Dubai and Emerites

[Xfr8dog]

I did a search for Emerites on this board and found nothing useful.

Has anyone actually BEEN to Dubai? Whats it like? How big, how fun, how safe? I heard its like a large resort city and very open to things western. That they even have casinos and horse racing...not that those are things I'm interested in, but it paints kind of a different picture of what I would imagine a Middle Eastern city to be...

And how about Emerites? I'm doing research on thier website but would like some input from someone who actually works there, or knows someone who works there... typical things, you know, QOL, upgrade times, attitude of crew members.... stuff you can't find on the website.

Thanks.

)'(



...........

 

[Sir Humpalot]

First of all, its Emirates and not emerites. I dont fly for them but i have been to Dubai. Dubai is awesome, there are so many americans and europeans there that you might not think its in the middle east. I was surprised that they have clubs, bars, girls, and so many other things that we take for granted in america. The thing that surprised me was the amount of russian hookers there, they are everywhere and want to meet that "great" american guy.

There is alot of pakistanis and indians, who out number the arabs by 8 to 1. If you are american, dont flaunt it. Do not walk into a bar and tell all the hot ladies that you are american. They will start talking politics with you and want to know why Dubya has invaded the world They are a friendly group of people and just be prepared for the heat.

Check out this website,...they have alot of good info on emirates.

http://www.pprune.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=44

Go to www.pprune.org and they have daily updates on emirates on the middle east link.

This is what i know of emirates, many cultures in the flight deck and being American is not a perk. The aussies will drink you to death. Its a growing airline that will be flying to the west coast directly from the middle east next year. They are getting a bunch of a-380s and have a large growth plan. Check out pprune, and you will get more contacts.

 

[Isla Mujeres]

Dubai is an awesome city!
It is the 2nd biggest of 7 emirates (kind of states) that constitutes the UAE. (United arab Emirates). The biggest one being Abu Dhabi.
And the only one that allow a non-national to own property.
It has all you can think of and more.
Everything that is available in the US/EU is here and then some.
A lot of SUVs. But with gas so cheap, why NOT???
Very bad drivers. Aweful traffic. A lot of people everywhere!!
Very Hot and humid summers. ( The worst I have experienced)
But the rest of the year is very pleasant.
It is a mix of Euro/US/Asia/Arab Culture.
All majors corporation have some kind of offices here.
It is expanding like there is no tomorrow. Construction is going on everywhere.
Beautiful Skyline. And amazing projects in the making. (Palm, Emirates mall, etc..) For example, you will be able to ski at the Emirates Mall. And not a small fake slope. It is aspiring to have the longest ski run in the world!!
Beautiful beaches. Beautiful Desert for having a blast in that SUV.
The population is very mixed. Westerners, Asians, Africans etc...
There is someone from every spot of this planet.
The night scene is crazy! The girls are crazy!
That is the kind of place Dubai is.
Definetely not a problem for an american to live in. And there are quite a few.
But it is still a muslim country. So there are a few rules to abide by.
Nothing crazy. It is still their country, their rules and their prisons..
You also get to realize that depending of what passport you hold, you will be treated very differently.
The US is very close to the "upper class". (Just behind the locals along with the western europeans). But because of the current politics, I wouldn't flaunt it. You never who you talking to!!!
It is a very affordable and unique holiday spot.
Americans won't probably come here in droves to spend some vacation time, but the europeans are very much into it now. (Most of our Boys&Girls in the Gulf Region that are having some R&R in Dubai love the place)

As far as Emirates goes, I don't work for them. But I suggest trying a different spelling. (It is Emirates, )

Later,

 

[rwelch]

look for typhoon pilot. he is a 777 driver for them.

 

[On Your Six]

look for typhoon pilot. he is a 777 driver for them.

I agree - conduct a search looking for a guy named "Typhoon Pilot" - not sure about the exact spelling. He is an ex-USAirways pilot who now flies for Emirates as a 777 Captain. Conduct a search.

 

[Apeman]

My brother left USAir (18+ years)within the last 2 months and is now at Emirates. From his first 30 days there, he has said that it was the RIGHT choice. He really likes it so far. As far as what has been said so far---all true. He got the A330 and is happy with that. He bought a new vehicle here in the states and is shipping it there--cheaper than buying it there. Huge markup, and they DO NOT haggle the price. If you don't buy it, the next guy will!! His living quarters are a 36th floor beachside condo, 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, granite counters, paid for by Emirates! They are only hiring guys w/ experience in A-bus or large Boeing according to what he has heard. Does not mean thats the rule, but he has done a little sniffing for me and this is what he has found out so far. Like the other guy's have said--find Typhoon Pilot, or do a search. He has given much good info on Emirates!

 

[typhoonpilot]

Hello, did somebody mention Emirates ?

Has anyone actually BEEN to Dubai? Whats it like? How big, how fun, how safe? I heard its like a large resort city and very open to things western. That they even have casinos and horse racing...not that those are things I'm interested in, but it paints kind of a different picture of what I would imagine a Middle Eastern city to be...

I describe Dubai as a cross between Florida, California, and Las Vegas. The beaches are a lot like Florida's in appearance and they also go in one long straight line with no hills or mountains in the background. The city is layed out a lot like Florida's east coast cities, stretched out along the water front without much building once you get a few miles away from shore ( okay, maybe that is the Florida of old ). The California part comes with the desert and the mountains that are well inland. Dry barren mountains like you see on the drive from LA to Vegas. It makes for some good off road driving if you like that sort of thing. Then there is the Vegas aspect with all the glitzy hotels and facilities that are attracting tourists.

