Did you read my post? I also drive a luxury car and I am always paying for the date's dinner, movie etc...

I think where most guys go wrong is with the housing. I sit and laugh when guys complain about no money yet are ok with wasting the full 160,000 on accomodation. How many times I have heard 'I'm happy to pay 160,000 a year because its within the allowance'...If u think like that then you are a fool. I consider the 160,000 as part of my annual income because EY allow you to spend it as you wish. If you choose to spend it all on a house then your choice and your loss. 160,000 a year is US$840 per week. In no circumstances will I spend that much money on renting.

This place is suited for single guys or married couples who are both working. If I had to raise a family here on a single income then I'd return home because there wouldnt be much leftover at the end - probably a little more than compared with back home, but not enough to make it worthwhile. In my case it is extremely worthwhile so I will stay as long as I enjoy it.

I enjoy my 2-4 block of days off in Abu Dhabi and go home 3 times a year for 2 weeks at a time on annual leave. Ive been on the 320 about 12 months and have yet to see Karachi!

I always get at least one of my primary or secondary requests each month. I have also never done two India red-eyes back-to-back. I have absolutely no complaints about the roster. I've yet to feel fatigued and when I do I will simply report fatigued and will not fly.

As a many year veteran of EY I'd seriously look at EK... If I had my choice again...
There you get paid for deadheading (and its sometimes in first class), you get transport to and from home so all you need is one car, saving that loan.. etc etc, etc...
Plus their bonus actually happens......

Big cheeks... you must be one of the chosen few.... lucky you... enjoy it while it lasts....

Yes its true EK will pick you up and drive you to work and EY will not.

I'd rather drive myself and earn 43K per month as opposed to being chauffered by the company for 5K less. If you really wanted to, you could even use that 5K to hire a limo to drive you - beats a silver Volvo.

No deadhead pay at EY - I've deadheaded once in 12 months.

The little perks you get at EK are insignificant. What is signfiicant is the profit-share and the pension.

Going back to the original guy's question...
EK is probably the best option in terms of routes/salary/bonus - all in package. But if that doesn't float your boat certainly look at EY...yes it has faults like everywhere, but it's a good salary - better than anything back home. They pay for your accom and still give you 26k per month basic salary on top of that! It's expanding and opportunities WILL pop up. The LOL is a bit rubbish but many people have their own anyway.

Yes you can also save your accom allowance if you wish, as bigcheeks does. But for me I spend most of it on a lush place that overlooks the sea. Would struggle to get that back home so if the company are willing to pay for it, I'll make the most of it while i have the opportunity. That's my thinking anyway.

Don't really know to much about Qatar sorry...maybe someone else can help.

hey bigcheeks, i did not include the flight pay in that, so lets add another 4k a month on that, so that makes it 42k for an f/o per month at EK and living out, the other 1k is taken care by all the funs of living in dubai. Oh and the profit sharing tops all of that up...i'll be damn if we gna argue about 1000 dhs

Hey camel_hump, I thought 38K sounded a little on the low side. Yes I agree EKs profit-share and pension may make the overall package better. Fingers crossed for our much rumored 4 weeks....:eek:

Still, a single F/O in AUH or DXB can live a very decent lifestyle and still send home 25,000AED per month.

So what do you guys think it would be like for a married guy with a child in EY or EK? enough time off each month to spend with the family?

Its seems from reading your posts that it's better to opt out of the company housing and sort your own out?

I know Dubai and Bahrain quite well but not been to the other cities much. what's in the way of recreation/ social life apart from golf?

Like the rest of the posters, the advice is appreciated.

The lifestyle is pretty good. I am married with no children and there is plenty to do. You find that the majority (not all) new joiners tend to take the allowance from the company and live at Al Reef or Al Bandar. Reef is a family environment and my mates who have wives and kids seem to enjoy it and the wives make friends which keeps them happy. Al bandar is apartments but can be expensive. For example in reef you could get a 3 bed town house with garden for 130k...the company give you 160k. 4 bed is about 150k. Whilst reef is a bit in the middle of nowhere (not far from airport) it is only 50 mins drive to Dubai where you have millions of activities, and it's around 40 mins from Abu dhabi city.

Lifestyle wise Abu dhabi is smaller than Dubai but is getting bigger every day. You find you get discount in most places for food/drink etc. Yas island is pretty cool, they open the formula one track for you to run/cycle...

There's loads of stuff to find if you go out looking for it...have a look at the Time Out Abu Dhabi website, that should help ya

Oh and in terms of time off it depends on the fleet your on...at the mo 777 lots of time off but will change later in year. A320 usually 8-11 days off per month

To family guys
 

Hi,

How much can you save if you have 2 kids. And live nice. Not just stay at home and save money for all costs.

