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-   -   Huge mess with Emirates (http://www.travelbanter.com/showthread.php?t=125523)

PeterL November 19th, 2007 05:49 AM

Huge mess with Emirates
 
On Nov 18, 10:09 pm, Alfred Molon wrote:
Huge, huge mess today and yesterday with Emirates at Dubai International
airport. Several cancelled flights, many delayed flights, passengers
with valid bookings denied boarding, miserable customer service and lots
of very ****ed off customers, who like us most likely will never fly
again with this airline.



"Several" cancelled flights is a big mess? You must live a really
sheltered life.



Alfred Molon[_6_] November 19th, 2007 06:09 AM

Huge mess with Emirates
 
Huge, huge mess today and yesterday with Emirates at Dubai International
airport. Several cancelled flights, many delayed flights, passengers
with valid bookings denied boarding, miserable customer service and lots
of very ****ed off customers, who like us most likely will never fly
again with this airline.

It seems that Emirates has started overbooking on a massive scale some
time ago and as a consequence this terrible mess has happened.
Emirates claims that yesterday fog in Dubai forced some flights
cancellations, which triggered a chain reaction which led to this mess.
Another theory is that yesterday the Sheikh had the airport closed while
an airshow was taking place. Apparently 27000 passengers were affected.

Dramatic scenes at the transfer counters of Emirates, with huge queues
of travellers waiting for hours, only to be told that they could not
board the flights for which they had valid bookings. Extremely
inefficient customer service: at one point it took a counter almost one
hour to process a single customer. People told to queue up somewhere
else after they had waited 2-3 hours in the queue, prompting some very
angry reactions with people shouting at ground staff.

In most cases no compensation was offered to travellers for the huge
delays (some travel schedules were delayed by up to 24 hours), except
for some refreshments offered somewhere in Dubai airport. No (free)
accomodation in the airport hotel granted to tired and jet-lagged
passengers, despite these extremely long delays.

Huge profits for Emirates, because thanks to overbooking the flights are
completely full or close to completely full, despite the fact that
November is low season.

We instead had to pay an extra 632 Dirham (= 128 Euro) for a 6 hours
stay in the airport hotel (wife is pregnant and we have a three year old
child; both were tired after a night with very little sleep and would
have had to kill an additional 8 hours in Dubai airport, after waiting
for 4 hours at the transfer counter).

To top it all Emirates lost our luggage and that of 20 other passengers
of the EK51 flight. It didn't make it to Munich and hopefully we'll
receive it over the next few days.

If you think this is normal or things like these happen when travelling,
consider that since 1999 we travel at least once per year to Asia and
also in general are very frequent travellers. We have never experienced
a mess like this.

For all details see the travelogue which I will post in about a week.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

Viviane November 19th, 2007 09:47 AM

Huge mess with Emirates
 
That sounds very unpleasant. I wouldn't touch Emirates with a barge pole.
From my trips to Asia and seeing their crew, it seems to be full of Brits
who wouldn't be able to get a job with any other airline.

My view of Emirates was confirmed when my parents flew with them (against my
advice!!) from London to visit us in Sydney a couple of years ago. They
flew business class and even then the service was woeful. The icing on the
cake was when they had to change planes in Dubai. They had requested
wheelchair assistance, which they were told was unavailable due to the
construction at Dubai airport. After the crew helpfully passed this news to
my parents, they virtually knocked my parents over in their haste to get out
at their home port. My parents were left to fend for themselves. They have
flown with Cathay on their last 2 trips down under and the service and
assistance were excellent. Emirates probably made the silly mistake that
because they were old they didn't fly much.

"Alfred Molon" wrote in message
...
Huge, huge mess today and yesterday with Emirates at Dubai International
airport. Several cancelled flights, many delayed flights, passengers
with valid bookings denied boarding, miserable customer service and lots
of very ****ed off customers, who like us most likely will never fly
again with this airline.

It seems that Emirates has started overbooking on a massive scale some
time ago and as a consequence this terrible mess has happened.
Emirates claims that yesterday fog in Dubai forced some flights
cancellations, which triggered a chain reaction which led to this mess.
Another theory is that yesterday the Sheikh had the airport closed while
an airshow was taking place. Apparently 27000 passengers were affected.

Dramatic scenes at the transfer counters of Emirates, with huge queues
of travellers waiting for hours, only to be told that they could not
board the flights for which they had valid bookings. Extremely
inefficient customer service: at one point it took a counter almost one
hour to process a single customer. People told to queue up somewhere
else after they had waited 2-3 hours in the queue, prompting some very
angry reactions with people shouting at ground staff.

