Hello from Beirut: Middle East Airlines, five years, the Paris route and the hard years, and here because the Lebanese on this forum were all leaving
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#1 Leila, Beirut, MEA for five years, the Paris route and the Gulf turnarounds and the Africa flights, and I wrote the MEA thread and the crisis thread before I introduced myself, which is backwards and very Lebanese.
Why I am here: the Lebanese on this forum were all applying to the Gulf and nobody was writing the home carrier, which has flown through every kind of year and pays in dollars and is a national institution. Somebody had to say it from inside.
What I can offer: MEA from the galley, the Paris diaspora flights (the village in the sky, as Nadia wrote for the Maghreb), the dollar pay scale and why it matters in Lebanon, the Beirut to Gulf commute from the home end, the crisis years for the crew who joined after, and the Lebanese trilingual standard that the Gulf recruiters want.
What I want: the Air France CDG crews who know us at the gate to say hello, the Lebanese at Etihad and Emirates and Qatar to compare the commute from their end, and the crew at the other small national carriers (Kuwait, Gulf Air, Oman, Cyprus) to compare the small airline life, because we are a family of small carriers with big diasporas.
Arabic, French, English, and a Beirut sense of humour that survives everything. Ask me about the Paris route. Three times a day for decades.
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#2 Beirut, Etihad applying, and Leila wrote the thread that put MEA on my list. Welcome, properly, and the commute comparison from the Abu Dhabi end will be mine to give in a year if the offer comes.
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#3 Air France Orly, and hello from the gate, as requested. The MEA crews at CDG are the bridge keepers and the Air France crews know every one of them by sight. Welcome to the forum from the other end of the Paris route.
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#4 Kuwait Airways, and the family of small carriers with big diasporas is exactly what we are and Leila has named it. Kuwait, Beirut, Bahrain, Muscat, Larnaca: the small airline life is one life. Welcome, cousin.
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#5 Cyprus Airways, and Larnaca to Beirut is 40 minutes and the two small island and coastal carriers have the same summer and the same diaspora logic. Welcome from the nearest small carrier.
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#6 Tunis to Doha, and the Lebanese trilingual standard is the thing the Qatar recruiters want from the Levant, as I wrote. MEA crew arrive ready. Leila's airline trains the Gulf's Levant crew whether it means to or not. Welcome.
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#7 Air Algérie, and the village in the sky is yours too on the Paris route, as you say. The Maghreb and the Levant carriers share the Paris flights and the diaspora cabin. Welcome from Algiers.