If you were hired in 2007 or before and you were at EK for 10 years and you are over the age of 50, then you get the tickets. It's not as beneficial as doing 15 years because you don't get OAL but otherwise, get your ass out of there if you are only waiting to get tickets.
Besides, EK can change the rules at any point in the future. They can suddenly decree that past obligations are not going to be honored.
NEVER stay just for the tickets, it's so minor once you get back to reality and deal with normal people.

Reviving this thread….

Can some of you who've been thru the process offer some insight to the following questions:

* If leaving mid month, when will that last few weeks actually be paid since you won't be receiving that paycheck at the end of the month you're leaving… with the provident fund perhaps?

* Were there any issues actually leaving DXB at customs e.g., having no visa etc?

* Provident Fund - Is it recommended to change all your current funds into US Dollar account from it's current position in order to save money on the actual Provident Fund transfer from Dubai to whatever institution you're sending it to?

* Does one need a "letter" from EK of sorts to stop any of the utility type services such as stopping OSN TV service, Du/Etisalat phone and internet?

Thanks for any intel on this guys…

Kap

Leaving tips
 

Kapitanleutnant

I left mid March this year. Here is my experience;

1) you are paid pro rata for no of days worked, so e.g 15 days x daily rate = X

The people at ESC on 2 nod floor are very helpful. Ask before you leave of a print out of any deductions that they know of. Leave is also taken back in monetary terms if you have taken more than entitled.

2) No issues with visa removal. Again all done by ESC. Drop all passports with visa off, then collect 2-3 days later with the visa cancelled. On exit through DXB you have to go to the very left corner of economy passport/security to a small kiosk and wait for this......PAY ..yes pay 20 dhs for the pleasure of exiting UAE. I told the guy I would pay 10 times that to get out...he did not get my sarcasm.

3) my provident fund was not a huge amount, having only been at EK for 4 years. I collected all monies owed in a cheque in Dhs. Went to NBD in EGHQ and cashed it. Then went to the money exchange on the way to the metro and transferred back to the UK. 2 days later money in my UK account.

4) we rented from day one so our accommodation situation was maybe different to people in staff accomadation. We left rented apartment about 2 months before my last day at work. I kept all final bills stamped obviously ! From Du, Dewa and I only had a PAYG phone so no contract to close. Also I had no credit cards from UAE bank. A friend of mine who left had issues with both etisalt and C/c when trying to leave. His advice was initiate these 3 months before departure date if possible. Again just get a PAYG sim. I also closed my NBD account 2 weeks before leaving and had no issues when cashing my final cheque. I also got a letter of good conduct from the lovely helpful hard working Dubai police. Online form, fee and obligatory knowledge fee! Lol . Went into rashidiya police station to verify my identity and an online letter is sent to your e-mail.

5) I had no exit interview, just an online questionare. I was honest in my answers, not malicious. Mine were health, family and sick of been a second class citizen. The 92 hrs every month with less days off and more night turns on the 777 at least was killing me. The last bit of advice is use the guys and girls at ESC, they are very helpful and will either give you the answers you want or point you in the direction of the person you have to contact. Don't ask 777 fleet manager or is it manager fleet as she is as much use as a chocolate teapot!

Definitely the best decision I ever made, In the 3 months of leaving I have lost 4 kgs without trying, my blood pressure is down and I am no longer irratble and always in a bad mood- at least that's what my wife says!
Hope this helps-

A few days before you leave, your co-ordinator will contact you with a detailed breakdown of what you owe/what they owe, pro-rated for your exact number of days served. In my experience it was very accurate and included provident fund payout. On your last day, when you hand in your ID etc, they will provide you with a cheque for your final settlement which you can cash right away. They will withhold an amount that will be held for a few weeks - it can be paid direct to your home bank account.

No issues whatsoever. I went to the airport at the given time. You go to Marhaba services which is by the economy check in area. I didn't have to pay anything. They then escort you off the premises (i.e. through passport control), then you're freeeeeeee.....

I withdrew everything I could some months before I left. I didn't do anything with what was left, it was paid out in AED with the final settlement.

