Emirates after AC

[MorePlates]

Some of the people in this thread honestly sound like bitter losers, stuck with their “World Class Contract” and are miserable about it, and now they want everyone else to suffer through the same broke, soul-crushing first 5–10 years they did. Misery loves company, I guess. But let’s be real, it’s not like things magically get better later either.

Depending on housing situation ( which decides if you get the housing allowance or not ), you can earn $19K/month from day one, not including the insane bonuses they gave out the last few years.

A great lifestyle ( Nice one-bedroom apartment in a good area, a decent car, regular vacations, eating out, and enjoying what Dubai has to offer ) will cost you around $7-10K per month, depending on your choices, but you’re still saving $10K+. That’s $1.5M–$2M saved in 10 years, especially with captains now making $26K+ and upgrades happening in 5 years.

Whether you’d enjoy Dubai or not is subjective. Summers hit 45°C, so you’ll probably be indoors most of the time but then, -20°C winters in Toronto don’t exactly have people jumping out of bed either.

Yeah, the work is tougher. No union. But it’s not the horror show some bitter PPRUNE guys make it out to be, most are just salty from COVID layoffs. When’s the last time ( other than COVID ) EK axed a ton of their pilots? Exactly.

Without the housing allowance, FO pay drops to ~$13K/month, CA to ~$19K ( but expenses drop down to $4-7K and a ridiculous 4 Bedroom Villa ) still plenty to save $1M+ over a decade if you don’t let lifestyle creep get to you.

So ask yourself, would you rather come back in 10 years with $1–2M, or stay here and crawl up the seniority ladder hoping it pays off?

My advice? Try it out for a year or two. If you like it, stay as long as you can or want. If not, worst case, losing 1–2 years of seniority won’t make much difference over a 20–30+ year career.

[PostmasterGeneral]

People over 40 shouldn't live in one bedroom apartments.

[philaviate]

Some of the people in this thread honestly sound like bitter losers — stuck with their “World Class Contract” and are miserable about it, and now they want everyone else to suffer through the same broke, soul-crushing first 5–10 years they did. Misery loves company, I guess. But let’s be real — it’s not like things magically get better later either.

Depending on housing situation ( which decides if you get the housing allowance or not ), you can earn $19K/month from day one — not including the insane bonuses they gave out the last few years.

A great lifestyle ( Nice one-bedroom apartment in a good area, a decent car, regular vacations, eating out, and enjoying what Dubai has to offer ) will cost you around $7-10K per month, depending on your choices, but you’re still saving $10K+. That’s $1.5M–$2M saved in 10 years, especially with captains now making $26K+ and upgrades happening in 5 years.

Whether you’d enjoy Dubai or not is subjective. Summers hit 45°C, so you’ll probably be indoors most of the time but then, -20°C winters in Toronto don’t exactly have people jumping out of bed either.

Yeah, the work is tougher. No union. But it’s not the horror show some bitter PPRUNE guys make it out to be — most are just salty from COVID layoffs. When’s the last time ( other than COVID ) EK axed a ton of their pilots? Exactly.

Without the housing allowance, FO pay drops to ~$13K/month, CA to ~$19K ( but expenses drop down to $4-7K and a ridiculous 4 Bedroom Villa ) still plenty to save $1M+ over a decade if you don’t let lifestyle creep get to you.

So ask yourself: would you rather come back in 10 years with $1–2M, or stay here and crawl up the seniority ladder hoping it pays off?

My advice? Try it out for a year or two. If you like it, stay as long as you can or want. If not, worst case, losing 1–2 years of seniority won’t make much difference over a 20–30+ year career.

What determines if you get the housing allowance or not? And if I'm understanding what you're saying correctly, you either get company housing, and no allowance, or you get the allowance and then obviously just find a less expensive house to pocket more of the allowance?

[Dry Guy]

People over 40 shouldn't live in one bedroom apartments.

I wish. I lived in a 1 bdrm basement suite.

[MorePlates]

What determines if you get the housing allowance or not? And if I'm understanding what you're saying correctly, you either get company housing, and no allowance, or you get the allowance and then obviously just find a less expensive house to pocket more of the allowance?

That’s right, it’s mostly luck-based, and you don’t have much control over it.

When you get hired, if there’s company-provided accommodation available, you’re required to take it even if you’re a single guy. The only way around that is if you buy a property in Dubai, in which case you can receive the housing allowance directly, which is around $6,000–$7,000 per month.

Now, if you’re lucky and no villa is available (which happens about half the time), you get the full allowance from day one without the hassle of buying a property — and you’re free to rent your own place and pocket whatever you save.

[thepoors]

Some of the people in this thread honestly sound like bitter losers — stuck with their “World Class Contract” and are miserable about it, and now they want everyone else to suffer through the same broke, soul-crushing first 5–10 years they did. Misery loves company, I guess. But let’s be real — it’s not like things magically get better later either.

