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QOL at Emirates

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ricj41

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 20, 2002
Posts
82
I am pretty happy where I am but I have recently thought about trying the expat lifestyle. I am in my early thirties, married and a 2 1/2 year old. What is life like on the line? How many days off? Can a family of soon to be 4 live comfortably on the fos salary? I have read a lot of the threads and Emirates company web site but I can't really figure out what family life is like.
How much does it cost to move to Dubai from the states and do they pay for it? Does your family get positive space tickets to move?
How often can you get back to the states? Can your wife go on long layovers with you? What are lines like? 90 hours and 10 days off or 80 hours and 16 days off. Are most of the pilots housed in the same areas. And most importantly how much money do you have left over after paying your portion of school, housing, groceries etc.
I know a lot of questions but thanks anyways.
 
Life at EK

Hi,
I am an expat myself and there are good and not so good times when away from your home. Dubai was also once on my list and I went there for a week to check it out. Its quite different to what we know but if you are the expat type you might be very happy.
Your questions:
The package EK offers is a good one. Its very difficult to compare it with e.g. the Cathay package as not only the base pay is what you take home at the end of the month. Most of the schooling fees are paid for so there should not be add. costs. EK pays tickets to go home for the whole family once a year. AFAIK, EK does not pay the move to/from DXB. It shouldn't be a problem to join a crew member on a layover, but because whoever accompanies you is flying stby, that plan might not always work.
Schedule: I know of a skipper in his 2nd year on the B777 doing 70 hours on average with 15 days off. But I've also heard on other fleets they are working more. Minimum days off are 8 days...
Pilots or employees do not all live in the same area. There is more than one area and it looks just like in any other big city - so no 'compound-feeling...' but of course due to its geographical limits its not unusual to meet an EK employee in a coffee bar around the corner...
How much you take home really depends on how much you spend. For example, if you have a property in the US and rent it out while in DXB, you can generate a nice side income. This is all very relative. An EK F/O salary is not making you rich, but you have oiptions available to you to influence how much will be left.
I nice summary of the EK package including assessment info can be found here.
 

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