[Anonymous]

[baracouda]

Whoever has ever given any award to Emirates must have never set a foot in economy class. (It’s a fact Emirates has never won any award for Economy Class !)
Recently flew EK 751 from Dubai to Casablanca, October 12th, Seat 21G to be the worst flying experience in over 30 years of travel. Arriving from Singapore and unlucky for me, the flight was full with returning Pilgrims from Mecca. Did inquire twice during the chaotic boarding for an unlikely upgrade even with a cash payment but was abruptly told every class was fully booked, but later saw a Lady during the flight being upgraded unconditionnaly after her back seat partner complained about her !! and the First Class Cabin full of relocating Pilots.
The 10 seats abreat on Emirates Boeing 777s is a complete Insult and another prove that Emirates has no concern to Economy class passenger confort. Was seated next to a slightly overweight passenger and was pushed back toward the aisle the entire flight, unable to find a suitable position to rest or sleep on this eight hours trip and just let being bumped and hit the entire flight by other guests , trolleys and rushing crew members and won’t mention the struggle to try to eat Your meal ! Had better seating on some official Charter airlines and Emirates is just one of them for me.
My sincere advise to whoever is flying to the Gulf or anywhere in the world via the Gulf, DO NOT fly Emirates !! You’re better off with Gulf Air, Qatar or Etihad; even Kuwait and Saudia would be a better alternative. Beside Dubai airport is a complete disaster; even at the early hours of the morning it is impossible to find a single chair to sit on. Chairs are there but all with in transit passengers sleeping under them and seems like they’ve all been here for days waiting for I don’t know what ! Would definitly never fly Emirates again unless drastic improvements are made in their seating arrangements and wondering now how many seats abreast will there be on their A380 ?? 11 ? 12 may be ?? Good Luck !!

[Luxtraveller]

Do I sense a hint of racism towards pilgrimage travellers making a once in a lifetime journey?

[Sara Turner]

I think Baracouda is just complaining in general about a very busy flight.

[OzTraveller]

I wouldn’t know if there was any racism intended, but he sure has a point. I’ve also had a flight of returning pilgrims and they sure know how to take over a flight and make it bedlam for everyone else. And thats a fact, not a racist remark.

I do also agree about Emirates in general. I have only travelled with them once in Business from Singapore to Brisbane on the oldest 777 still flying. Miserable pitch, entertainment units under the seat in front of you (and every seat in Business, not just mine), making it impossible to get comfortable at all. Service was perfunctionary, food basic, not a pleasant experience at all.

Emirates lost the plot some years ago when they decided to fly to every city on the map to get into the big league. Size is not everything, but fancy telling Dubai that. Superlatives are all the local developers there seem to know. The biggest this, the tallest that .. like children with too much money and time on their hands .

If youre travelling in the Middle East, I recommend Qatar and Oman airways. Smaller, better and more genuine.

[KSHaggag]

I do fully agree with all those gentlemen s remarks …No ,there is no sign of racism here ..not at all ..it is a remark reflecting how experts in squeezing people on board Emirates have become ….
On all my previous experiences with the airline ( although not many ) the only impression i disembarked with was “congestion “,let alone cabon crew arrogance in Economy ………

Emirates might have some good hardware though ,but the human touch and personalised experience is something you have to be prepared to forget about upon flying with them nowadays ….

I do fully admire Qatar Airways onboard service in Premium …even in Economy it beats EK by far ..they have my support !
I wanted to sample the A380 from LHR to DXB but I believe I will be much better off with SQ ( the epitome of luxury and true style ) ….

Oups!..I forgot to say that most of the time ,the highest fare you can ever encounter in the market is often EK s !!!