Depending on housing situation ( which decides if you get the housing allowance or not ), you can earn $19K/month from day one — not including the insane bonuses they gave out the last few years.

A great lifestyle ( Nice one-bedroom apartment in a good area, a decent car, regular vacations, eating out, and enjoying what Dubai has to offer ) will cost you around $7-10K per month, depending on your choices, but you’re still saving $10K+. That’s $1.5M–$2M saved in 10 years, especially with captains now making $26K+ and upgrades happening in 5 years.

Whether you’d enjoy Dubai or not is subjective. Summers hit 45°C, so you’ll probably be indoors most of the time but then, -20°C winters in Toronto don’t exactly have people jumping out of bed either.

Yeah, the work is tougher. No union. But it’s not the horror show some bitter PPRUNE guys make it out to be — most are just salty from COVID layoffs. When’s the last time ( other than COVID ) EK axed a ton of their pilots? Exactly.

Without the housing allowance, FO pay drops to ~$13K/month, CA to ~$19K ( but expenses drop down to $4-7K and a ridiculous 4 Bedroom Villa ) still plenty to save $1M+ over a decade if you don’t let lifestyle creep get to you.

So ask yourself: would you rather come back in 10 years with $1–2M, or stay here and crawl up the seniority ladder hoping it pays off?

My advice? Try it out for a year or two. If you like it, stay as long as you can or want. If not, worst case, losing 1–2 years of seniority won’t make much difference over a 20–30+ year career.

1. Are these numbers in USD or CAD?
2. How do you bring your $1-2M back to Canada without our government stealing a significant portion of it?

[MorePlates]

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[MorePlates]

1. Are these numbers in USD or CAD?
2. How do you bring your $1-2M back to Canada without our government stealing a significant portion of it?

1. CAD

2. You claim non-residency while abroad, so why wouldn’t you be able to keep most of your money? Please point me to the specific tax codes that indicate you would lose a significant portion, and I can answer more clearly.

Edit :- Also, I haven’t even factored in additional income like bonuses or provident funds, which would easily add in an extra $500K in less than a decade & over $1M in 15 years.

[thepoors]

1. Are these numbers in USD or CAD?
2. How do you bring your $1-2M back to Canada without our government stealing a significant portion of it?

1. CAD

2. You claim non-residency while abroad, so why wouldn’t you be able to keep most of your money? Please point me to the specific tax codes that indicate you would lose a significant portion, and I can answer more clearly.

Edit :- Also, I haven’t even factored in additional income like bonuses or provident funds, which would easily add in an extra $500K in less than a decade & over $1M in 15 years.

I was genuinely asking because I don't know. You can bring foreign earnings into Canada without being taxed on it?

[MorePlates]

I was genuinely asking because I don't know. You can bring foreign earnings into Canada without being taxed on it?

There’s nothing a country loves more than people showing up with millions of legal $$ from abroad.

As long as you’ve declared non-residency while working there, taxes won’t be an issue.

[Dias]

There’s nothing a country loves more than people showing up with millions of legal $$ from abroad.

This has been Canada's leading industry for the past decade.

[MaxAuto]

The only reason nso many went to Asian and the middle east back in the earlier 2000s was because there was no movement in North America. No one was retiring. The industry was stagnant.

If you're already at AC, stay there. Seniority is everything. Slow and steady wins the race. Not jumping from airline to airline to airline starting over everytime. Invest you money in the market and you'll make more money over time.

Going to EK is not going to cure your boredom. All the big Canadians cities are way better then fake ass Dubai. All my friends couldn't wait to finish their three years to come back.

[accountant]

I was genuinely asking because I don't know. You can bring foreign earnings into Canada without being taxed on it?

There’s nothing a country loves more than people showing up with millions of legal $$ from abroad.

As long as you’ve declared non-residency while working there, taxes won’t be an issue.

Just declaring it doesn't mean squat, especially with CRA.

If you go overseas, but have ties to Canada (ie, own property, etc) the smartest thing to do is sent in a request for determination of residency for tax purposes. CRA will go through how you answer the questions, possible ask you a few more, and then send a letter indicating whether you are or are not a resident. It does not come down to just de-facto having a certain amount of days in the country.

They can always go back and re-assess you if they have a different opinion than you.

Yes, we do have many tax treaties to prevent dual taxation. Recovering tax paid overseas isn't always easy.... that's where you hire someone who knows what they are doing to help you.

[MorePlates]

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[Bede]

I’m sure the guy pulling in $200k - $350k a year can definitely afford to call up an accountant or lawyer to get everything sorted. It’s not exactly uncharted territory — thousands have done it before, plenty are doing it right now, and thousands more will keep doing it.

I don't want to turn this into a dick measuring contest, but is $350k (CAD?) all Emirates pilots earn? That's WJ NB CA money. If so, it would seem that the sole financial advantage is the low tax structure.

[twa22]

I’m sure the guy pulling in $200k - $350k a year can definitely afford to call up an accountant or lawyer to get everything sorted. It’s not exactly uncharted territory — thousands have done it before, plenty are doing it right now, and thousands more will keep doing it.

