Hey guys so I left EMirates last month after 7 years, any questions you have drop here & I'll do my best to answer.

There have been a lot of changes over the last year or 2, not all good. So the job is not quite the same as it was a few years ago. This might help you in deciding if you really want to make the big move.

IMHO, it is not a good a job as it was even 3 or 4 years ago. Roster hours are high, company management is going through some issues and crew morale is quite bad.

But- the travel and perks are still there (if not the same level as before)

So hit me with your questions guys (but nothing on AD/OD specifics as I did mine so long ago now)

Cheers,

DH

What do you mean by different? I'd like to know more about the cons (in depth) of working in Emirates. I'm 21 and thinking of joining Emirates. I don't have any college degree though, that worries me but I have 3 years experience working in the hospitality field. Do you think I can make it through?
What's the current situation for the salary? Can you save enough money or is it more of a hand to mouth?

So the biggest change in my personal opinion is the rostering of flights and the days off. When I left the rosters were so tough (And I'd been flying with them 7 years by then) you were doing so many hours per month and the days off were almost minimum every month.... one or two, not usually more than that together. A few lucky crew seemed to get blocks of 4 or 5 but that was usually because they had leave or only ULR flights in that month.

There were a lot of 7 days on, one day off, 7 days on, 2 days off which is the maximum they can give, before we used to get a flight, 1-3 days off, flight or two flights, another 1-3 days off, the rosters became very compacted.

Swapping is almost impossible due to all the rules they put on it and that people have minimum days off so you have to swap exact days. Even before it was hard enough to swap, now it is even harder. Crew ask for money to swap (which is totally against the rules but they do it anyway)

Lots of new rules like, crew cannot bring in alcohol like they used to unless they pay huge duty, cigarettes cost double now, more uniform rules.

Don't get me wrong I am for rules if they are sensible, but the way it works now is that a few people abuse something, everyone suffers. Example: sick days. Before, you could self-certify sick for up to 7 days before needing to attend the clinic. SO for minor things, you didn't need to waste the time of the doctor (you know if you have a cold etc and just need a few days rest to get better)

Now, no matter what, if you call sick you MUST go in and get certified that you are off. This does nothing to stop those who abuse sick. they just go in, get seen, then still go out to party. So the truly sick ones suffer, not to mention you then get to get on the bus to go to work and there are sick crew spreading their germs around because they MUST go to clinic.

Stuff like this, there is much more but that is the main one, the rosters. I was dying by the end that's why I left. And if you call sick fatigued, they will tell you 'the computer says this roster is fine.' I didn't care, I told them their computer could go work my flight then and I called sick anyway. I wasn't scared of them, but some crew are and they go to work sick. Making you sick, and on and on it goes...

Do
You know if they are taking rejoinders?

Or the current situation with recruitment? It’s been stopped for over a year now!

I left 2 years ago and I’m wondering if I go back at all xx

livelifelaugh117, what grade were you before resigning?

Last I heard they were not taking rejoiners at all, and there was no recruitment for 1-2 years of anyone.

JJ I doubt things have improved in fact the rosters only got worse.

I would try for an airline in your home country first as even if the perks are less your health is more important.

And tbh, Emirates have had a lot of safety incidents recently which have not really made it into mainstream media. My main reasons for leaving was my heath, but I had planned to tough it out a bit longer. What I saw and heard, along with the incidents that happened made me decide it was not wise to stay any longer.

It's my opinion that sooner or later there will be an accident and they will not get lucky like they did with the Trivandrum crash on go-around. I didn't want to be there when it happened and I no longer wanted to sacrifice my mental health and personal dignity for the perk of travel (which tbh was useless except in leave the last 2 or 3 years as days off were not in blocks any more)

As I recall, if you rejoin after one year you rejoin as GR2 and do ab initio again. Only less than 1 year you go back as your old grade but I think this was also subject to approval and crew requirements

Hi,
Thanks for the information you provided.
I’m going to apply whenever the recruitment starts. You said the roster as been overworking everyone but on their website they talk about 80-100 hours monthly. So just to have an ideia what is the real time that you guys were/are working monthly (roughly).
Other question, in a registered nurse and I tought that maybe in time if I still want to be in the company I could move to do training or even work for Emirates clinic. How realistic is that, do you have a notion of crew that moves to other roles within the company?
What would be the biggest downsides in perks that Emirates have been done lately?

Thank you!

Hi,
Thanks for the information you provided.
I’m going to apply whenever the recruitment starts. You said the roster as been overworking everyone but on their website they talk about 80-100 hours monthly. So just to have an ideia what is the real time that you guys were/are working monthly (roughly).
Other question, in a registered nurse and I tought that maybe in time if I still want to be in the company I could move to do training or even work for Emirates clinic. How realistic is that, do you have a notion of crew that moves to other roles within the company?
What would be the biggest downsides in perks that Emirates have been doing lately?

Thank you!

I work for an airline in my own country (also 7 years) and I have these same issues with my company. I think it could be the aviation industry in general that's going down and all because of greed from the higher-ups.

I'm kinda between a rock and hard place right now with considering leaving to fly in the Middle East where I know the benefits are not as great as earlier years or stay in my country and somehow change careers (very hard to do btw).

What's your next move?