ekpilot re White Knight's comment that he came from a "Choice" airline. You beat me to it. I would put his previous airline in the category described by gj18457 ie crap LCC,South American or on furlough stuation. He was flying a clapped out BAE 146, sure he was no doubt strutting around in a BA uniform but that was as close to the real BA that he was ever going to get!! If he had stayed he would now be part of Flybe. As I recall he had the choice of remaining at Gatwick but as a F/O or keeping his command and moving to Birmingham. Not exactly spoilt for choice was he!!??:=
I cannot imagine any Captain is joining EK from the UK except perhaps at age 55 just for a change of lifestyle.

10+ years ago you would have had no problem getting Captains from the likes of Britannia,Monarch etc etc but no more which is a reflection of how bad the current T & C's are now in the Gulf region. Exchange rates have not helped either.

Remove Status: Welcome to Dubai. Enjoy your honeymoon.

MC - If I'd stayed I'd be right seat 777/744 or back in left seat short-haul. I had nothing to do with BA Connect:ugh: :ugh:
Like I said though (if your old eyes had read through the posts properly) it was not the airline for me!!! Now I'm left seat 330 - are you saying now that I still made the wrong choice... If so then I consider you to be a very sad person:= :=

Clapped out old 146? - better check your info Millers:{

To go back to the thread - interesting to see an almost 50/50 split.........

Speaking to a mate tonight, and we came to this conclusion...


Guys who have been in EK a while are disillusioned because they are comparing it to how it used to be (and it's not as good as it once was).

Guys who joined recently compare it to what's on offer in the rest of the industry (And...Ditto!!)

Backwater , thanks I'm enjoying my 8 years honeymoon in Dubai and you Enjoy your hard life dude..

Didn't vote bcos my situation is different.
Came here a while ago, before many. With hindsight I should have left a few years ago. The slide started with TCK; AAR and TCAS have just made it worse.

Kick myself - there was an offer a few years back that I turned down, due mostly to inertia but also bcos I thought it would change for the better here. :rolleyes:
Looking around now, plenty of jobs out there, one that suits will come up eventually. In the meantime the US$ is gutting me, whatever small gains the Prov Fund makes are wiped out.:{

Remove status: Eight years eh? Whatever...:rolleyes:

Backwater, Yes dude 8 years. . and hey we are 2 different persons I'm happy you are NOT .. At the end 8 or 12 years it won't make a difference you are going to still be unhappy even if you change company.

Good luck man

Remove Status. You seem to confuse happiness with a desire for the preservation of our lifestyle.
Born again boys like yourself who are so happy to bend over and take whatever the management throw at them do not help our profession.
The fact is our lifestyle has gradually eroded over the years and you will note, with the introduction of a 1000hr maximum and more factoring it is now rapidly becoming much much worse. If you are not affected by this then stay on the sheesha. But many are. It doesn't automatically denote unhappiness which you have assumed.
Have yyyyyyyou got that. Dude? Tw@.

Backwater, whatever dude.

Ok I'll be the boy and I'll stay in emirates. YOU,be wise old man, go somewhere else and look for a better lifestyle

Remove Status,

Good on you for enjoying the job, good on you for seeing that Emirates has given you what you need and enjoy to have satisfaction, I'm sure your family is also happy here because you live in a positive environment with a positive attitude. :ok:

Yes Backwater everything here has changed especially in the last 3 years but mate it's changed everywhere! Take a moment and look in other forums, Qantas guys unhappy with the changes, Cathay guys unhappy with changes......

Every one has a different set of values that suit them to create the comfortable life they want, we can't expect things to remain the same here, the company will always try on things to see what they can get for nothing but that's what it was like when we signed up and that's the way it will remain, (and I'm not advocating being passive, but there is still a reality)

I really respect the guys that have voted with their feet because they have made a choice for change, everyone has that option and given the amount of jobs apparently tauted here on this forum I am surprised that you haven't left.....maybe it's not as bad as you think. :hmm:

Methinks Remove Status comes from some grimy third world country, so he is more than happy in a shiny third world country.
However in answer to the original question..NO.
Continual attacks by management on working conditions, which I might add, impinge on safety; rampant inflation not matched by token payrises; twisted & bizarre interpretations of regulations & the FOM plus extreme avarice which leads to a general disregard for the welfare, health & happiness of all staff, whether they load the bags, fly the aeroplanes, make the sandwiches or dish them out.
Sure I have a command on a shiny big jet, but I am ashamed to say that it wasn't til I got that command on a shiny big jet that I realised that there was a heck of a lot more to life. Am I going to walk the walk and vote with my feet, no - not yet, because what is truly sad, is that there is still not a lot around that's better (alas, no EU passport or Green Card for me)
What to do? Keep the head down, go to work, keep it safe & do whatever I can to preserve the health & happiness of my family & I.
Keep discovering boys & girls.

I agree Caynine that changes have been happening elsewhere. However these changes have at least been resisted by the pilots and the organisations there to represent them. Here they can and do go to the extremes as there is absolutely no credible resistance to any of the changes they wish to make in the name of productivity aka greed.

Here resisitance is futile and once assimilated you have to take it or leave.

There have actually been changes in airlines that have actually improved Ts & Cs mainly to keep experienced staff. Many of the locos have found out the hard way that eventually pilots do leave and the added cost of training and loss of experience is much greater in the long run which in turn stunts growth. This happening in EK and one way or another it will need to adapt if it is to sustain any where near the growth rate it suggests.

It doesn't have to be the way it is in EK... it could and should be so much better but it isn't. Whether it makes us happy or not is up to us.

Yes, I would do it over again, even with the benifit of hindsight. The fact is that our industry isn't the same anymore. EK isn't unique in this regard. Look at the US. I for one am thankful that I don't have to suffer under the conditions that those poor buggers have to.

This is the best flying job I have had yet my answer was an emphatic NO.
The question is of course hypothetical and I consider myself to have a "positive" view to life here.

Why did I say no? Well for starters....and I'm only scratching the surface

Inflation
Exchange Rates

(The former has totally eroded any resemblance of a salary increase...)

Driving
Skype (it's the principle)

It's always going to be an individual decision to come/stay based on what you have vs what you think you're going to get. Most of my list is beyond Emirates control, but the solution isn't. Naturally that would involve a paradigm shift in someones thinking but that could be asking a little too much.

Likely to leave? I won't know unless the right offer presents itself but I couldn't rule anything out.

CAYNINE, Thanks and I totally agree with what you said

Austin Holed, I dont come from a third world country mate..but tell me what did your first world country that you come from offered you.

ON The hand i liked what you said here

"What to do? Keep the head down, go to work, keep it safe & do whatever I can to preserve the health & happiness of my family & I.
Keep discovering boys & girls."

I do the same but with my head always Up.

Keep discovering dude

"I do the same but with my head always Up"

Up where?

Austin Holed.....nice attitude guy, certainly not up where your head is. Would hate to fly with you man... so it took you a command on a big jet to discover that your title is not who you are...wow you must be quite a gem of a pilot and person....whah whah whah my life is so bad and its all someone elses fault. I guess that's what you said about your shiney first world job before you came to EK. It was the shiney first world that you came from wasn't it? what's not surprising is that you say you can't leave because nothing better has come up, typical attitude of someone with a superiority complex. So let me get you straight, it's so bad at EK that you just won't leave? thanks to posts like yours guess what I've just discovered.............that there are jerks at EK too!

Wow, try decaf buddy.

[B][SIZE="6"]NO
Big mistake, good experience initially but a long term flop.
Would rather live in a civilised country than the uae. If no basings then im outta here in 12 months. Sorry.:(