Wayne,
I would have to concur. While the discussions can have a sense of hysteria about them, the fact is that on the whole, this is a very unhappy pilot group. You have to ask yourself why guys would be so unhappy at one of the most rapidly expanding airlines in the world (expansion being the airline pilots wet dream) flying the latest and newest equipment all over the world. Given the cost of living, rate of inflation and rapid (some might say out of control) urban development, I would describe our package as mediocre. I have been here ten years and at the rate my provident scheme is doing, I would need to work 100 years for a decent retirement (using just my provident scheme).

Let's talk about the driving here. In the last 3 years, the population has risen dramatically and while Dubai does seem to be trying to address the problem of not enough roads, this population (locals and expats) does not possess the requisite courtesy of their fellow resident (not just on the roads) to live in this density of population. A UN report rated the UAE roads the 3rd most unsafe roads in the world based on fatalities per 100,000 persons. I don't know how accurate that is but I do know that every single time I do drive, I come close to a very serious accident due to some idiot. I literally do not leave my villa as much as I used to just due to the driving.

Probably the biggest negative here right now is the scheduling. 3 years ago, a decision was taken by the management here to unilaterally increase the pilot productivity by about 30%. Anyone within management who had ever flown an airplane (and those guys haven't flown a full roster in years) was not part of the decision process. Leave and sick time was not factored into the numbers. Ultra-longhaul flights were to employ the dubious practice of factoring whereby time spent in the bunk was not to be counted towards the Flight Time Limitations. Guys on the A340 were flying in excess of 120 hours a month. Of course, our non-flying management used the rationalisation that we have all gotten used to hearing - "Hey, I spend 160 hours a month in the office. What's the problem?" Well the good news was that when the GCAA finally found out what the company was up to, they did put a stop to it but you have to ask the question, how did they get to start it in the first place and what were they thinking? (As an aside, while guys were paid for the overtime, the company then went and eliminated almost all non-flying duty that was credited towards overtime. The credit for a minimum day was eliminated. Credit for leave was eliminated. Recurrent training this month? No credit for that. Reserve? Sorry, that's free also. The promise was made that while we wouldn't receive credit towards pay, the credit would remain in order to balance the rosters. I had 2 weeks leave in January and was still rostered for 70 hours. You do the math.) Right now, scheduling is up to the legal limits of the FTL's. I had my bottom bid month in March (we have rotating seniority for rostering) and flew 105 hours scheduled block (100 hours actual block) and the only reason they didn't fly me more was the rolling 100 hours in 28 days limitation.

Many of us here are rather bitter because we saw the promise that this job has. The equipment is great. The route structure is very interesting and Dubai (at least in the past) was a very livable city. The company has been very good when you have a family emergency. It's not all bad but right now, for me the negatives greatly outweigh the positives. Wayne made the point that you have to consider how you will go back. That's the point I'm at right now. If I go back to the States, (and I know there's not much in the way of jobs happening right now) I either go back to the bottom of the seniority list (and my understanding is that FedEx requires you to have been resident in the U.S. in the last 5 years) or I troll around for another expat job.

While I am pretty out of touch with just what it's like in the States right now, I would be asking how long that's really going to continue. If you want to understand just how out of touch Emirates is with its line employees, just ask yourself what your company would do if they had no limits on the means that they could employ. That is pretty close to what we have been dealing with recently. Pilots are beginning to leave Emirates. Maybe not in huge numbers but enough to exacerbate the shortage that we already have. Pilots don't leave their jobs at the drop of a hat. You'll hear the contingent here that responds, "if it's so bad, why don't you leave?". Well, many are trying and I would estimate that a majority of our captains are seriously looking for jobs. Many of the jobs available now also have their negatives so we are all weighing things up - as are many of you considering this job. I would just be really careful as you will be moving your family 8000 miles, signing a training bond and once you are here, it is not easy to leave.

Could this job be worth staying for or coming for? In my opinion, yes. When Hong Kong started to become prohibitively expensive in the 1970's, Cathay responded by making itself the carrier of choice in terms of pay and conditions. They responded with an industry leading contract, reasonable working conditions and basings. I feel that Emirates needs to do the same. Right now, we are in a spiral dive - we are understaffed requiring guys to work even harder which exacerbates sick time, available leave and resignations. The only way I see out of it is for Emirates to improve the package substantially, set their manning targets at reasonable levels and to state so. Unfortunately I will be surprised if that happens.