I am happy here because of several reasons; the aircraft are new(ish), the routes are varied (as in I get to go to lots of interseting places), I am in the left seat (so can afford to live but struggled as an F/O), and mist importantly my wife is happy here:)

However accomodation dept is a mess & most dealings with it are futile:ugh: Construction is everywhere and drives you crazy whenever you want to sleep for a flight.

Depending where you come from & what you are hoping for I would recommend it here.

IVER..
After you have your wide body type stamped on your license and your command hours there is not much here to make you stick around if you come from a safe place to live. After you gain the above the money is simply not enough. The seniority has only a tiny impact. EK has a rotating seniority system and they now have restrictions on how many days off in a row you can bid for when in the top bid groups and manually insert trips on your roster to maximize the work you will do, so commuting is not an option. You will earn slightly more more money with seniority but you will eventually view this as not enough. Time will tell.

777 ccq to 748 but not mff, crewing in the hands of skycargo if you can believe that

fatbus
 

Sorry fatbus, can you make it more clear? thanks
Mfan

B777 pilots will also be qualified to operate HS 748 twin turboprop "budgies"

When you come here to work......

Remember where you are, who you work for, then go with the flow !

I don't believe ccq or mff applies to B777 and B74-8. It will be a short course to convert but I have it on good authority that Boeing chose not to make the two fleets compatible because most of their potential buyers would be B747-400 operators and would prefer the ability to cross qualify crews between the two types.

It is also my understanding that a final decision on who will fly the freighters has not been made yet. They are probably waiting for a decision on the B74-8 pax version.

Ive been here here for 18 months. On the whole I think it is pretty good. Kids love it. My Wife is still getting use to it but definitely as time goes by she is beginning to enjoy it too.
You have to get involved here and keep yourself busy, and as far as I am concerned there is is plenty to do. I am from the UK and was flying widebody before I joined for a UK carrier. This is better! 3 years to command is not a bad incentive...
You do have a lot of late checkins but doing long haul in most places that is the case. People are very quick to knock EK but ask yourself the question "where is it better?" The pay might be declining against the week dollar, but factor in free house, schooling, good medical care, getting picked up from your house everytime you go go to work and the overall package is hard to beat!
Don't listen to all the negative nonsence you read on here. In by view most of the negative aspects could be applied to any airline in some way or another.
If your thinking of applying, give it a go and you might be pleasantly surprised!

If not you'll have left any seniority, lifestyle, home and friends back at home and be stuck here for several years.

A great deal of the 'negative nonsense' is posted from bitter experience.

Come here with your eyes wide open :eek: and and see it for what it really is and not the spin that a great deal of money has been put in to create.

There is nothing given here for free:

• The house? Where else are you going to stay?
  
• Schooling? When there is space it may not be at the school of your choosing and the 'allowance does NOT cover the costs 100%.
  
• Medical care? You and your family will need it.
  
• The transport to and from work? You will be in no fit state to drive yourself after you get back from a trip.

As for the 74-8... the 787 delays will have an impact on delivery.

Haveago, habibi. At the moment you are in the honeymoon phase, your two buckets are fairly shiny, the happiness one is stiil pretty full.
The smelly one with the flies, is rather empty, but trust me the flies will increase as time goes on, as will the contents :( You are a newbie, promotion still to come, reality awaits inshallah!

SyB :zzz:

If people are so unhappy here why not leave?:confused:

its not as though there ain't plenty of jobs available in other parts of the world.

Mind you I heard all the same complaints when working in London ;)

They have left and others are trying to.

The point is that it takes a great deal of time, effort and expense to come here in the first place and it is not that easy to just leave once you have gone through it... in fact is very hard and expensive. This is not another job just down the road where if you don't like it you just move on. It is far more complex than that and Emirates know it and manipulate it to their advantage.

BE WARNED.

Like anything in life some people like things that others hate. There are certainly worse jobs in aviation, and there are better as well. Dubai is what it is, you either learn to live with it or become a bitter unhappy expat.

