Jet2 back in town.
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 195
Likes: 0
From: Far, Far Away
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
From: Essex
I made the Move from EK to Jet2 eight months ago and I’m very happy I did. I enjoyed my seven years in Dubai but didn’t realise how fatigued I was. My sleep patterns took several months to recover. I’m now flying out of a base 30 minutes from home and spend much more quality time with the family. The recent 3% and £3000 rise on the basic helps but the tax man takes a fair slice! All in all the lifestyle is so much better and sustainable in the long term. The salary is comfortable. I have my life back and the wife and kids are very happy.
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 62
Likes: 0
From: Europe
Good to hear Ngenfire, sounds like you made the right move for you and your family.
Could you shed some more light at things like salary, pension and rosters in Jet2. I’m sure it’s seasonal and base dependent, but from your own point of view.
Also, I’m assuming you joined as a DEC - did they bond you for the typerating?
Thanks
Could you shed some more light at things like salary, pension and rosters in Jet2. I’m sure it’s seasonal and base dependent, but from your own point of view.
Also, I’m assuming you joined as a DEC - did they bond you for the typerating?
Thanks
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 79
Likes: 8
From: LGW
Spanish Base
You are better off joining at a UK base as all pilots based in Spain are on Zenon contracts. This means no pension, no LOL cover, no healthcare, no profit share, and lots of airport standbys.
Caveat emptor.
Caveat emptor.
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,034
Likes: 2
From: UAE
Yorkshire Pudding, I'm no defender of EK and your maths is about right (the gap is closing so fast it will be the other way in a few years) but, just for a bit of balance, what was the profit share at Jet2 this year?
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 928
Likes: 0
From: ex-DXB
Its basically the same amount that a Jet 2 FO will receive in a whole financial year.
£4,500 a month as FO in the UK with anybody can’t be true unless you’re a lifer RHS at BA with at least 5-7 years behind you.
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 56
Likes: 0
From: Northern Hemisphere
Also don't forget at Jet2, you only fly around 700 hrs a year, and that's in a busy base. By the nature of the operation, Summers are busy, but Winters are very quiet, on average 1 flight/week. Money can't buy back time spent in hotels down route alone, rather than being home every night with the family, watching the kids grow up.
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 502
Likes: 0
From: Up North….
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,003
Likes: 0
From: usa
Are you not a Captain at EK with 10-15 years in the company? Not really a fair comparison. You also missed the word advance of the housing allowance. If you left the next day you have to pay it all back. Nonetheless, a good whattsapp picture to send to your mates back in the UK twice a year to remind them how lucky we are to be in Dubai earning all these obscene amounts of cash!
I didn't specify Jet2, I said any half decent jet operator in the UK
And I didn't specify year 1. Anybody coming to EK will have at least a few years experience behind them. A mate at EZY starting his second year as FO clears 4K. Someone in TUI UK with reasonable seniority clears 4.5 - 5k on average, without working any days off.
So my point remains valid. The only difference between a UK Jet FO salary with a half decent operator, and some reasonable seniority, and an EK FO is the accommodation allowance (and hopefully some profit share).
I didn't specify Jet2, I said any half decent jet operator in the UK
And I didn't specify year 1. Anybody coming to EK will have at least a few years experience behind them. A mate at EZY starting his second year as FO clears 4K. Someone in TUI UK with reasonable seniority clears 4.5 - 5k on average, without working any days off.So my point remains valid. The only difference between a UK Jet FO salary with a half decent operator, and some reasonable seniority, and an EK FO is the accommodation allowance (and hopefully some profit share).
No dog in this fight but since profit share was discussed - from May ‘08 to May ‘18 EK pilots have EARNED 51 weeks of profit share.
I don’t expect much over target next year 4.5bn - if at all.
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,270
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From: Cloud Cookoo Land
Sounds simple to me. If you want cash, a reasonable profit share (when it happens) then stay in the left seat at EK. Trade this for everything negative that goes with it - this is what I'm being fed from guys who have left EK. Others may have a different opinion.
Jet2 offers a manageable work life balance with a lot of time spent at home in the winter. Rosters aren't fixed pattern but much more family friendly. The flying is generally all 2 sector days with a return to home base. There has been developments with T&Cs, pension contributions, LOL, medical cover etc. Above all a happy ship with the company making and sustaining healthy profit margins year on year.
