5 Emirates dark secrets revealed – from a perspective of a former EK cabin crew

 

Not so glamorous Emirates Airline lifestyle

I’ve read this article on Yahoo Lifestyle yesterday and wondered how far can a pursuit for the profit go? And does doing business these days means only flooding the media with stories which promote your desirable image? Does any CEO or business owner today thinks they can resolve their inner organizational and human resources problems with a few positive image articles on the internet? How long before managers figure out that they cannot beat the internet because it gives an equal power to everyone, including those whose voice managers don’t want to hear?

I am not glad to see that EK managers hadn’t learned much about running the long lasting business. They are still trying to mask the problems with the old “high class lifestyle” public discourse, while their company is falling apart from the inside.

Is it that human conscience is limited with its own mortality so much that managers simply don’t care what will happen after they go, or they simply don’t know how to think in future terms? Maybe combination of both, but, in the meantime, while EK is struggling with its limited managers whose only job is, it seems, to drink Costa coffee in the HQ Costa cafe and to make sure that internet gets its daily dose of “Emirates high class lifestyle” articles, this blog will publish not so glamorous stories about the real lifestyle inside Emirates Airline.

I’ve got this story as a comment on my blog and decided to publish it as an article because I had similar health issues while I was working in EK (without health insurance!). When your employer doesn’t care about your health, I guess you have to take care of yourself and the internet can be a good doctor in the world which recognizes only money for its supreme leader.

 

“Dragna, I have been following your blog for about 2 years. I’ve resigned from EK in 2013.

I left because I felt we as crew were not treated fairly, there was no Support system we could rely on.
2012 I was diagnosed with a begnine tumor in my uterus, and after pleading with my manager to let me come home for the operation (because they wanted me to have the surgery in Dubai, and if so, I’m pretty sure I would have died,since I had complication during it), I was allowed one month for surgery and recovery.

Obviously it took more than one month, and while recovering I was stressing out, because I kept seeing flights being rostered, and, just because I hadn’t sent my doctor’s letter on time (I was at the hospital) stating that I was still in hospital and could not return.
There was no one in charge to contact directly (they were closed for Eid) and instead of being relaxed and advancing on my recovery, I was freaking out.

It was one of the most horrific experiences of my life.

Later I found out that the reason that tumor had developed was due to hormonal inbalance caused by lack of proper nutriton, rest and stress.
In conversation with at least 7 female crew, i found out that they too had had simililar problems, and had to have surgery.

My last year at Emirates I was A380 FG1, more than once I had to eat standing and while the service was going on. I would grab a bite everytime I enter the galley and chew before I took the next item of food to the customer. With On Demand service, breaks to eat are nearly impossible.

When I came back home for good, I had medical tests done and I was diagnosed with severe anaemia, not to mention that I fell into deep depression which I’m still battling with.

The good times of my EK experience were completely obscured by the many bad things that happened. Sad to say it.

Anonymous”

Emirates’ flight attendants are starving?

In some of the previous stories on this blog we have seen that EK cabin crew work in inhumane conditions, but this e-mail I’ve got from one former member of EK cabin crew shows how Emirates’ flight attendants don’t even have a meal break on their flights.

This e-mail I am sending you shows how EK has removed the meal break on long flights and how the crew are not able to seat and eat on the flights:

The stations (only) were given a revision in their policies manual which removed the need to soft block seats (therefore depriving the crew from having adequate seating to have their meal break. In April this year the company issued a revision to the outstation policies manual putting the soft block policy back. For 7 years the cabin crew manual still had the soft block policy in place and it was a requirement to have the meal break but of course we were never given it because we didn’t have the seats arranged. The  company don’t allow us to eat in the jump seats facing the passengers (95% of Jump seats).

