have you, saw another opportunity and took off, well good luck to them all, all we wish is that they would move on and stop bothering us. Last but not least, the bond jumpers....well nobody held a gun to their heads as far as I know, they made an agreement, willingly signed a contract and then broke it, in most cases this is simply not right I'm afraid.

Those of us that work here and have stayed here like the place obviously and just want to get on with it. We are all aware of the chinks in the armour, but as you probably know by now, there are serious 'chinks' even where you are.

Anyway, good luck.

Chao

[brassplate]

i guess that is the sentiment of most who stayed behind at gf, simply fed up of ex-gulfairies bad mouthing the company of their choice. in particular, the bond-jumpers who knowingly signed a bond but with the very intention of bailing when they got some time up.
Trader has been a reasonably balanced source of helpful info for most. keep it up. ease up on the chap guys.

[Trader]

Che - fair enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cheers for that. The point of my entire post was to tell the guy to take a look at housing with his wife. Get out and look around and see what you can get. IB is right with some luck you will find something and maybe that something is acceptable to the wife (which is usually the final authority )

DeserHawk - if you look at all my post regarding GF the vast majority are positive. I did and still do like GF - just was not for me because I could never trust the future. My post the other day was not to slag those guys who are still at GF because I hope things work out well for them and, for that matter, all the pilots at GF. We're all the same regardless of where we are - trying to make a living as best we can. Having said that, I still believe that, outside of GF Flt Ops, the place is a mess and my 'other' post was a response to the article in that vein.

As for keeping opinions to ouselves - it is a forum and I simply responded to what I believe was a rather funny article. Even in that post I said that GF will survive - so it certainly is not harsh and there is most certianly no intent to 'hurt' the pilots at GF.

Again, as I said above, my advice to the guy was to come and look at the housing situation himself. TOO many of us did not and got caught in the process. And that, simply put, was my advice to the guy. Simple really.

[brassplate]

23 and a half months basic pay.