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Questions about EK and living in Dubai

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Questions about EK and living in Dubai

Old 05-23-2008, 07:08 PM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by EZBW View Post
How long are the layovers? pairing?
Any out and backs?...so that you can be home in dubai more often or is it more like long trips on the road?
thanks
This has been covered quite a few times before, but here's a quick summary:

-it depends on the fleet, but Emirates only likes to fly to places they can go daily, so most layovers are around 24 hours.

-on the Bus, there is one 6 day pairing through NZ, other than that, the longest pairing(s) are 4 days, and most are 2 days. There are a lot of out and backs, but they're often in the dead of night. The Boeing has more long pairings. I understand they have trips up to 9 days long.

-you can bid to be 'home' more, but you'd probably lose productivity and get fewer days off. Keep in mind a clumsily instituted new policy that pilots are now targeted to a MAX of 14 days off per month.

-on the Bus I'd guess an average of 10-12 days off/month, on the Boeing it should be easy to get 14 given all the long trips.

Hope this helps.
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Old 05-23-2008, 08:12 PM
  #22  
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Originally Posted by SKMarz View Post
... If I understand correctly, the issue is the U.S. mail contracts and it requires the 5 year US residency. It is a huge decision to be sure. Actually it has given us pause because as you know, mail contracts do shift and we could find ourselves in the same boat at UPS...
Seriously doubt UPS would ever want the majority of the postal contract - small parts of it sure, but not anything close to what Fedex is doing - they like to be in control of their business too much, just my personal opinion...

I don't envy any of y'all and wish you good luck with the tough decision you must make. Hopefully purple and brown will call before you must make those decisions. Unless you decide you're better off at EK no matter what (and I mean it sincerely), then good luck with that too...


Btw, I've been reading Typhoonpilot's posts for quite some time and he/she has some of the most informative posts out there - great help to fellow pilots for sure!

Last edited by ⌐ AV8OR WANNABE; 05-23-2008 at 08:27 PM.
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Old 05-24-2008, 01:48 PM
  #23  
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Cloud Sailor,

My husband made it to the presentation (just barely, his flight got delayed two hours, typical!). He just left on a trip, so I will answer on his behalf. He was impressed with the overall feel of it but still has some concerns (as I'm sure you and others do). We are not really worried about giving up his seniority at his current carrier, but are obviously conflicted about UPS since he was wanted to be there for more years than I can count. He took an interview date in September but we may have to try to see if we can move that up to an earlier date to ensure we have someone to take care of our little ones while we are there. I can't imagine him trying to prepare for a three day interview with two toddlers crying and screaming due to exhaustion.

Personally, our decision is made more difficult because we will be impacting the life of our foster son. If that wasn't an issue, if we liked what we saw in Dubai and he got the offer, he would probably go sooner rather than later. I get the feeling UPS won't be hiring for two or three years but I realize that not even UPS probably knows that answer. I don't know if UPS would have a deferral option in the pool so we can cope with the training bond issue. Of course, who knows, maybe we would love it and want to stay.

One thing I have learned is that things are rarely what you think they will be, things are sometimes better, sometimes worse, but rarely meet your expectations, and that would probably even be true at UPS.

I just really want to do our homework to ensure we make the most informed decision possible. As it is for most people, being away from family is the most challenging aspect. Both of our Mom's are 70 years old, currently in good health but I just think what would happen if they begin to experience health problems. I wonder if EK offers any amount of compassionate leave time or equivalent.

We weren't able to get a babysitter, so I couldn't go the road show. I wish my husband and pressed a little harder when he asked about the wait to get into housing. He was assured that because we have children under 18, we would be put in a villa immediately, with no wait period.... that doesn't seem to be what I have read on this forum so if anyone has clarification, that would be great.

So now, we wait and see, and in the meantime, I will be spending quite a few hours in on our computer researching the topic.

Last edited by SKMarz; 05-24-2008 at 05:36 PM.
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Old 05-24-2008, 06:31 PM
  #24  
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Originally Posted by SKMarz View Post

I just really want to do our homework to ensure we make the most informed decision possible. As it is for most people, being away from family is the most challenging aspect. Both of our Mom's are 70 years old, currently in good health but I just think what would happen if they begin to experience health problems. I wonder if EK offers any amount of compassionate leave time or equivalent.

We weren't able to get a babysitter, so I couldn't go the road show. I wish my husband and pressed a little harder when he asked about the wait to get into housing. He was assured that because we have children under 18, we would be put in a villa immediately, with no wait period.... that doesn't seem to be what I have read on this forum so if anyone has clarification, that would be great.

I'll say one thing for Emirates; they're good with family health issues. When my wife's family had a crisis, I was given a week's emergency leave to stay with the kids and she had a firm ticket home within 3 hours. Even the most pessimist types tend to admit the company is good in this area.

As for the villa, what your hubby was told simply isn't correct. I'm don't think they'd lie to him, so there must have been a misunderstanding. Many years ago I went villa-less despite my having kids and right now, there are simply no villas to have so families are waiting about 6 months. There are a couple of huge complexes being built so if you joined late this year, there might not be a wait, but who knows?

Anyway, I'm saying too much good about EK - starting to sound like Typhoon! Ask me about how they award upgrades so I can balance it out.
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Old 05-24-2008, 07:50 PM
  #25  
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Housing- it might have been , with kids under 18 you immediately get a villa or as already said by the time you were to get here the next group of villas will be done. The new villas are very close to the dump and the app to 30.
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Old 05-24-2008, 11:42 PM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by bus canuck View Post
... Ask me about how they award upgrades so I can balance it out.
So how do they award upgrades?
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