No one can tell you wether you are going to be one of the ones that like it here or one of the ones that don't. Like any expat job you really won't know until you come here and live it for a few years. There are guys that have been here 6 months and hate it, there are guys that have been here 10+ years and still like it. All depends on you and your family really. EK can change the situation for the worse by messing with rosters and pay etc, but you just have to move on once you have reached your limit. That is a different point for everyone. It ain't all roses, but it sure isn't as bad as some would have you believe either.

If your family is on the adventurous side and you don't like where you work now, then its worth the try and see what you think IMHO.

Pension Plan
 

PLUS

Company accommodation - provided it is given where you are happy - the lottery and you cannot easily buy another ticket.
(Move out and buy your own place some have- and then sell- a nice return on your investment but it will be eroded away as the company accommodation is 50% of actual cost and you will be paying at least $2000USD per month to make up the difference on a modest compromise)
Schooling
Good Equipment
Great crew to fly with
Nice Lifestyle

MINUS
If you want to include your pension plan as part of lifestyle - long-term- then lifestyle is a big minus for EK pilots

Pension- Due to a neat trick with flight pay the pension is being eroded as quickly as the USD is falling. Years ago the UAE Nationals saw that the pension plan in EK offered no long term security so they sensibly withdrew.

To make yourself happy in EK never strike a conversation with your friends in Cathay or Dragon Air about how they use the company accommodation allowance to pay off substantial real estate they have purchased.

After 15 years in Emirates your total pension is with $350K USD Including your own 1/3 contribution to that.

Traffic

Management with no real attempted dialogue with pilots- no meetings in three years.

A CCQ ( cross cockpit quailification ) is a short cousre but varies between the types, MFF mixed fleet flying allows you to fly more than one type ( that are simlar)

The 777 to 748 are not simlar for MFF

Sky Cargo is tasked to determine the cheapist way to operate the 748, thatwill determine how flys them

Sorry S-Y-B, but I've done over five years myself and still enjoy the job! Yes, I was accused of the old 'honeymoon phase' and the 'rose tinted specs' when I first came too..

What makes the job for me is the guys I fly with. 99.99% are top guys and - dare I say it - generally good operators too. I like the variety, I get to fly three different types of aeroplane, interesting network (short haul around Europe got a little tedious!) and I don't mind checking in for a flight at 00:15 - guess I'm one of the lucky few that can sleep six hours in an evening..

Sure, there are things that need to change - noticeably the salary! Long term the Greenback will rise once the Yanks have sorted out their trade defecit. In the meantime at least 30% is needed to combat inflation - glad I've got no foreign mortgage too, that would be interesting. I can see why some guys can't stand it here, and full marks to those that put their money where their mouths are and find a good job elsewhere - best of luck to them!

There's still a lot to see and do here (not always costing a lot either) if you can bother to get off your fat ar*e and do it.. I'm here for quite a while yet...

OK GUYS! After having read all this, explain to me since I have an EK interview coming up shortly how I would need to approach this opportunity. I try to be open 'positively' minded it seems that there's more negative than positive as far as I have read. I currently work for a famous low-cost European carrier as an F/O (not FR). Need some advice!! The money would be a important factor. MANY THANKS!!

Boeing chose not to make the two fleets compatible (B777 and B74-8) because most of their potential buyers would be B747-400 operators and would prefer the ability to cross qualify crews between the two types.

And end up like the B737NG?, they still haven't learnt yet, but will the B787 be the same flight deck as B747-800? Now there is a smart idea.

White Knight Habib. I am also enjoying my time here, but the smelly bucket is filling up faster than the happiness one.
When i say this think

• ULR flights with min rest and poor rest facilities
• Poor or no villas for new joiners
• No consultation with management. Except their mates on the golf course, who seemingly complain about minimal days off on bottom bid
• Reduction in max days off for those on top bid groups, because AAR can't stand the thought that we might be happy with the system. Commuters will leave in droves post bonus payout

Of course if you happy with that and more, bravo for you!! :ugh:

SyB :zzz:

Happy?!
 

Just seen my Apr roster. High bid group, bid the same way I have for years. The new result "in the interest of safety" no more than 2 days off in a row, and a lot of turnaround flights that I have never received in my top bid months.

I'm not the sort to react out-of-hand but ooh that bucket seems to be getting heavier. I may have to take the advice of some of the other correspondents and just press 2.

Scaglietti:uhoh::confused: