Applying to Aer Lingus and Emirates in the same spring from a hotel bar in Dublin: the plan, the overlap and the question of which offer to take
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#1 Dublin, 24, four years behind a hotel bar, and I am applying to Aer Lingus and Emirates in the same spring. I have read Danny's Ryanair and Aer Lingus thread and Georgie's transatlantic thread and the Emirates timeline threads, and I want to ask the question those did not answer: what do you do when the two processes overlap and one offer comes before the other has finished.
The plan
Aer Lingus application in when the spring round opens, which the crew say is February or March. Emirates open day in Dublin, which happens a few times a year, the next one in April. Both processes take months. Both could produce an offer around the summer.
The overlap problem
Emirates gives a joining date window a few months out and expects a yes within days. Aer Lingus takes longer and the course dates are set for the summer intake. If Emirates calls in June with an October joining date and Aer Lingus has not decided, do I say yes to Emirates and withdraw from Aer Lingus, say yes to Emirates and keep Aer Lingus going, or ask Emirates for time?
What I think I know
Emirates will give a little time (the Etihad and Emirates threads say ten days is possible). Aer Lingus will not speed up. Accepting Emirates and then withdrawing when Aer Lingus comes is done by people, and it burns the Emirates bridge for a reapplication. Doing the reverse (accepting Aer Lingus, then leaving in month three for the Gulf) is worse, because it is a resignation from a course.
The real question underneath
Which one do I want. Dublin, the transatlantic, the collective agreement, home, Irish pay and Dublin rent. Or Dubai, the world, the tax free money, the accommodation, the distance, the two year plan. I genuinely do not know and I am hoping the process tells me, which the crew on here say is the wrong way round.
For the people who had two offers
How close together were they, what did you do, and did you regret it? And is there an honest way to tell Emirates 'I have another process running' without losing the offer?
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#2 Aer Lingus, seven years, and I had exactly this in my year: an Emirates offer in June, Aer Lingus decided in July. I asked Emirates for two weeks, they gave me ten days, Aer Lingus came through on day eight. I chose home. No regrets, and the Emirates recruiter was gracious. Ask for the time. Decide before it runs out.
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#3 Dublin, and the 'hoping the process tells me' line is the trap. The process will not tell you. Both airlines will offer and you will have ten days and a decision you should have made in February. Make it in February.
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#4 Cork, Emirates reapplying, and I know two people who accepted Emirates and withdrew for a home airline. Both say Emirates was professional about it and both say they would not risk it twice. It works once.
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#5 Ex Emirates, and honest tip: tell the Emirates recruiter on the call that you have another process and ask for the maximum time. They have heard it a thousand times. What burns the bridge is silence and then a withdrawal, not honesty and a decision.
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#6 Ryanair Dublin, and the third option is the one you have not mentioned: a year at Ryanair while both of the others take their time, and then you apply to both with hours. It is what half of Dublin does.
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#7 Virgin, career changer, and I had two offers three weeks apart at 31. I made a list of what I wanted my Tuesday to look like in three years and one airline won on the list before either called. Do the list now.
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#8 Ryanair, just finished training, and Liam's option is what I did after an Aer Lingus rejection and before an Emirates application. The hours change the conversation at both.