EK USA Road Shows
 

Just a heads up for those planning to attend the upcoming US road shows. There is a lot of info concerning EK on this board. But one big issue that isn't discussed is how the vacation scheme actually works at EK. You will be told you get 42 days of vacation per year. The reality is that you will rarely get more than 30-35 days per year and the rest will go into a leave bank that you can never use, absent a family emergency back home.

Agree on each point but maybe you can put this over in the APC forum for a bit of a wider NA audience.

Just a thought to warn them all about the REAL EK!

K

It doesn't matter. No one from the states who is in anyway employable will even consider EK. If the majors were hiring 5-7 years ago, none of us would be here now and almost all of us are trying to leave. It's not that EK is so bad, which it is now, it's that it wouldn't even be on their radar as a possibility. They won't get DECs because anyone with command time is already halfway up the seniority list where they already are. They won't get FOs because those guys have so many options at home with better pay, work rules, and quality of life. Throw in the good old American ignorance and this place might as well be ISIS central. No one will consider moving their family to the middle east for 8 days off, questionable vacation policy, zero job security, no union, and probably no future. Also, the pilots have been brain washed to hate the ME3 so it's really just a waste of time.

You were on a roll, and on point, until this statement -

"Also, the pilots have been brain washed to hate the ME3 so it's really just a waste of time."

Mos,

I hear ya brother… But lots of those guys have never heard of Pprune and won't really have any clue as to what they're getting into here. I've tried to educate them but it's like talking to a rock. They hear/see an advertised 42 days paid vacation (hahahaha…… ), 3-5 years to the left seat of a Widebody and the glitz and glamour of Dubai.

Lambs to the Slaughter.

Kap

Schools
 

Now, would emirates pay for my kid's school back home in full? Private Elementary school, not in their country?

Mauro,
Yes they do pay for a private school in your home country. I believe it has to be your home country. They may not pay the full bill but plenty of people send their kids to boarding school etc at their home country.

Yes, you just wouldn't be able to see your kids very often. That might be a deal breaker for some.

Kapitan,

I think anyone applying to Emirates has probably heard of PPRUNE. Whether or not they can see through the recruiting smokescreen is yet to be seen.

For those considering,pay attention to Laker, he speaks the truth. I had in excess of 40 days leave in my bank when I left. One of my reasons for leaving was the inability to get home.
And remember one other point that Laker left out. You get ONLY one Annual Leave Ticket a year. And any leave you do get will be broken up in to 2 or 3 lots, or even more. So you end up trying to get home on sub load tickets, or having to buy tickets.

It sure is not what is advertised.

They may find some more like the Skywest Captain with tested positive , resigned from Skywest quietly , went to fly at Soudi Arabia some corp job , Armco I was told and later on joined Emirates (07)
And now he is a 777 captain that loves Dubai and bashes the Legacies back home constantly at the forums



And that's per this senior Skywest captain (97 hired) jumpseater yesterday in our flight

SOP - Just for the record, did you age retire, or were 'pushed to leave' ? Final written warnings?

Maybe he saved a bit, invested wisely and decided for himself to leave on a high note at a time of his own choosing, having filled the better bucket. Good on ya SOPS. Tell us more about life in the real world!

Just retired Rex, not pused at all.

Enjoy retirement SOPS.
Rex

Thanks Rex, I will. And it was a very early one. I just figured that if I kept going at 90 hours plus a month, 2 am starts, 6 am finishes and min recovery time, I would not be able to enjoy any retirement. And things had changed so much in the 9 years I was there, I decided, ( with a big push from my darling wife), enough was enough.

And I was in a lucky position to afford it.

And I must say, life is good.:ok:

Enjoying it so much that he's logging on here five times a day. Ripper.

Of course, because I have the time to do it, amongst other things, Alan.:ok:

Rumor has it so far only 3 pilots have agreed or been selected for an interview from the U.S. Roadshow.
As Mos said what type of pilot are they hoping to attract at these dog and pony shows?

Hahaha! Life is really good, SOPS. :)

Reality
 

Adding to that is the fact that you will probably not get that much and if, by some miracle, you do get that number of days leave in a calendar year you will not get them all in one block. The maximum allowable according to the employment manual is 28 days consecutively however there are very few pilots, if any, who will ever get more that 21 consecutively. The company withholds the right to shrink, slide your desired leave bid or ignore it entirely at their will. Local labour law states that every employee will receive a minimum of 30 days leave in a calendar year and Emirates will begrudgingly grant that however leave bidding is a real crap shoot and despite our dear leaders promises to address the issue it will only get worse as the plot shortage takes effect.

To add to this you will get only one annual leave ticket which is confirmed travel to your contracted place of joining, so to get home twice on leave means putting yourself and family at the mercy of standby staff travel which to most US destinations is TRIPS (staff travel web application) red light zone. ie pretty much forget it unless you are very flexible with dates, which you wont be because of the limits of your leave. Ouch.

Amusingly enough leave was the only issue that AS (DSVPFO) promised to fix at a recent training meeting. Easy to give assurances when leave is already allocated until March 2016 and he retires in October 2015. Such is the caliber of the man addressing some of the companies most experienced and educated pilots that he thought that this would seem like a genuine gesture. How some of these people sleep at night with the blatant lies they tell amazes me, or perhaps I am just too old school and naive.

To my US colleagues who are genuinely interested in a stint in the ME I would say come and have a look but have your eyes wide open and don't be dazzled by the glitz. It may look good on paper but think hard about what quality of life means to you and your family before you take the plunge.