That email shows how management have:

1. Removed a rest policy without informing the crew (and the crew are responsible for adhering to rest policies)
2. Have willfully changed a GCAA controlled document (the manual) without sanction from the regulator.
3. Known that this discrepancy between the two manuals is causing confusion.
4. Known that crew already have difficulty having a meal break due to the configuration of the A380 as most of the jump seats are in the cabin and not the galley and the company prioritising the image concern of crew eating versus allowing them to have a legally required meal break.
5. Introduced two services on a 5:30 flight so that there is no possibility for the crew to even have a meal break.
6. Placed the responsibility on the purser for giving the meal break and in the event that a safety incident occurred (like a crew being so fatigued that they open the cabin door with the escape slide armed or they give the wrong medication to a passenger having a heart attack) the management could always turn to the crew and say: there is a meal break in the manual… Why did you not take the meal break?

The same person has also sent me this e-mail:

I found out that EK did an illegal flight from Dubai to Munich, where the crew and pilots operated the flight and had a rest of 8 hours, when the minimum rest required is 11 hours. but because there was a technical problem on another airplane, they called another set of crew and pilots to do this flight and they gave them less than the minimum rest, and everything goes normal for EK, breaking the rules and even after the accident, they didn’t seem to learn that they were very very lucky for no passenger or crew to die on that one. They are pushing everyone to the limit till another one happens and with fatalities, because they have money and they simply don’t care for human lives.

From EK’s internal cabin crew flight schedule system

Would Emirates be better off with a Trade Union?

A new blog and a very interesting point of view from a former Senior Vice President of Emirates Group IT Tom Burgess.

I appreciate that introducing a Trade Union into Emirates is probably the last thing on the company’s agenda during these challenging times, but maybe it is not such a foolish idea.

Spotlights are being focussed on the Emirates Group with increasing frequency and intensity. The motives of those holding the lights vary considerably, but it is clear that the standard Emirates response (put on the sunglasses then, if that fails, smash the bulbs) no longer works. Eventually, someone will realise that it is finally time to communicate with those guiding the lights and to have a close and open minded look at what is being illuminated. Once that is done, to enable the company to survive going forward, a total shift of management ethos will be required. Most involved will feel the need to admit that “we got it wrong” will be the toughest challenge, but far greater than that will be how to open up channels of communication with those who really matter – the staff. Those staff who, for their entire careers in Emirates, have sensibly concluded that you only ever tell your manager what s/he wants to hear. Anything else is, at best, career limiting, but more likely career terminating. Historically, managers in Emirates normally have only asked staff for their opinions to check their loyalty and compliance – a test rather than a quest. Assertions of “you can trust us now” will merely be seen as a trap. Maybe an intermediary such as a Trade Union would be able to help?

During my lifetime I have gone round a few circles with my views on Trade Unions. In the UK in the 1960’s they were often ridiculed, seemingly looking for the slightest excuse to down tools. By the early 1970’s many people thought they had too much power and by the end of that decade pretty well everyone, including some members of Trade Unions, knew they had too much power. Enter Margaret Thatcher. Whilst most people recognised the need for, and applauded the result of, her strategy, they were dismayed by her methods (and the resulting social impact) and then appalled as she subsequently took steps (which thankfully failed) to ban Trade Unions in some arenas. For quite some time afterwards, the UK employment environment seemed to provide a good model for everyone involved – staff enjoyed protection, but companies were allowed to run their businesses and communication within all industries improved dramatically. However, many feel that the balance has been tipping in recent times, with workers’ protection progressively diminishing.

My own experiences with Trade Unions were mixed. I managed in all sorts of environments – non-union (by employee choice), mixed union/non-union and total union – and this gave me forever changing perspectives. As a manager, I finally concluded that, broadly, Unions were a waste of time. But this only applied in organisations where management and the HR department actually did the jobs that they were paid to do. Sadly, such organisations are becoming rare and Emirates is light years away from such a position. If a company has a weak HR function, then managers will be tempted to run riot and the company will need a Trade Union to function effectively.

When I worked in the oil industry the production side (refineries, etc.) was heavily unionised but less so the ‘white collar’ environment. The company was properly managed and the ideals of staff involvement, communication, development, retention and motivation were embedded in everyday life, not just words on recruitment material. Naturally the production side of the business enjoyed the benefits of that approach as much as the white collar areas did, but the physical environment did not generally lend itself to open discussion. Add into the mix the need for a huge focus on safety, it was imperative that a comprehensive and forceful voice could be presented to management regarding the serious issues of the day. Regardless of how professional and experienced a manager is, balancing the need to reduce costs with the imperative of maintaining safety is never going to be easy. In an environment where the impact of an operational accident is significant, there comes a time when that challenge becomes potentially impossible. So, in that industry, an independent voice and channel (via a Trade Union) for operational staff was essential. A major incident at an oil refinery can be on the same scale as an aviation disaster.

As managers, there are times when we need to be ‘saved from ourselves’. My saviours were often colleagues in HR departments and I was privileged to have worked with some excellent people over the years. (This includes two HRM’s in Emirates, though sadly both left the company some time ago). One of my favourite HR Directors used to say “Yes, I can see what you are trying to achieve . . .” and then came the word “but”! I think senior managers in Emirates would have benefitted from that word “but” many times over the years. However, this will not happen all the time Emirates HR department is seen (both by the company and by itself) solely as an administrative support function.

I cannot say that I was ever ‘saved’ by a Trade Union representative. My HR colleagues were quite frankly streets ahead of them when it came to people issues. But I did value Union counsel when seeking staff views. I had worked in open management cultures for many years, where everyone was comfortable with saying what they thought without fear of incrimination. But following company mergers, when I found myself leading teams who had previously been managed more in the Emirates style (though nowhere near as extreme), it would have been absurd to expect everyone to open up and trust me from day one. Trust takes a long time to achieve and probably becomes permanently unachievable if you ever say “you can trust me”. But staff did (rightly) trust their Union representative, so that was a useful route to find out what staff really thought about matters. And naturally, as trust was established between managers and Union representatives, that trust permeated in all directions, to the benefit of everyone involved.

Until Emirates HR department becomes functional, there is huge gap to fill if management, indeed the company, is going to be saved from itself. Here are a few examples where truly independent involvement would have helped:

The overwhelming consensus is that the views expressed in the last staff survey were extremely bad, but nobody really knows how bad they were. Eventually, a very brief communication was issued which basically revealed nothing. Does anyone believe that any Trade Union would let a company get away with that? When a survey is commissioned staff will participate, tell the truth and rightly expect to be given the results. How will Emirates, in the future, obtain information that can only be obtained by a comprehensive staff survey? Who will bother? Only those who fear that non completion will result in a penalty will complete it. And if they have concluded that the survey is not confidential, they will not relay any concerns they have. A Trade Union could have saved Emirates from itself on this one. No matter how bad the results were, the impact from publishing them would have not been as negative as it has been by burying the exercise.

The ‘Truth about Emirates Airline Management’ blog has been running for what seems like an eternity. Those who initially asserted ‘ignore it, it will soon go away’ are looking rather silly now. With the existence of a Trade Union, that blog would never have been initiated. If a Trade Union were now to be introduced in Emirates, that blog would soon be taken down. With a Trade Union in place, there would never have been the need to record a meeting, as no manager would risk such behaviour if they had to account to a Trade Union. Had there been an issue between the company and an employee, a Union would have helped an appropriate and amicable way forward to be reached. Had a genuine impasse been reached regarding End of Service benefits, a Union would have assisted with a solution. The need for the ‘truth’ blog should never have arisen but, if the issues that prompted it had somehow not been picked up, a Union would have insisted that action be taken to have the blog removed. It is not only the Emirates Group that is being exposed and made a laughing stock by the ‘truth’ blog, staff members are impacted too. People want to be proud of the company they work for, not ashamed of it. And there must be many in Emirates who are concerned that they too may get a mention – though this is probably a real benefit of the blog as managers who bully will have certainly backed off in response to this particular spotlight. A Union would be able to force the advice (that most people worked out over a year ago) onto Emirates management – stop throwing bricks, go and talk to the lady with the lamp!

Major tragic events in the aviation industry in the last few years have drawn the travelling public to aviation forums and many will be alarmed at the increasing swell of concern about the fitness of flight deck crew to operate safely. It is too easy to make arguments at the ends of the scale – ‘lazy, overpaid prima donnas’ through to ‘so tired I cannot keep awake’. The same goes for the ‘over regulated’/ ‘under regulated’ arguments as well as the ‘ruthless profiteers’ versus the ‘hopelessly inefficient, but bailed out by government’ descriptions of airlines. The travelling public can only feel confident about what is a very complex equation, if they are certain that the overall framework is comprehensive and constructed with firm and independent parts. The public want to have confidence that an airline encourages and reacts to staff (at all levels) concerns, has an alternate and confidential route (such as via a Trade Union) for such communication (should individuals prefer) and is regulated by a genuinely independent official agency. A cynic can always question the competence and the true independence of all those involved, but what I have just described is a pretty robust and balanced framework. But take away the Trade Union and the structure loses its rigidity. Regardless if it is true or not, what travellers are deducing from the aviation forums at the moment is that the airlines and the regulator in the Middle East are working hand in hand and that staff views, if heard at all, are ignored. One picture currently being presented is that if a member of Emirates flight deck crew has a concern about safety, then their best chance of being listened to would be to contact either a German Trade Union or a Russian news channel. Would it not be better if s/he could talk to a Trade Union representing staff in Emirates? I am sure if that option were to be available, the public would feel more confident about flying with Emirates.

I do recognise that just to mention the words ‘Trade Union’ in Emirates could lead to serious consequences, so maybe ‘Staff Association’ would be more palatable. It would require a sea change in management attitude, but anyone who believes that a sea change in management attitude is not required in Emirates is a fool. Membership could be optional, though most companies see the benefit of a strong Union or Association, so actively encourage people to join. Individuals could then join and see if it works for them.

And if they don’t like it, they can leave!!

 

‘Emirates crews extremely fatigued’: Exhausted pilots tell RT of disturbing conditions

It’s so sad that Emirates Airline managers were warned in more than a year and a half ago that public will soon know about the bad treatment of their employees and the violation of labour rights and that their image and brand will be ruined. They’ve got that advice as a threat when they should have got it as an advice in a good will and do everything to improve working conditions.

 

Goodbye Anoma Manuel, you will not be missed

For those who don’t follow this blog from the beginning, everything has begun with now former Divisional Vice President Anoma Manuel and her ruthless behaviour towards Airport Services employees and myself, recorded on tape.

I felt harassed by her and I even filed a complaint to HR Manager Sophia Panayiotou. Sophia never responded to this complaint but she was fired by Emirates soon after my blog post about her, along with several other managers.

 
This time, Anoma Manuel “is leaving” the company. I will not speculate if she was “forced to resign” (a popular term in Emirates) or she resigned for some other reason as I don’t care. The damage to the employees and the company is already done. And  although I have a huge respect towards women who manage to succeed in a men’s world, I don’t have any respect for Anoma Manuel. She was insensitive and incompetent manager who has offended and bullied many people, who ruled by fear and who violated many policies of the company she worked for.

Goodbye Anoma Manuel. You will not be missed.

 

Emirates management tried to force a pregnant crew to an illegal abortion

We all know that women live harder lives. Their rate of unemployment is higher and they are less paid than their male colleagues globally. In some parts of the world they are still treated like second-class citizens without many basic human rights. This article is dedicated to all the women throughout the world who suffer just for being women.
This is the story about an Emirates cabin crew who found herself pregnant while working for Emirates Airline (EK). Apparently, EK management tried to force her to do an illegal abortion and searched for her in her apartment when she refused to do it.

E-mail from the crew

Hi !
I’ve just discovered your blog and I’ve found it very interesting. Thanks for taking the time to share this. As a former Ek cabin crew I can testify of what you are describing and I’d like to share my personal experience as well as asking your help on a matter I’m really concerned about..
I’ve been hired by Emirates airlines on xxx 20xx and everything went well at first, no paperwork to do, they basically convice you that you are in the best place on earth, that you have to advertise and show that Emirates crew is living the best life, enjoying, partying, discounts everywhere and so on… I’ve found it quite superficial and not as professional as a cabin crew position would be somewhere else with the importance of safety, security and you’re real role on board. I was disturbed by the company accomodation system, the curfew, having to ask before receiving family but I loved the job and didn’t think more about it at first. I’ve been dating another crew that I met right after I got in Dubai and in xxx 20xx (a year after I joined) I discovered I got pregnant… Please don’t judge me, I know how it works, I was careful and I never thought this could happen to me. I was actually very judgemental on this matter before it happened to me.