BTW, a SFO won't see take home pay hitting £4500 pcm unless he/she has several additional roles - ATI, TRI, CRMI etc. All of which are possible to achieve here, at the present moment in time.
All the best, CK
Jet2 offers a manageable work life balance with a lot of time spent at home in the winter. Rosters aren't fixed pattern but much more family friendly. The flying is generally all 2 sector days with a return to home base. There has been developments with T&Cs, pension contributions, LOL, medical cover etc. Above all a happy ship with the company making and sustaining healthy profit margins year on year.
BTW, a SFO won't see take home pay hitting £4500 pcm unless he/she has several additional roles - ATI, TRI, CRMI etc. All of which are possible to achieve here, at the present moment in time.
All the best, CK
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 582
Likes: 5
From: Alps
If like Craggenmore and BigGeordie all you're interested in is the money side of things and you don't care about how hard you work to earn it and with no set of defined rules and you don't mind living in DXB then EK is the job for you...
But this doesn't suit all of us and in that case there are jobs out there and enough of them that you can choose which one suits you best...
Craggenmore, as a year 2 F/O I now clear just under £4500/month after a 15% pension contribution from both myself and my employer, I get private medical care, LOL and other benefits and thats excluding the subsitence allowances which are far more realistic than the EK allowances. All that is for a contracted 750hrs/year (even though in the last 12 months I have flown less than 600).
Of course that is less than I was earning as an EK skipper especially if you wish to take the live out allowance and profit share into account.
As I said before it all depends on what you wish for, I am less fatigued, spend more quality time at home with my kids and the wife is happy (happy dragon, happy castle). My kids are a lot healthier and getting more streetwise too.
The only thing I miss is some of my mates.
But this doesn't suit all of us and in that case there are jobs out there and enough of them that you can choose which one suits you best...
Craggenmore, as a year 2 F/O I now clear just under £4500/month after a 15% pension contribution from both myself and my employer, I get private medical care, LOL and other benefits and thats excluding the subsitence allowances which are far more realistic than the EK allowances. All that is for a contracted 750hrs/year (even though in the last 12 months I have flown less than 600).
Of course that is less than I was earning as an EK skipper especially if you wish to take the live out allowance and profit share into account.
As I said before it all depends on what you wish for, I am less fatigued, spend more quality time at home with my kids and the wife is happy (happy dragon, happy castle). My kids are a lot healthier and getting more streetwise too.
The only thing I miss is some of my mates.
Last edited by springbok449; 13th May 2018 at 04:43.
Only half a speed-brake
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 4,459
Likes: 136
From: Commuting not home
springbok, just that I read you correctly: You went from a widebody LHS to a narrowbody jF/O, and now spend approx 1/2 of duty time compared to the previous gig and get to sleep always in the same timezone. Correct?
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 928
Likes: 0
From: ex-DXB
Springbok449.
Your asinine comment about me being here for the money is wide of the mark. I’m here for my hobby. The weather allows me to do it 24/7/365. So when £40k appears in one months pay check I’m OK with that, especially as it doesn’t always happen.
I might be wrong here, but if you’re a two year widebody FO, you probably joined BA when they came here, cap in hand 3 years ago, looking for 380 2 stripers, and that would make the £4500 Gross, not Net (and a long haul command non-existent!)
Or or did you join Jade Cargo, China?
You also got me musing so I divided my EK hours as FO and Captain versus months spent in the seat and The averages come to 58 and 76 per month.
So far so good.
Your asinine comment about me being here for the money is wide of the mark. I’m here for my hobby. The weather allows me to do it 24/7/365. So when £40k appears in one months pay check I’m OK with that, especially as it doesn’t always happen.
I might be wrong here, but if you’re a two year widebody FO, you probably joined BA when they came here, cap in hand 3 years ago, looking for 380 2 stripers, and that would make the £4500 Gross, not Net (and a long haul command non-existent!)
Or or did you join Jade Cargo, China?
You also got me musing so I divided my EK hours as FO and Captain versus months spent in the seat and The averages come to 58 and 76 per month.
So far so good.
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 373
Likes: 0
From: DESDI or BUBIN
Close but no cigar, Craggy.
He joined the airline named after what he would be if he if he relied on his personality, rather than being a pilot!
As David Frost once said, if you look closely the clues are there (750 hours a year).
He joined the airline named after what he would be if he if he relied on his personality, rather than being a pilot!
As David Frost once said, if you look closely the clues are there (750 hours a year).