It's seem s that the UAE has lost control of the virus rather quickly. They seem to indicate all roses just before Christmas. Hang on a sec , it's the UAE , I forgot all lies ! STC same same !

Atleast they made a few bucks quickly

https://i.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-...-biggest-surge

Yep , Arab greed at its finest ! "Head in sand" takes on a new meaning .

fatbus

Seems to me it is rather the same in many countries, including Europe....

one only has to do a short search of the latest news to get the real picture . I'm neither a half full half empty guy . Only concerned for friends still stuck there .

Fatbus,

Just for information, many of our friends in Dubai report feeling very safe with the measures in place, yet feel more free than many of the First World 'prisons'!
If you're concerned for friends still in Dubai, perhaps you ought to wind your neck in a little. After all, it's hysteria that caused many of our colleagues to lose their jobs. Many still at EK would like to keep theirs.

wow hysteria caused the job losses and not the incompetence of EK higher ups?

as far as COVID management is concerned - every country has failed in some form or another - west or east - and that’s a different topic

the topic of this piece is how pilots were thrown out like last nights garbage at EK and that wasn’t due to hysteria. That’s with no contingency planning for saving pilots. If I had the billions that EK spends on fluffing their incompetence I would have been selling rotten tomatoes and expired milk - oh wait that’s what EK does

and yes I wish the best for our ex colleagues at the pit but loads are also looking at their options......

Denmark just banned all passenger flights from the UAE (effectively only DXB) for minimum 5 days, over suspicion of "sloppy" PCR testing and possible counterfeit PCR tests being made available for sale in the UAE.

Just prior to this there's been a mild uproar over "influencers" not giving a :mad: about travel recommendations, and pottering off to Du buy for a spot of instagramming in the sun.

SMT Member - this sloppy PCR testing you talk about and counterfeit PCR tests / fake PCR certificates is not new and you cannot just point the finger at Dubai ! It’s een a problem in worldwide.

Many have gone to get PCR tests at decent hospitals only to later find the facility they used was not “approved” by the airline or country they are visiting - you can see stories on several news feeds.
Many travelers also try to save money / get around the hassle of the tests by getting fake certificates. These fakes then have to be picked up by the staff at check in. How check in staff can be relied on and be responsible for checking these certificates is quite amazing! They do a great job but can’t spot 100%
Other travelers try to by pass the rules. An example - a traveler from sub continent (with Aussie passport) tries to get to Aus without quarantine! Impossible but he tried, by booking a ticket to New Zealand, then with his Aussie passport immediately transiting on another local flight to aus from nz! No quarantine traveling between aus and nz! This was picked up by ground staff and he was offloaded and told if he wanted to go to Aus he would have to book a direct flight!

My point in all of this is don’t just try to blame Dubai and it’s not all EKs fault!
The staff at EK try their best in challenging times and 9 times out of ten get it right. We try to get 10/10 but nobody’s perfect.

PS and as for Dubai I feel safer here than I do in most other countries. Yes there’s COVID everywhere in the world, yes I fly everywhere and quarantine everywhere I go, locked in hotel rooms is the new norm. However it’s the way individuals deal with COVID that is important.
Don't blame a place or an airline for some individuals stupidity

This is where the IATA travel pass comes in.

https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/pr/2021-01-19-01/

I'm not pointing my fingers at anyone, merely pointing out that the Danish authorities have introduced a ban on flights from the UAE and the reasons why.

I am a bit puzzled why people are defensive of how Dubai has managed the pandemic. They have clearly put financial gain above all else and promoted the city as a destination to tourists where you can shake off the lockdown winter blues and do what you can't do at home, just as long as you remember to wear a mask!

During the holiday season, it was possible for passengers from some countries to test either before departure or on arrival in Dubai. The rules were made as relaxed as possible and it allowed those who were already tested and those who might have the virus and want to test on arrival, to mix on board. Hopefully the following example will hopefully illustrate why. Passenger A elects to test before travelling from Europe to Dubai and sits beside passenger B onboard, who elects to test on arrival in DXB. Passenger B is infected with COVID whilst travelling. Passenger A presents their negative PCR test when they arrive and can go about their day to day life as normal as soon as they leave the airport but has just spent the past 6 odd hours sat next to a passenger who was infected with COVID. Hopefully passenger B would get picked up with a positive COVID test on arrival but that is little consolation for passenger A who is now out and about in the community and could have caught the virus from passenger B who was sat next to them. I have flown in and out of DXB a few times on different airlines during the pandemic and not once was the DHA contact tracing paperwork collected on arrival at DXB, which had your seat allocation and contact details on it. Also not once was I asked if I had the COVID19 – DXB Smart App on my phone either at check-in or on arrival, which I understand was and still is a requirement too.

I am not condoning the drastic lockdowns that we see in many parts of the world at the moment but it speaks volumes when the two largest cities in such a small country have diametrically opposed approaches to the pandemic, that has resulted in one needing a PCR test to travel to Abu Dhabi.

Nothing to be puzzled about, Emma. People either love or hate DXB. No half-way house. Most hate the place but need/love the money and do the work. The small and better-off minority who also happen to love the place will always be defensive of the emirate. Blindly so.

Same in many other such places on the planet, in history. Always has been.

More news reveals 50 passengers arrived CPH on EK infected with CV-19. All passengers are tested on arrival. Of those 50 from EK flights, 33 had a false negative test from Dubai, as they tested positive on arrival.

That is indeed cause for concern. And in these times, concerns easily develop into draconian actions.

2001 Dubai /EK was great . Package increased until 2007/8 . After that greed took over and T&Cs steadily declined . As stated above most expats were /are there for the money . That has gone forever . Good luck to those hanging on to the dream .

As to the fake tests , typical ! " yes captain negative "

Difference is the Europeans are telling the truth about the numbers. UAE has between 1501-1599 numbers for ages and then it magically jumps to 3500-3599 over night. Full of 💩

Denmark 5 Day ban.....
 

Here's a link to the story...........https://simpleflying.com/denmark-ban...ts-from-dubai/

SMT - what/who is the source of the 33 / 50 positive test at CPH story? I've searched the net and am unable to find any reference.

Most countries, including the 'truth telling' European ones have messed this up at some stage - with the exception of NZ and Taiwan - by prioritising economic activity over case numbers. I don't think Dubai has performed any worse than anyone else, and probably better than many. The US springs to mind..........

https://www.reuters.com/article/heal...-idUSKBN29R0PY

ppl getting really confused here basically 50 from Dubai alone over a certain period in Jan to Denmark with 33 already after negative test required

lets also not forget how very easy it is to get a forged negative test these days. In Dubai taking a quick trip to certain “typing centres” isn’t so difficult

again the topic thread isn’t about Dubai incompetence in handling the pandemic. Let’s start a meeting one for that. Let’s just hope more negative imagery of over glorified Dubai doesn’t add more loses to EK hence more job cuts.....

there’s already further new T&C coming shortly allegedly with 5-10% basic salary cuts across the board......

I won’t go back. Every current pilot and redundant EK employee should have zero trust for that company.

I know a very large number of redundant pilots. I know of 2 who will go back.
I have heard back into the same seat you came out of, but at the year one pay-scale.

i’m betting my entire existence that you will be the first one at the door. If not the first at least the second. The first one is probably the guy that we spend the last therapy session (telling ourselves how ek is :mad:)together telling me every week that we won’t be going back even if is the last company on the planet. And these 2 that you mention that are going back are probably the most honest people you will meet so i’ll keep them as friends if I were you. Brian is getting at least 1-2 emails per day from people begging for their job!