The biggest nightmare of leaving is sorting out all the useless Dubai companies. Emirates is the easy part. I didn't get any letters, but getting the likes of Etisalat to provide a final bill is nigh on impossible. Make sure that you give them a month's notice. Although they'll still muck it up. Even after the notice is up they still won't know until the following month how much you actually owe them - but it won't stop you leaving the country.

p101. I think you'll find it's the other way round. Doing 10 years and then leaving within 10 of your retirement age (Dependant on when you joined) will give you the 8 A & C tickets and OAL travel when you reach your retirement age. Assuming you leave before you get to within 10 years of retirement the 15 year deal is only 2x SRC A's and 2x C's forever. (The 10 & 10 deal is the same till retirement age)

World….

GREAT POST!!! Appreciate the detail of it all. Thanks!

SOP….
Got it!!

K

Cheers World, useful info!

Training Records
 

Hi Guys,

I've heard it is an easy task to get training records, can someone 'pm' me specifics please...


Also wanted to keep this thread on page 1; it's too useful & important to slide into obscurity!

Regards

Good question re training records but could can you make the response public?

(It's probably not sensitive information)

Training Records
 

Getting the training records was the easiest part to date!

I emailed the 'Flight Training Support Manager' - she forwarded on my request to the admin ladies and there you have it; a disc with everything on it (pdf files) was ready for me to pick up within 24 hours.

No need to get any approvals from 'control hungry personality types'.


Also wanted to bring this thread back to the fore...



kapitanleutnant - check your pm's

Renting out owned property?
 

I own my place in Dubai free-and-clear. I was considering holding onto it after leaving EK to use as a rental. Anyone have experience with this?

Guys….

1. Where does one obtain a letter of no incident/no accident? I'd heard the company provided this but that is incorrect/has changed.

2. How/where does one return the Captain's Mobile given to us by EK?

3. Has anyone else had to get a clearance letter for closing out a bank credit card? The checklist says YES but my HR coordinator said not needed, only the loan clearance letter.

4. I'm unable to access my online checklist to update anything… Can I presume this is done by the HR coordinator when an item is accomplished?

5. When does the accommodation department (The Dept of NO!) send someone to my home to do the maintenance check? I've sent two emails and talked to a person there…. still nothing from them. How long before leaving do they normally come out?

Thanks for any headsup and previous experience on this!

Kap

SOPS:

As well as sending that SMS, will you post here?
There are so many leaving who can benefit from each other's experience that we might as well make it open.

I'll post a few answers for Kap:
5) The accommodation department will contact you at about the 1 month to go mark. They will schedule a visit, look around, and tell you what needs to be done. Expect a paint job back to uninspiring white. Expect a garden returned to it's former dust with all grass and plants removed. They know its daft, we know its daft, but that's what it is.
3) On the HR portal, under the heading "bonds and guarantees", there may be any loans and credit cards. Go to the bank with those details and they will give you a no liability letter for those and any other accounts. Visit HR with that letter, they will take a copy, and make an entry on the portal to say done. Your EOS "to do list" will tick off green as done.
4) I think so, but open to correction.
1&2) I don't know.

Thanks Rotaiva, for the good info. I'm going to follow your advice.

Good luck and best wishes to all.

SM

Fair point Snake, so I will post here.

1 don't know

2 return it at the Fleet Admin office, near where you drop off the flight plans and the other stuff.

3 I got a letter from the bank for my account and credit cards. You DONOT need on your last day a head wobble saying you need a letter. I also had one from Etisalat to say my internet had been paid, no one wanted that however.

4 the check list seems to go automatically green, but I could be wrong.

5 despite numerous emails and phone calls to those hard workers at the accomodation dept, no one ever came to my villa. I actually got a phone call the afternoon before I left from some one saying....sorry we a very busy when can we come to your villa....I told them anytime they liked but I would not be there.
You have to return the villa back to the way it was, and leave your garden as sand.

Just a few observations from my notice period so far, that may help others.

• One of the first things you are informed about when you resign is that all tickets booked on TRIPS, must be paid for in person at the ESC. This is wrong! The salary deduction payment method is still used until 45 days prior to your leaving date. Between resigning and 45 days prior to leaving, your tickets will still be paid by salary deduction but the tickets have to be manually processed by Staff Travel, which will take a few days. For short notice travel, a quick visit to the ESC is required to get your ticket issued, yet it's a non event.