The nightmare started at this point. As you know it’s illegal to be pregnant without being married in the UAE so besides having to take the toughest decisions of my life regarding keeping it or not, I had to deal with what happened. I had 2 days of duty then 3 days off, I swapped the 2 days in order to have 5 days off in a row to go back to France and deal with the situation properly, without affecting my work. I’ve been even told that they give emergency leave on this type of situation, I guess I got the wrong doctor, wrong manager and bad luck..  I went to see the company doctor, big mistake since the information went straight away to my manager. The doctor told me that I shouldn’t go to france and got me in touch with a doctor who was illegally doing abortion in Dubai outside the hospital he worked in… That scared me and I kept telling her that there was no reason for me not going to France and coming back to work but she insisted and that seemed crazy to me, I felt like an outlaw (which I was as crazy as it seems…) and I was scared to undergo and abortion, by a doctor I don’t know, hidden god knows where and how.. Having to take the decision of aborting was hard enough for me. By the time I almost reached my accomodation my roomate called me to tell me that security entered my appartment and my room and seemed to be looking for something… I got even more scared, I was on a day off, it was supposed to be my home but it was never mine but the company’s.. I even thought they might have been looking for my passport maybe, I have no idea but my feelings were a mix between depression, hormones, fear and anger. All I wanted was to go home in France and deal with the diffucult thing I had to to.

I packed my suitcase, 2 of my batchmates and best friends were with me and one of them thought that security might have had the order to keep and eye on me and it might not have been a good idea to pass by them with my luggage. So she put on her uniform and passed on the lobby with my suitcase and I left the building after her. I was scared that my staff tickets could be blocked, to end up in jail or some crazy things that seem straight out of a movie, except it was real. Everything went well, I arrived in France and I exploded in tears and depression, as much as I loved the job I just couldn’t go back to Dubai. When I landed my flatmate called me to tell me that security went through my appartment again and asked her several time aggressively where I was and if I left the country. That was enough, I sent and email to my manager saying I resigned without the notice periode, that the uniform and most of the documents would be given to them by my flatmate and that I would pay for the rest. He responded that they decided to terminate my contract so officially, I’ve been fired.

It felt blurry and like a bad dream in my head, I had a breakdown, I still live it as a major failure, I feel guilty about everything and and it took me time not to blame me hardly about the pregnancy and all it caused. In a normal country and normal company you deal with your personnal issues on your days off, outside of your work environment, and it’s no one’s concern but yours. One is not supposed to have his appartment checked on request of his manager. I’m not entirely to blame on this and I decided not to give up on my passion of flying, I was good at it, I had great feedbacks from SFSs, and passengers, and I won’t let them take this from me.

I’ve just obtained the european Cabin Crew Attestation and I’m medically fit to fly so I’m really happy but now that it’s time to apply I’m afraid of mentioning I worked for Emirates. I don’t want to lie, pretend I’ve never flown and make up another job to fill the blank but I don’t know if Ek give feedback on former employees, if they’re in relation with other airlines for references checks etc.. so I’m asking for your advice on this.

It’s a long email, thanks again for your work and for taking the time, it means a lot to me and a lot of people I’m sure.
Have a wonderful year !

Emirates Airline fired my friend for supporting me

Emirates management fired a good friend of mine today out of blue for something she did at the end of last year.

Namely, she commented my article on Truth About Emirates Airline Management Facebook page. My friend wasn’t given a notice period or warning. She was just fired for writing a comment on my article so many moths ago. She didn’t lie about it. She was honest and straight until the end. Emirates managers do not care about honesty. They don’t care about their staff. They left my friend on the street with debts and no money for a rent.

