emirates temporary accomodation
 

I went to the ek interview at the beginning of March (still waiting for a green or red light) and was told that we would be put in temporary accomodation on arrival in Dubai. Can anyone who has started recently tell me what this consists of for someone who is married with children? I presume it is not a small shoe box flat, although coming from Hong Kong it might suit me!
Thanks for your replies

Sounds like people with kids , 3 bed apartment up to 9 months.Location,anywhere they can find. Sorry.

EK motto: take it or leave it

PS, most if not all the good schools are full, you should check before coming. Same as it was 4-5 years ago

Accomodation is in a serious mess, more so than normal. I heard about a new course that last week, was almost to a man gonna throw the toys out of the pram and resign.

Meetings apparently held at VP level, and the result, guys are being moved now into Le Meridien @ the airport for 2 or so weeks. Then at the Harbour Hotel (furnished apartments) and Courtyard Marriott @ The Greens apartments for 6 months (ish).
Then who knows where, i have heard Arabian Ranches mentioned. The Al Waqaa villas are probably gonna be a reasonable size, but right under the airport flightpath and near a HUGE rubbish dump, nice eh!!! Have a look the next time you fly past guys :eek::eek:

SyB :zzz:

Mirdif Villa's
 

I've recently had the green light to join Ek but have delayed my joining date in order to see (there are other reasons too) if the accommodation situation settles down somewhat over the next months.:rolleyes:
With that in mind does anyone know where the proposed EK villa's are in Mirdif?
I've used Google Earth to see where Mirdif is and sure enough the entire area is right under the flight path of the runway. However GE's photo's are dated so I'm not sure how big Mirdif is by now and if the Villa's in question are in another part of Mirdif not yet identifiable on GE.
Can anyone also please in all seriousness tell me if Villa’s in Silicon Oasis are available (both in term of Qty and $$$) and if so I one still eligible for the company provided transportation.

Thanks all
Ps any more official word on any pay-rises on the horizon. I see a 14 wk bonus has just been offered which is a hell of a lot better than where I work…….ZIP!

There are bits of Mirdif that aren't too bad, noise-wise, and you do get more villa for your money than in Arabian Ranches, for example.
BUT, the busiest time at DXB is at night and the preferred departure runway is 12R so unless you're north-east of Uptown Mirdif, the noise is at its worst when you really don't want it to be.

" No pets allowed in EK accommodation"

I'm joining EK shortly and just received an email saying the housing dept. will no longer allow any pets. This goes against the contract I already signed (!) which only "discourages" pets. What king of bs is this?? Are they seriously expecting me to choose between my job and my pets? Should I take this seriously? I know I can take the housing allowance but this will cost me dear.

Any useful input from EK pilots appreciated.

Thanks!

short answer....yes

Too Low,
now probably no pets due temp accom for quite a while. eg. Marriot hotel would not like your Labrador! Leave your pets with a relative until you are at least settled in, then bring it/them later on.
Don't even contemplate going outside company accom as you will be exposed to high rental/utilities/inflation.

Watchdog,

Thanks. Since my better half and critters won't be joining me for quite a while anyway I just wanted to know if I could sneak them in later on. I realize I'm giving up certain rights coming out here but I haven't even set foot in Dubai and already they're changing the rules! I know, I know....should have heeded the warnings on this forum!

Cheers.

While I agree with most of what Contacted says, especially the part about not moving out of company accommodation unless you really, really know what you are doing, I have to clarify some of the figures.

I moved out of company accommodation 4 years ago. Best thing I ever did in Emirates (not sure I'd do the same now though!). My maintenance charge hasn't gone up by anything like 200%, more like 5-7% a year. Only one development suffered a 200% increase (Green Community, 2 years ago) and they were paying about a quarter of what the rest of Dubai was paying anyway, so the increase only brought it up to a realistic level.

My electricity and water bills haven't gone up at all in 4 years. However, the monopolistic utilities company have recently revised their tariffs so no the more you use above a certain level, the more you pay. It is supposed to encourage people to use less, although it could just be a scam to make more money. Possibly.:hmm: The cost of water and electricity (especially in summer) is certainly something to look at very closely before you move out of company accommodation. My personal prediction is that before too much longer Emirates will be looking to people in company accommodation for a "contribution" towards their DEWA bills.

The property agents take 5% of your first year's rent as a fee for finding the place. So they will only be taking tens of thousands of Dirhams if your rent is more than 200,000 Dhs a year. Which let's face it, it probably will be if you are renting a villa rather than an apartment.

Mirdif Villa's
 

Contacted,

Thanks for the info. I too have been advised not to leave the Ek provided accommodation sceme.

Do I assume then that the ONLY villa's available are located in Mirdif?
Silicon Oasis, for example, is not,...ever?
I have been advised that 1000 villa's will be available "in due course" in Mirdif but to expect around 4 month of waiting then I get there.
I take it then that there is no option to specify your preferred location or things like a back yard for the kids?

Thanks

Emirates have villas dotted all over Dubai but most of the empty ones will be in Mirdiff, once they have finished building them. However, if somebody moves out of a villa in Satwa or Silicon just as they are looking for somewhere to put you then that is where you will end up. You have no say in where they put you and while most villas do have some kind of back yard for the kids you don't get to express a preference. Feeling lucky?