[albert_ateng]

i have to agree that emirates’ service on economy class is certainly a nightmare (this may not be the case with the front seats) and even a three-star airlines do a better job with the seats. I dont think a 10 abreast seating on the 777 is acceptable. i’m of normal size and fits it really hard to move around without bumping around. i would think even a little than normal size person will certainly fits it horrible. the only great thing about emirates is the ife but i would rather have ride on an airplane with no personal ife btu with a little bigger seats. i’ve been travelling on a number of sectors (a set of trips) and found the service level really varies. i found services on europe/long haul is much better than on short haul. the worse one is actually on very first sector on emirates (CGK-SIN) when the two attendants can chat (shouting across the isle) when they’re seating for landing (i’m in bulkhead) and their voice is the loudest thing on the cabin, a practice which i found very unacceptable for a legacy carrier. on the return leg (DXB-SIN), water is dripping from the celling as i seat on the aisle (E on 3-3-3) due to leakage on the air conditioning system. this occur when the airplane is still on the ground and continues for the whole 6 hour flight. i ask if i could change seats or gets upgraded and the only thing they can do is give me some sheets of tissues. Even worse, one of the toilet is flooded with water flowing out of the toilet (it’s prob 5cm inside) and started flowing into the cabin (so sorry for those who were seated near the toilet). i’ve never seen an incident on board like that ever before. amazingly the attendants seems unsurprized with the incident and simply put some specially prepared power on the wet cabin floor and some tissues over it. much to my surprize they also have a specially printed ‘toilet unavailable’ tag (just like a fragile tag) and simply stick it on the door. what an experience.

[Travelator]

I would have to agree with most of the comments here relating to E.K.
The cause I think is because they have been overly aggressive in trying to create a market share and promote their brand.. They have been successful but they have failed miserably in maintaining a consistent level of service.

Economy service tends to vary incredibly; I’ve had some very good experiences and then the atrocious ones.

Having read many blogs, I am astounded as to the manner in which some passengers have been treated by E.K. staff. Customer Service tends to be non-existent in Dubai, unless you deal with an experience Supervisor who takes the time out to listen… I would love to commend one by name but feel this is not the appropriate place to do so…

I have experienced a TWO-tier service level when it comes to flight bound for Europe or North America. Most recently E.K. stopped their SILVER SKYWARDS members from using the new lounge in T3. Until recently I chose to fly E.K. long haul in Business Class and maintained SILVER tier membership. I managed to use the lounge in December when travelling in Economy, before the change…

The lounge has a nice NEW feel to it but the food selection, I found to be better in the previous lounge in T1… Just a personal observation.

Big is not always beautiful and the current climate will be a testing time for E.K. I hope they get their act in order by refocusing their efforts on Customer Experience…

In the past I have been a great fan of E.K but my preference has started to shift towards E.Y. with whom my family and I had an excellent experience in Pearl Business. Check-in very pleasant – we had excess baggage and the agent was very courteous when explaining she would be waiving the excess, as we did not have hand luggage. Lounge at LHR good and on board service was excellent as was the dine on demand option. Full marks to the crew.

The good news is that the fellow gulf states have really improved their service offerings, especially Q.R. and more notably E.Y. Passengers for their focus on quality like Q.R. and E.Y. has really improved and has great product in Business and Economy is excellent on their 777-300ER. Gulf Air is going through restructuring at the moment but no doubt their new 777’s should add an exceptional touch to their service offering.

Oman Air is the new baby on the scene with flights now operating from LHR. Time will tell how well they perform and the reputation they build for themselves.

I do however stress that you should exercise your right of choice and penalise an under performing carrier. They will only learn if it hurts them financially…

Bon Voyage!!!!!

[Airpocket]

So what if there was a hint of racism?The fact of the matter is, flying through the Gulf can be a repulsive experience owing to the locals’ lack of hygiene and their general lack of etiquette.I think the saying is, “if the burqua fits…”, right?
And, don’t expect too much from Qatar Airways either.My family almost missed their connecting flight in Doha owing to the ineptitude of the groundstaff (why are the local staff so useless, all over the Gulf?) and,worse,my Mum was unable to access a wheelchair despite requesting it (again, useless staff).
Qatar’s customer service,too,were useless and suggested that it was OUR fault that she couldn’t use the wheelchair.
My advice:if you’re going to Australaisa or the Far East, stick to SQ,CX,TG,MH,JL,ANA,and NZ.Avoid the Gulf carriers!

[albert_ateng]

as a large scale international carrier, emirates have a great mix of on-board crews of different nationalities. i dont think hygienic issue of the locals have a great effect on on-board services. in fact, claiming itself to be one of the best, emirates should have been able to solve the problem if there was any in the first place. with a fairly young fleet, the bottomline here is that emirates have been lacking in crew training (service standarization) and poor maintainance. even much older european/american carriers’ fleet were in better shape.

[Author]

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