More bad news from the Middle East Airlines

I was talking more about our industry equals... Like comparing Delta, on an international scale, to KLM, Air France, Lufthansa, etc.

Everyone knows that EasyJet doesn't pay squat, but they're trying to move up the food chain.
Who would EasyJet compare with? B6 and VX? If that's the case, yeah, God bless America...lol
 
Andrea hounded me last winter about applying at Emirates and despite the many +'s, my bottom line was "Honey, there's a reason we would be living in a secure compound." I don't care why there is a compound, but that is where you live. I don't want to live like that. I LOVE the lifestyle here in the US and I have no desire to leave it. If that wasn't an issue for me, I'd have applied a while back.
 
Andrea hounded me last winter about applying at Emirates and despite the many +'s, my bottom line was "Honey, there's a reason we would be living in a secure compound." I don't care why there is a compound, but that is where you live. I don't want to live like that. I LOVE the lifestyle here in the US and I have no desire to leave it. If that wasn't an issue for me, I'd have applied a while back.
Compound in UAE?

We put guys in Saudi in a compound for obvious reasons, UAE was live out in town with the rest of the 3M expats..... Example was Boeing, not Emirates.....
 
I don't keep up with current on goings, but had read about Emirates housing families in a compound a while back. Was reading a blog from someone over there. I don't know what the neighborhood was like or why they had them in that area, but my point to her was that she wasn't getting into anything she knew about. It's a completely different world outside the US and very much so in the ME.
 
I don't keep up with current on goings, but had read about Emirates housing families in a compound a while back. Was reading a blog from someone over there. I don't know what the neighborhood was like or why they had them in that area, but my point to her was that she wasn't getting into anything she knew about. It's a completely different world outside the US and very much so in the ME.

No compounds to live in in Dubai, just certain neighborhoods. We looked in to it for a while when I had the interview but after a lot of thinking we decided it wasn't for us. The pay is certainly good, but you work REALLY hard for it and while you can have a good time on your days off, there are many things you won't have over there that are normal here. What really decided it for me was the fact that two different guys over there (one a pilot and one working for an IT firm) told me the exact same story about how when they were traveling out of the country and the AC in their villa broke, the repair company hung up on their wives and but when they called promised that they'd be there within an hour. I don't want to put my wife in that sort of situation ever. For some people it works, but for others it doesn't. The trick is figuring that out BEFORE you go.
 
Don't let your captain ask what his colleague at Air France earns for flying the same equipment in the same route system.

Also ask the Air France colleague what it costs him -- in dollars -- to live where he lives in Europe.

The compensation is higher, but the cost of living is also much higher.
 
I've done a lot of work in the ME. Saudi is by far the worst, even more so if we had guys on "Accompanied" tours. If their wives wanted to go somewhere they had to wait for the husband to come home, or they would have a driver. Had one of my HR guys die on compound (was on tour alone, wife was coming over as he was recovering from surgery) , the bank wouldn't deal with his wife when she came over to clear out his stuff, had to get my legal team engaged as they told her to come back with "Her Brother".

UAE was a lot easier to swallow. Heck they even have liqour allotments and identity cards for non-muslim expats so you could purchase your monthly share in the designated store. Restaurants attached to Hotels could serve liquor, most hotels had 5 or 6 restaurants (and bars) associated with them.

Used to stay at the Intercon in Abu Dhabi as Sheikh Zayed had a piece of it. Security everywhere, more so when heads of state were in town.

Qatar not too bad either.

Crazy place was Bahrain. Saudi women would go there to rent a car and drive (since they couldn't drive at home). Had to watch it crossing the street or you got run over by a ninja. Why the hell would someone drive wearing a full Hijab is beyond me.
 
Who would EasyJet compare with? B6 and VX? If that's the case, yeah, God bless America...lol
Everyone knows that EasyJet doesn't pay squat, but they're trying to move up the food chain.

I'm not sure where you guys got the idea that EasyJet pay sucks. It's not a fantastic place but lets look at the numbers:

EasyJet FO salary range: $68,000 base to $86,700 top PLUS $27/sector add'l pay - 25 days vacation/year + home every night
Virgin American FO range: $36,900 base to $79,800 top PLUS $2/hr per diem - 5 days vacation per year (year 2-4: 15 days)
JetBlue FO salary range: $41,200 base to $94,000 top PLUS $2/hr per diem - (vacation info n/a)

The way I look at it, it's not a bad place to be as legacies are struggling and economies are still struggling in Europe. You make descent pay and consider doing 40 flights a month that would be $13,000 more a year with the add'l pay. I don't agree with the pay for type at EasyJet but at VX and B6 you kind of pay for it to, by taking the much reduced first year pay. Thoughts?

Sources:
EasyJet
VX and B6
 
I'm bored so I thought I'll do another comparison:

Emirates FO salary range: $82,700 base to $95,900 top PLUS $12/hr flight pay + 3 meals in local currency per diem
Delta FO salary range: $47,600 base to $124,800 top PLUS $4.50/hr int'l override + $2.50/hr per diem
US Airways FO range: $36,000 base to $94,200 top PLUS $2.20/hr per diem
United/CAL salary range: $26,000 base to $110,900 top PLUS $2.25/hr per diem

So a 90 hour month for the top guys without per diem may look something like this:

EK: $9,088
DL: $14,805
US: $9,810
UA: $11,880

These numbers are just hourly rate x 90 hours and pay is much more complicated than that, but I did find these numbers interesting.
 
We had a guy who posted here regularly who flew for Emirates. Haven't seen him in a long time but he did several good write-ups on what it was like to live in Dubai as an ex-pat - places you could go and things you could do. Can't remember his name, but if someone does, a post search could be relevant here.
 
Back
Top