I don't want to turn this into a dick measuring contest, but is $350k (CAD?) all Emirates pilots earn? That's WJ NB CA money. If so, it would seem that the sole financial advantage is the low tax structure.

It's actually around 200k CAD tax free, as the base salary for a captain, which in reality is about 350k CAD before taxes here

The way the payscales are done is a bit different, but these are about the latest numbers

https://www.pilotjobsnetwork.com/jobs/Emirates

Having said that, there's no yearly payscales, while 350k at WJ is topscale pay, or even AC for that matter, so not quite apples to apples comparison either

[DanWEC]

Plus housing benefits, plus profit share/performance bonuses, plus sizable monthly child care/education benefits.

So, yes, the main advantage isn't necessarily a much higher gross salary, it's that you keep every dime and then some.

350k here nets 180k, minus health benefits/insurance and mortgage/rent, so that's maybe 120k-140k after housing.

350k there is 350k net to start, and more after the benefits. Would be 400-500k CAD net after housing and child care with the profit sharing. Take out the housing expenses (Whether you take company or allowance) and you're still well over 350k net with nothing left to pay for but food, car and ancillary.

You would need to gross maybe 800k here to equal the same money in your pocket at the end of the month. More if you factor in that food and drinks are actually cheaper in Dubai. Crazy. Yet... here I am, still in Canada after considering this hard for the last couple of years....

[altiplano]

I'll take home $200K+ this year... work less than an Emirates pilot... and I don't have to live in Dubai... I live exactly where I want to live, raise my kids in the outdoors and have the time to ensure they are learning the right things. When I go on the big Boeing I suppose that take home will go up 100K or so and I'll work a little less too.

It's a no brainer for me, short term sacrifice, get your number, and put your time in here as early as you can if it's where you want to be and it's more years at the top. But fill your boots if you want to be a the hired help for a backwards bunch of sheiks in the desert and go live somewhere else. To each their own.

[Daniel Cooper]

Emirates is just one option. I'm a WB FO and get cold calls from recruiters every couple of months. Some are for the usual expat airlines but some are pretty nice places. I have a feeling one of them I won't be able to say no to. Canada has a weird obsession with anti-labour policies, laws, and politicians, that is absolutely destroying the middle class. And make no mistake, we are very middle class.

[MorePlates]

I don't want to turn this into a dick measuring contest, but is $350k (CAD?) all Emirates pilots earn? That's WJ NB CA money. If so, it would seem that the sole financial advantage is the low tax structure.

That’s news to me, pilots at WJ make $650K a year? Because that’s what it would take to take home $350K.

The $350K in Dubai is net, all take-home pay.

[MorePlates]

I'll take home $200K+ this year... work less than an Emirates pilot... and I don't have to live in Dubai... I live exactly where I want to live, raise my kids in the outdoors and have the time to ensure they are learning the right things. When I go on the big Boeing I suppose that take home will go up 100K or so and I'll work a little less too.

It's a no brainer for me, short term sacrifice, get your number, and put your time in here as early as you can if it's where you want to be and it's more years at the top. But fill your boots if you want to be a the hired help for a backwards bunch of sheiks in the desert and go live somewhere else. To each their own.

Why not mention how long you’ve been at your current company? Pilots at EK in less than a decade take home twice as much, work maybe 30% more, and let’s be real living in Dubai is subjective. They’re not exactly crying over missing –20°C winters.

Everything else you said? Yeah, nonsense at best.

And that’s exactly why we’ve got the world-class contract we landed last year.

Get your number, get in line, grind through the financial struggle, pay your dues — blah, blah, blah.

[DanWEC]

And that’s exactly why we’ve got the world-class contract we landed last year.

Out of curiosity, doesn't sound like you work at AC despite your comment here... Last year you posted about doing your CPL written.

While I completely agree about our fucking insane, broken, handcuffing, top-heavy, carrot-on-a-stick structure that legitimately has guys stockholming, (Which also, logically, proves how horrible it really is). Just wondering where you're getting your experience and info from?

[MorePlates]

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[twa22]

Out of curiosity, doesn't sound like you work at AC despite your comment here... Last year you posted about doing your CPL written.

While I completely agree about our fucking insane, broken, handcuffing, top-heavy, carrot-on-a-stick structure that legitimately has guys stockholming, (Which also, logically, proves how horrible it really is). Just wondering where you're getting your experience and info from?

Now, if you’re not a materialistic person, if you don’t care about Corvettes, Porsches, nice apartments/houses, Jetskis, or luxury vacations, then staying here absolutely makes sense. Our country is beautiful, and life here has its own kind of richness.

If you're going to EK to be materialistic, you're already off to a bad start. You can easily be materialistic in Canada too... Good luck with keeping up appearances in the sandbox

And for what it's worth, this is from someone who is considering overseas, but for nowhere near the reasons you are

[MorePlates]

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