OK so moral is low, and if the companies in the US start hiring again aggressively how many guys do you assume will go back?

Boy… can I remember just as recent as 5 years ago how great EK was. Better place to be than Six Flags or Disney World. Now I hear from friends on occasion how much they miss the low cost carrier they flew for in the US, Europe, Australia, and NZ. They wish they never left their carrier for the current miscreants (in their own words) they are working with currently with the breaches in the contracts by management without any recourse for the employees and no repercussions against the company.

Oh the original question…. I would have to say... "Yeah". When carriers, not limited to the US, but also anyone's home country start hiring again watch for the Diaspora from EK.

I think a lot of guys realised that Emirates now is "just another expat job" and not the career destinantion that it was advertised by the recruiters. Now, as an expat job, it still is probably the best one out there.

I've talked to quite a few guys who said that they would think twice to trade EK, as bad as it has gotten lately, for a recall or a new hire job. Once you become an expat, it's hard to go back to first year pay and such.

So: No, I don't think there will be an exodus of guys going back to the US soon. Coming here now? Whole 'nother ballgame...

The "golden handcuffs" are very difficult to undone specially when you have a family, when you reach a certain age and income level starting again at the bottom of the pile becomes impossible. Just as this is the main reason that there are career regional guys, there will be career contract/ex pat guys in my view. I agree that there won't be a massive exodus of guys returning home, at least not at the beginning

first of all, thanks for all the info. i'm trying to do as much research as i can since this would obviously represent a huge change for my family and i want to make sure we make an informed decision together. that being said, i have a few questions regarding some of the things that have come up here. first off:

i am anticipating base pay at 22,720 dhs/month, plus hourly flight pay of around 2,784 dhs/month (based on $9.48 hourly flight pay at about 80 hours per month) totaling around 25,504 dhs or just under (US)$7k per month. is this not accurate? would this be a dependable number for planning purposes, or do i need to be anticipating something else?

another question regards time off. how is it scheduled? do you have to take your time off all at once each year, or can you break it up? (i.e. 2 weeks in january, 2 weeks in april, 2 weeks in october, etc.) is all time off scheduled at the beginning of the year, or can you make adjustments/requests at any time in the year? is your positive space travel valid to the same location each year, or can you change it each year? (san francisco one year, new york the next, etc.)

Hi!

The exodus has already started. Poster wrote EK gained 9 pilots in 2009...lots of hiring, and lots of leaving. There are more people leaving now than there were in 2009, from what I have read.

They ARE staffing for growth, and they have a LOT of it. If you want a TON of technical details about all of the above, and a LOT of *****ing, go to pprune.org.

They just lowered the mimimums for the 3rd time since hiring started in Sep? I think they will be hurting more and more each month for pilots, as things continue, for quite a while.

"Shortlist" means you will be called more quickly for an interview than others.

EK IS a decent job, but if it is better than your current situation is only something YOU can answer. 3 years ago or so it was great.

Qatar is also hiring without the type rating. All the other ME carriers are hiring, WITH a type rating.

cliff
LFW

Don't come if you are focused on the upgrade, things and rules will change many many times before you are even close to an upgrade. 2300 pilots now = 4600 for you to upgrade not including attrition ( don't over estimate those numbers that will drive you crazy)
A 6% pay increase will not cover inflation, it barely covers what was taken over the last 2 years.
With the present rostering you will not be able to return to the states on days off, even in your top bid month you are 100+ from the top. Crew control/FDM are on to those that try and commute to make sure they are acclimatized before a flt if they think you have been out of Dubai without notifying them

That sounds about right.

You bid for at least one block of "peak leave" in summer and/or over the christmas holiday and another block of "non-peak leave" during the rest of the year. It's a crap shoot right now, really. The system is supposed to give those priority who did not get a peak leave slot the previous year but does not seem to work well since we are so understaffed. Also, vacation changes are almost impossible as there are no open slots available for the same reason. Most guys (me included) have at least 14 days of unassigned leave left, which means that scheduling might randomly assign you vacation days here and there instead of off days.

The annual leave destination is fixed for the first three years. After that you can change it every year.

all good info, and thanks to those who have posted so far. if i undtestand the vacation problem correctly, it is difficult to get a long enough block of time off to get home to the us? also, it sounds like the company has some autonomy over whether or not you can travel on days off, i.e., they would take issue with you traveling on a four day off block, etc.

my ideal vacation scenario would be to use 4 weeks to travel home to the states, and then the remaining 2 weeks for some kind of family vacation to some other destination. first, is this possible according to emirates' vacation policy (is it possible in theory) and second, what kind of problems, if any, am i likely to run into with this plan? (is it possible in practice?)

thanks!