Thanks,

Cheers,

A

EK sounds great
 

Anyone knows approximately upgrade time?. I am considering leaving my miserable life (refering to schedules and how management treats expats), poor pay, 7k euro x mo,(compare with other A320 Capt places), time off (6 week on 2 week off), expat life as an A320 Capt, for EK opportunity to fly one day wide body long haul, (hopefully left seat), better life style, stability (growth)

I am Divorced (child support:{), remarried, and one on the way, (never learn:ugh:).

Anyhow, my questions are
1, FO salary @ 42k AED x mo, (according to Camel Hump), New hire is the same?, (Not opting out of housing correct?)
2, Upgrade wait time?, (have 3000 PIC 320 type, 1500 SIC 320 Type plus B737, Dojet328, J41... @ 11500 TTL).
3, New hire go to A330 only?, can you opt to 777?

Thanks guys

PS: No,:= I don't want to go to China, for those of you wondering...., it's not all about money...

thanks for all who are contributing on this thread, it has been very useful and a good read!:ok:

I notice Etihad and Emirates seem to be grouped against Qatar? Would that be correct?

Qatar as a generalisation seems to have a package on par or better then Emirates. Is Doha the big difference/problem? Why the big push for Emirates?

• First Officer: Monthly Salary Dhs 29,145 (Basic Salary plus Hourly Flying Pay based on 85 block hours per month).

This is from the emirates website- is this amount the same as guys that started at the beginning of the current recruitment drive?? Or has it gone up or down?? Seems less than I remember when I first looked to be honest. Maybe I'm wrong.

Irishpilot....All are different, don't mean to make it sound like Qatar is an outcast. Most people know that overall Emirates is the best all round package.,..I am simply talking from an Etihad Pilot point of view. I know a couple of guys at Qatar, some say they enjoy it although some hate it. In saying that there have been quite a few guys jump ship from Qatar who initially tried for emirates. They didn't get in there so came to Etihad so it appears that people do want to get away. But as I say, I don't know too much about that really.

Doha is a bit of a hole, at least Dubai is a playground and Abu Dhabi is quite westernised too. Qatar recently had a massive payrise to keep existing / attract new guys (50% on sector pay and 20% on basic I think)...hopefully the others will follow. I think most will tell you to go for Emirates as it's stable, it's in profit and its been around for a while...and being around for a while means they have good roster systems, good insurance schemes and accommodation options etc...Etihad hasn't been around as long so is a bit more of a mess, but like I said previously, no one can expect perfection from an airline which is expanding so fast that it cannot get the pilots and systems in place quick enough. Etihad is a good place to be in terms of upgrade and career progression. hope this helps :ok:

@Pampa...you must opt out of the company accom to get this amount per month, u can either take the 160k (accom allowance) bi-yearly or monthly, so dhs25k+13k(accom allowance per month)+4k approx for flying pay, give or take u end up wit about 42k. Dunno exactly my basic salary as i dnt really bother to check the payslip but will do if u want the info. As long as i see approx 40-42k go in my bank account every month then am happy :)

And this is for a current new joiner f/o with no step increment yet, i blow half of my company accom at hotel york or metropolitan hotel on exotic long legged species :)

I remember in the good old days when EK could hire pilots with personality. Now it seem the only way a new joiner can get female attention is by spending there accommodation allowance.

I take it you are on the Boeing Camel hump?

the Don

Quite scary to see that the incredible screening apparatus of EK is letting in idiotic immature prick as this one. This is the guy that should be one day responsible for the life of hundreds of people? What kind of idiots are you recruiting now ? Are you really so desperate?
I hope your enthusiasm lasts more than 24 months... I think you are being a little too optimistic...habibi. One day you will regret not having taken the company accomodation and rest assured that what you are pocketing now will get out of the same pocket at a later stage. Oh yeah..but you say you'll stay untill you enjoy it...
Something you missed my friend is that EK is largely a one way ticket...
Keep discovering ...pretty appropriate in this case.
.

For new joiners into the airline world, the best choice is Qatar - they acknowledge business jet time whereas EK want airline operations!

Kingpost
 

They acknowledge biz jet time... so on that sole criteria, that makes Qatar the best yeh? :ok: :eek:

Thanks
 

I appreciatte the info C_Hump.
Just one more question,
Do you know upgrade wait time?
Interviewers told my body at beginning of interview, 2 years wait, :D,then at the end on 3rd day, they told him, no, actually 7 years wait?:sad:.
Who has the crystal ball?, even interviewers give conflicting info