Dune

atpcliff:

The current President of Emirates Airlines, Tim Clark, has gone on record as saying there will never be basings at Emirates as long as he is with the company. And since he has been with the company since it's beginnings, I would not bet on any form of either basings nor commuting rosters any time soon (you can read that as ....never). And don't even think about the "market forces" arguement.........it is not going to happen here as there continues to be a flood of applicants from "less than 1st world" countries (India, Malaysia, South America, etc) that Emirates is more than happy to employ and keep the status quo.

Skyone:

I couldn't disagree with you more over your disagreement. I have never "averaged over 15 days off a month" and I have been here many, many more years than you have (and I am very competent with the bid system). It is obvious you and I work for a "different airline" due to the fact you are employed on the Boeing as opposed to the Airbus (the Boeing has many more opportunities to bid for long haul flights whereas the Airbus mixed fleet type of rostering has a combination of lessor long range flights combined with tons of short haul back of the clock flights). As such, you telling those outside the company that your roster is indicative of what to expect when employed by Emirates is misleading in my opinion.

As a result of my original post, I had a flurry of p.m.'s from guys who are considering making the move (mostly as D.E. Captains) to Emirates. Interestingly, most of those were looking at trying to commute from the U.S. to Dubai. I cannot stress firmly enough how this is a VERY BAD IDEA.

As mentioned by bus canuck, this company has no desire in any respect to cater to the needs (or desires) of it's pilots in order to allow them to commute. In fact, they go out of their way to try to make it as difficult as possible to commute. The February roster is evidence as to the lengths they will go to to keep things "local".

In short, I know of no one who received more than 6 days off in a row in his or her Feb roster. This includes a f/o who I flew with recently who is a UAE national, as well as the top first officer in his bid group, as well as being in the top bid group for Feb (therefore he should have received exactly the bid he submitted as there is not another more senior f/o in the company in that month........if he didn't get what he wanted there is something seriously wrong going on below the surface). So it is obvious what has happened is the company has decided to circumvent the computerized bid system for a reason that has not been divulged.

The bottom line is anyone considering coming here has to have rocks in his head if he thinks he is going to commute. If that is your plan, I cannot stress firmly enough how you should look elsewhere. Unless you plan to bring your kids up in Dubai ..........don't even look to this place.

Gillegan

This is absolutely true. You would be foolish to make your plans based on anything else.


This is very good advice. If anyone in recruiting is telling you otherwise, you need to consider it in the context that they are under enormous pressure to meet the required numbers this year yet are denied the resources and or package to do it. Very simply, they have no authority to say anything other than what Mr. Clark has said above. You can say what you want about him (and I usually do) but he can't be accused of mixed messages regarding commuting or basings.

Skyone

Dune,
I think you are right about this being "two" airlines, and I stand by my last year of work. But as noted, this is all changing now with Mr. Ed's email. So to all those reading these posts about time off and all........disregard my last post. Look to Dune's to be the correct answer to the way things are now. Past performance does not reflect future "earnings". And truely, don't even think that there will be out of country basings. If for no other reason, you think EK would ever give up a revenue seat to deadhead a half dozen pilots to work? Practically every flight out of JFK is always overbooked. And if they did, would you want to ride in the back for 14 hours sitting in a middle seat among 303 other of your closest compadres?

Gillegan

To the lurkers giving some thought to Emirates, the email that Skyone refers to is an announcement by our management that they will now limit the number of days off for pilots in the top bid groups to 14 "for safety". This represents a huge unilateral change in our terms and conditions that has left the pilot group as ****ed off as I have ever seen them. What they seem to be trying to do is to limit the desirability of ULR trips (lots of work but lots of days off) in order to spread them around a bit more and to also limit pilots ability to go home on their days off. This is in addition to us recently being informed that we are only entitled to 30 days of leave a year despite the fact that our contract says 42 days.

What this means to you (and more importantly your family) is that you better really like Dubai because you won't be getting home more than twice a year (if you're lucky). But it is a BIG SHINY JET after all.

bus canuck

You're too right, man. In my 5 years, I've never seen the pilots so riled up. And while I was personally more affected by the shifting upgrade policy, these latest changes have left me feeling like I've been hit in the head with a baseball bat. After a good 2007, and just when you thought things were going to OK for the long term, this happens.

I just can't believe that I got a congratulatory email saying that the company was able to give almost all the pilots 30 days leave (which is what I got albeit not the days I asked for.) My contract couldn't be more clear - 42 days. What the hell happened to the 12 days? Can you imagine having almost 2 weeks leave that is promised to you just wiped away?

The scheduling issue is huge for 2 reasons; They've arbitrarily changed how bids work in a punitive manner and they've blatantly lied about why they did it.

I try to keep a balance and long-term view, but right now this company looks like crap.

captjns

You know that you can't sue royalty for breach on contract... don't ya?

Blueridger

All I can say is WOW! That blows...... Well, if nothing else, I will let EK fly me to Dubai to say hi to a friend and check out the place and then tell them: "no thankyou, I have a perfectly good job right now with a strong union representing me and some hard and fast work rules."

Good luck to you all at EK, and thanks for the informative posts.

spitfire1500

Recently I did a 4 day layover in Dubai and unexpectedly ran into some old friends now at Emirates (in the Crown Plaza bar)..they are single and seem to love it...but in the same few hours we were screamed at by an Iraqi prostitute! Who told me I was evil and would be struck dead, then wanted to come spend the night for a few$. I dont think I could live there...besides a beer was about 9 bucks!!

KoruPilot

It's kind of sounding like Eva. . . this thread is getting very similar to the nankantraz forum and I am wondering if the T&C problem you guy's and gal's are having will start to affect pay. I know what they pay in Indonesia and S America, and that appears to be what's keeping Eva's aircraft flying. I'm just amazed that with all the orders they aren't worried about the downstream, not too distant future of parked hulls.

Sorry to hear it as it really should be a cherry contract all the way 'round.

Typhoonpilot

Hi Koru:

It's nothing like EVA, not even close. Emirates is far better and there are many ex-EVA drivers at Emirates that would agree to that statement.

In all airline jobs, whether they be overseas or at home, the T & Cs have eroded significantly over the last 20 years. It is a continuing trend with no end in sight. Each individual will have their breaking point when enough is enough. What they do then is up to them.

Ay my carrier in the USA they started with changing the rigs back in the mid-90s. That effectively created 3 to 4 more days of work to get the same credit time. Gillegan will remember that as he was in the Union at that time. I was languishing on an 8 year furlough thanks to, among other things, the 767 pilots flying 10 hours of overtime per month at the companies request and the Union's approval ( note, not a dig on Gillegan I'm sure he was against that as he was pretty junior and not on the 767 ).

Post 9-11 the pay for the position I held dropped progressively from $110/hour to $76/hour, where it remains today. Vacation time was cut, more messing with the trip and duty rigs meant even more work to get the credit time, and the most wonderful thing of all the Pension plan was terminated. That cost most pilots high 6 to low 7 figures in lost retirement savings.

While being limited to 6 days off in a row and a target maximum of 14 is not a step in the right direction, it isn't as bad as some of the things that have happened in my career.


Typhoonpilot