Pros
- Good accommodation, with all expenses being paid, if you are lucky enough to be sent to a nice location in Dubai, otherwise you are headed to the desert. - Transport to and from work provided and free. - Good destination network and good staff travel concessions. - Good salary compared to other airlines, even in EU and US.
Cons
- Management excessively harsh and even sometimes rude with employees, unfair treatment, flight reviews based on negativity no matter how hard you have worked and how great you are. Being treated as a staff number, no human touch, no compassion, no loyalty to long-serving or loyal employees. No appreciation, no respect. - You might progress through your flying career, moving from GR2 to GR1, FG1, SFS or PUR or trainer, but very, very difficult to move to a managerial position or other office duty. Very often depending on your nationality or passport. Even sometimes the company openly states that they do not need "that many Asians" or certain other nationalities in First Class or on the A380 or in some other grades. - Fear culture between employees. Everyone is scared of everyone. Every employees tries to secure their own position even if they have to report their own co-workers behind their back. Back-stabbing culture very wide-spread. - Excessive workload. Sometimes on a 14 hours flight you might work from take-off to landing and you are given only two and a half hours rest. The Cabin Crew Rest Compartment on A380 is very small for the amount of crew for this aircraft and excessively noisy being in the cabin opposite the toilets, hearing people's conversations from the cabin and toilets flushing all the time. Impossible to rest even for those two hours. - Pre-flight briefings stressful. You will be required to line up in a queue for your grooming to be checked when your senior will ask you to show him/her your belt, socks, nails, make-up, hairdo, girls may be asked to remove their jackets, so "seniors" can check the colour of their bras and might be required to spin around so they can be viewed better. (Depending on that if your senior is on a power trip or not.) Very often important information like number of wheel chair customers or passengers with health problems being neglected emphasizing on the business aspect for the company, being pushed to sell as much Duty Free as you can, company values, etc... - Rosters not balanced. You might arrive early in the morning and check-in for another flight after midnight the same day (provided you had 11 hours rest between arrival and check-in time). You might have only one day off before and after a ULR flight (not that often but happens). - Swapping system too complicated with too many rules which makes it almost impossible to arrange your days off (as it used to be) or even... to swap flights. Now you can swap only flight for a flight (if you comply with nationality, language speakers, etc., etc., rules). New joiners not being able to swap their flights for six months after joining, crew being promoted to senior positions (SFS, PUR) not being able to swap in the first six months either (pool time). So, good luck with this! - Accommodation, even though provided for free, being guarded by security who is often rude and being there to watch at you and control you. Everyone who visits you needs to check-in stating their names, phone numbers, company they work for. If you have visitors not employed by Emirates, they cannot stay with you after 1 am. If you do not want to live in a company provided accommodation, so you are not constantly monitored, you have the option to move out but the allowance the company provides you is so small, that will not cover your annual rent. You will have to pay the rest from your own pocket. Heard stories of people having to sleep in their cars or borrowing money from their friends all the time coping with the high rents. The salary Emirates gives you is not enough for you to pay a rent in Dubai on your own!!!!