There is horse racing and it is quite big, the world's richest horse race is held in Dubai every March. The Sheikhs have one 747 that only flies their horses around to big international races. It averages about 900 hours per year I'm told. There is no gambling and no casinos. That would be against the Islamic law.

Dubai is presently just over 1 million in population but growing rapidly and the Emirates of Sharjah and Ajman are right next door so the combined metro area probably is getting closer to 2 million people. It is very safe. Whenever people make some ignorant comment based on their perception of the Middle East I usually retort that it is much more likely you'll be killed by a freeway sniper in Ohio or a sniper in Washington D.C. than to be subject to violence while living in Dubai. Violent crime just doesn't happen here. Sure there is petty crime, theft, and occasional vandalism but the police here ( especially the plain clothes CID officers ) are pretty active at keeping the unsavory people from spoiling someone's vacation.

Fun is a sujective thing. It depends wht you are looking for. If you are single and looking for the kind of fun that a single guy is usually looking for then you won't be disappointed in Dubai. We have over 5000 cabin crew who are mostly young single females looking for a guy. That plus the school teachers and office workers from the UK, South Africa, Australia, and elsewhere will keep a single guy very busy. If you are into sports then you won't be disappointed either. Golf, boating, mountain biking, kite surfing, it's all here. There are softball leagues, ice hockey tournaments, little league baseball, rugby, cricket, soccer, Aussie rules football, we've got it all.

Yesterday I woke up early, went upstairs to the gym for a quick aerobic workout ( 36th floor, by the way, your brother is on the 26th floor he must have been exaggerating ) then later to a very nice health club that the pilot's and their spouses can go to for a swim and later to the beach park with some friends. I really enjoy the lifestyle here, much better than some places in the States.

To be continued

TP

 

[typhoonpilot]

And how about Emerites? I'm doing research on thier website but would like some input from someone who actually works there, or knows someone who works there... typical things, you know, QOL, upgrade times, attitude of crew members.... stuff you can't find on the website

QOL, okay we already touched on days off activites. So how about how many days off,work schedules, that kind of thing ? Emirates is a long haul airline so the job involves a lot of back of the clock flying and mutiple time zone changes. We also have a lot of the dreaded night out and backs to nearby destinations. Those depart at between 10:00 pm and 3:00 am and go somewhere from 2 to 4 hours and then you fly back, arriving back between 5:00 am and 1:00 pm. Thank god they are mostly on the Airbus . The long haul flights either depart at 8:00 am or between 1:00 and 3:00 am. The 3:00 am ones are actually not that bad since you can usually get a good 3 to 4 hour nap in ahead of time. Sometimes they are two leg flights, but mostly just one leg. We are allowed to have controlled rest on the flight deck which is very nice on the longer night flights.

A typical schedule on the Boeing will give you between 10 and 18 days off in Dubai. Kind of a big variation, but it really depends on the trips that you like to fly. Often times you can get trips with 2 or 3 days off downroute which would decrease your time off in Dubai. As an example, we have one 11 day trip that has 4 full days off in Melbourne. Or, you could fly day out and backs to Cairo, Istanbul, Jeddah, Bombay, etc and be home a lot more.

The bidding system uses a preferential style that seems to work okay. We just switched to a new provider for that and there has been a learning curve for some people. You would be placed in one of five bid groups. The bid groups rotate such that in one month you are in the top group and then go back to the bottom and work your way back to the top on a five month rotation. It is great when you are junior ( which I am ) as you get a couple of really good months of bidding twice per year. You can usually get what you want in the first two groups, but then get the crap when you are on the bottom. Reserve days tend to be spread out among the bottom groups. If you don't like your schedule you can trip trade with some restrictions.

A big thing about Emirates versus the other expat carriers ( especially Asian ones ) is that the crew tend to get along pretty well and do things together on the layovers. This increases QOL very much. I enjoy going to work and I enjoy the guys I fly with because they are generally the same age and background as me. Most of the pilots are expats, almost 90%. They big majority comes from the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, and other places. We have close to 50 nationalities on the flight deck and over 90 in the back end.

As for upgrade, that is a guess at best. Historically upgrades have run at a 3 year average but that is going to change. It is still three years on the Boeing right now and should stay so for another couple of years as we are getting one per month starting in March. The Airbus is a different story, I think they will start going over 3 years very soon. The wild card in all of this is the direct entry captain hiring that has occured over the last 9 months. If it continues it makes it very difficult to make a prediction because you never know how many they will hire. Word is that the program is going to stop, but the evidence is to the contrary. If you come here with an idea that upgrade will occur between 5 and 7 years then you will probably not be disappointed.

Got to go make pancakes for the wife now, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. The advice about checking pprune is good as there are a lot of Emirates threads on the Middle East forum.

Typhoonpilot

P.S. Cars are much cheaper in Dubai than the States, new Toyota Landcruisers are about $10,000 cheaper. Used Mercedes are between $5000 and $10,000 cheaper. Gas price is fixed at just over $1.00 per gallon but it will go up soon, probably 25%.

 

[On Your Six]

Typhoonpilot,

As always, great post.