• Shortly after you resign you are asked if you would prefer to use Skycargo or an external sea/air freight moving company. The allowance for moving out is far more generous than what you encountered when you moved to Dubai. My advice is do not use SkyCargo and use the Air/Sea Freight option, as EK are willing to make a reasonable contribution to the latter and may cover all that you wish to take with you. It's all in the staff travel manual but the amount that EK is willing to pay is based on your designated Annual Leave Destination and length of service. 10 years or more service sees EK contribute 44K AED for moving to the Americas and 36K AED for moving to Europe. Therefore it is something not to overlook. Taxes, customs fees and insurance should still be paid by the staff.

Very helpful, keep it coming. I am about 7 months behind you.

I'll add my two fils here two in my process…

The "checklist" you'll get on the portal is, in my opinion, written like our FCI's… it will often times generate more questions than it gives answer to. And as is somewhat typical of EK manuals, there are little tidbits of information all over the place and not necessarily in the section you'd expect. Just my opinion about it. And the checklist on the portal has different color codes for what you've completed, what is in progress and what you have not accomplished yet. Evidently, this is something you cannot do yourself. You either have to call or email your HR coordinator for them to do it.

Re the moving: I've been told that if you select DNATA Cargo for the move, they will only move it to the city (airport) you've asked it to be sent… not to your new home/house/apt. I was told by more than one person that Allied was good.

One of the strangest things was when I went to get a Letter from HR to stop my phone/internet service with du… There actually is NO LETTER for this. I looked 3 times both on the portal and then at HR kiosks. So I went to HR services and told the lady and she looked in her computer and could't find a letter for it either! So she called an accommodation person and they had a banter for about 5 minutes, one saying there is no letter and the other saying to just make one up.

After this conversation I asked… "How can it even be possible there is no letter for canceling du service?" Shrug of the shoulders and was told the letter would be put in my mailbox.

Clearance letters from your bank for previous loans no matter how long ago that were paid off, are required and it takes about a week (they tell you 4 business days). And then you must go online to the bank's website and make a request for that clearance letter which takes another "4 business days". That with flying etc.. can be almost 2 weeks, so just realize it's not an instant thing.

The checklist says you need a clearance letter to close a credit card from your bank. My HR advisor said it's not necessary. I applied for it anyways and at my particular bank, it's a 45 day process from the time you request it. Plan ahead….

If you're going to another pilot position as I am, you might need a Letter of no Incident/Accident. I've been told by a few that it's a simple process by going on the GCAA website and filling in a form. For some reason, my experience has absolutely not been like that. I've tried 3 times now and have yet to figure out just where to click. There is really no icon to click for this request. So I have not figured out the process, even with two colleagues telling me how to do it. It just didn't work in my situation… so I'm still without it.

The Letter of Good Conduct from the Dubai Police was actually quite easy. I took a metro to one of the several police stations around dubai with a passport, passport copy and passport photo, filled out a short form and they said it would be done in 3 days. Sure enough… done. It has to be made out to a particular organization and I think the cost was 35 dhs (?). Realize that it's only good for a certain period… 90 days maybe? I could be wrong on this though….

For those who are selling furniture, friend of a friend of a friend told me there is a company called Cashcoverters that will come look at your stuff and give you an offer for it all in cash. It's kinda lowball but if you just need to move some things quickly that are in good shape, it might help out.

I've had good luck selling my things on my own and still have a lot of time before my Last day of service.

K

If you need to get rid of stuff..ie you don't want to sell it, just get rid of it.....Take My Junk....is great. They will take almost anything for free.

Ah, dont you just love Dubai - nothing is ever the same

When we left we checked in at the normal Business check-in and just told the immigration guy at passport control that we were leaving Dubai. He did ask to see our end of service letter but when we said it was in our carry on he told us to forget it and move on.:p

When we leave, do we go to the normal staff travel desk to check in, or some other desk.

And did they ask if you were leaving DXB for good…. or did you just offer this in casual conversation?

I wasn't aware we had to have an End of Service letter. Maybe something not to mention?

Thanks for the intel.

K