This particular friend of mine supported me all the way through my fight. She was always open in her support, always wanting Emirates to become a better place for all. This is why she was brave enough to ask right questions at the Open forum for ground staff and to speak clearly and loudly about inhumane conditions in Emirates Airline. I guess managers never forgave her that and just waited for a “right moment” to terminate her service. But nobody would expect that they will do it in such a cruel way, suddenly and without giving her a chance to prepare herself. They just took away her whole life in Dubai from her in five short minutes.

To be honest, I wanted to stop writing this blog. My previous article on managers’ salaries supposed to be my last one. But this information changed everything. I don’t know why EK managers decided to fire my friend now for something she did so long time ago. What crosses my mind at this moment is a revenge to me and my blog after my last article. It wouldn’t be the first time for Airport Services Divisional Vice Presidents Anoma Manuel and Walter Riggans to revenge on staff for speaking up.

Let me remind you that I was also fired without notice period or any money in my pocket and was literally kicked out from the airport building like a dog. I couldn’t even get the information about my next steps for visa cancellation process because my HR profile was cancelled at the spot. I was left in the dark and on the street. Same happened to my friend.

I wanted you to know this. There is no humanity or decency among EK managers. They just keep responding to complaints and bad working conditions with cruelty, pressure and service terminations.

Shame on you, ruthless people. Shame on you in your expensive villas, with your 100.000AED salaries and bonuses. 

This is what Emirates managers get paid

If you are reading my blog from the very beginning you could notice that my termination process began at the moment when I asked about DVP’s (Divisional Vice President’s) salary at the open forum. DVP of Airport Services at that time was Anoma Manuel (shortly after the incident she was moved to another position) and she rudely answered that her salary is “not my business”. I, on the contrary, felt that my managers’ salary is my business because difference between mine and their salary is a direct measure of how much I (and all the other lower grade staff in Emirates) am exploited in order for managers to have their unjustifiably high salaries.

I did a little research and this is what I have found out: managers’ salaries are unimaginably and unduly higher than salaries of regular staff who are forced to work long hours, forced overtime, who are pressurized, disrespected, humiliated and fired for other people’s mistakes.

So, if Anoma Manuel was honest at the Open forum, she could answer my question like this:  “I am receiving around 40,000 AED per month, plus all the frills, plus four times bonus.”

According to my sources an overall package of one DSVP (Divisional Senior Vice President) is around 100.000 AED.

If we, for example, assume that this year’s bonus will be for 9 weeks, EK 4 staff will get around 7000 AED bonus, but one SVP (Senior Vice President) will receive around 490.000 AED.

If we know that one grade EK4 staff has 3500 AED (+1500 AED accommodation allowance) salary, I will leave you to think what these numbers mean.

Former Emirates purser’s testimony

“I’m ex crew batch xxx from 1996 to 2005. I’m so sad to hear how EK has become.

When I first joined , if we were delayed on board with pax, we used to get a notification of a token extra 50dhs as a thank you. We were a person not a number. I felt valued but the demise was already beginning sadly before I left.

I left as a PUR and was happy but prior to leaving , I looked to move into another role, I was just shy of the requirements. I always wondered why, then, someone with far less requirements than me, got the role? No doubt she did a great job by it was interesting that the document I prepared for the interview had elements that were used. Maybe just a coincidence?  However, it is my view that to further your career in EK,you must be in training school. Which is ridiculous as many of the crew are fountains of knowledge and have plenty of experience in other fields. This cliquey training school of who you know, must stop.

I loved my time at EK, rosters of no more than 80-90 hours etc , being treated with respect and as a person, but sadly I hear there is a lot of discontent. And for good reason.  In the good old days we could have visitors t the apts, then an isolated incident in Sahara tower and the 1am rule came in for cabin crew. Engineers , pilots , management and those in al kawakeb of course did not have to abide. The beginning of the punishment of  many for one persons actions began then ….

I consider myself fortunate to have had the glory days and am so sad to hear that EK is going down the plug hole for no reason but ill advised management who could make it the best company if they chose.“

Former EK purser’s e-mail