In most cases no compensation was offered to travellers for the huge
delays (some travel schedules were delayed by up to 24 hours), except
for some refreshments offered somewhere in Dubai airport. No (free)
accomodation in the airport hotel granted to tired and jet-lagged
passengers, despite these extremely long delays.

Huge profits for Emirates, because thanks to overbooking the flights are
completely full or close to completely full, despite the fact that
November is low season.

We instead had to pay an extra 632 Dirham (= 128 Euro) for a 6 hours
stay in the airport hotel (wife is pregnant and we have a three year old
child; both were tired after a night with very little sleep and would
have had to kill an additional 8 hours in Dubai airport, after waiting
for 4 hours at the transfer counter).

To top it all Emirates lost our luggage and that of 20 other passengers
of the EK51 flight. It didn't make it to Munich and hopefully we'll
receive it over the next few days.

If you think this is normal or things like these happen when travelling,
consider that since 1999 we travel at least once per year to Asia and
also in general are very frequent travellers. We have never experienced
a mess like this.

For all details see the travelogue which I will post in about a week.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe




Markku Grönroos November 19th, 2007 10:54 AM

Huge mess with Emirates
 

"Viviane" kirjoitti
...
That sounds very unpleasant. I wouldn't touch Emirates with a barge pole.
From my trips to Asia and seeing their crew, it seems to be full of Brits
who wouldn't be able to get a job with any other airline.

I guess especially during the Ramadan it can be unpleasant: do they server
beer then?


Alfred Molon[_6_] November 19th, 2007 01:21 PM

Huge mess with Emirates
 
In article 72b160dc-745a-48d6-9e39-
, PeterL says...

"Several" cancelled flights is a big mess? You must live a really
sheltered life.


Have never experienced a mess like this since I have started travelling
to Asia in 1999. And for intercontinental flights there are anyway
different standards than for short haul flights, where you can just take
the next one a couple of hours later. It's a different story when
jetlagged and tired people who have been travelling all night find
themselves stranded in a place very far away from home.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

William Black November 19th, 2007 03:28 PM

Huge mess with Emirates
 

"Markku Grönroos" wrote in message
ti.fi...

"Viviane" kirjoitti
...
That sounds very unpleasant. I wouldn't touch Emirates with a barge
pole. From my trips to Asia and seeing their crew, it seems to be full of
Brits who wouldn't be able to get a job with any other airline.

I guess especially during the Ramadan it can be unpleasant: do they server
beer then?


They were certainly dishing the booze out with a glad hand last week.

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.


William Black November 19th, 2007 03:30 PM

Huge mess with Emirates
 

"Viviane" wrote in message
...
That sounds very unpleasant. I wouldn't touch Emirates with a barge pole.
From my trips to Asia and seeing their crew, it seems to be full of Brits
who wouldn't be able to get a job with any other airline.


When I flew with them last week the flight crew seemed to be Australian or
Arab and the cabin crew were all Eastern Europeans.

Dubai duty free is one of the best in the world.

The flight was cheap.

The food was rubbish, almost as bad as BA or Quatar.

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.


Alfred Molon[_6_] November 19th, 2007 03:54 PM

Huge mess with Emirates
 
In article , Alfred Molon
says...

"Several" cancelled flights is a big mess? You must live a really
sheltered life.


Have never experienced a mess like this since I have started travelling
to Asia in 1999. And for intercontinental flights there are anyway
different standards than for short haul flights, where you can just take
the next one a couple of hours later. It's a different story when
jetlagged and tired people who have been travelling all night find
themselves stranded in a place very far away from home.


And let me add that 27000 people, tired and jetlagged in-between
intercontinental flights were affected, with travel schedules delayed by
up to 24 hours. You think that that is normal?
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

[email protected] November 19th, 2007 03:56 PM

Huge mess with Emirates
 
On Nov 19, 4:47 am, "Viviane" wrote:
That sounds very unpleasant. I wouldn't touch Emirates with a barge pole.
From my trips to Asia and seeing their crew, it seems to be full of Brits
who wouldn't be able to get a job with any other airline.



They had a very good reputation up until a few years ago, but both the
Emirates airline and the Dubai airport have grown very rapidly, and
maybe they haven't been able to maintain their formerly high standards.

Markku Grönroos November 19th, 2007 04:02 PM

Huge mess with Emirates
 

"William Black" kirjoitti
.. .

I guess especially during the Ramadan it can be unpleasant: do they
server beer then?


They were certainly dishing the booze out with a glad hand last week.

I was kidding. Anyways, Ramadan ended in October.....



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