Emirates Skywards - What do you think is reasonable compensation

Hi, I took an Emirates flight on 10 December 2011 out of Durban King shaka airport to London heathrow. On my DUR-DXB (EK0776)in Y, flight on the 2 class A330 my seat - 17A had no recline!!! This was a service I paid for and I expect it. For 10 hours I had no recline! The entertainment was poor so I just sat bolt upright for 10 hours! This is an outrage, I fly from Durban to LHR every 3 months and I have noted that EK is the worst. Now that south African airways is starting a direct route to LHR they should expect my business now on. On my DXB-LHR (EK0001) I started feeling dizzy and nauseas when we hit really bad turbulence. I went to the FA to see if they had any medication or sleeping pills to help with the problem. But to my horror her response was "take your seat and go to sleep I'm very busy right now" I was horrified. I would have even paid for medicine or any help would be appreciated. On my return from LHR-DXB on my seat 55A I had no IFE and was reset after 2 hours of the flight.after that the FA spilled boiling tea on my lap and acted as if I had did it! So I had to sit on a soaking wet seat for 4 more hours. She refused to swap my seat even though I saw a few empty. My jeans and shirt was stained and ruined and she never even gave me a tissue or towel to clean it up. Absolutely NOTHING. Another service I missed! On the DXB-DUR the flight attendants were more interested in studying for their exams Than serving pax. On all 4 flights no amenity kits provided. All requests by pax were rudely ignored. I travelled on a Y flex ticket and are a skywards blue. The recline on the A330 is disgraceful and I only experienced it once because the other flight it was broken. This was a very disappointing flight with ek and have flown MANY airlines to LHR. Also ek was not the cheapest and I could have had the ticket at half the price with Egyptair. I look forwad to your response on the issue
Yours sincerely
A. Dada


What is reasonable compensation?:confused:

The only complaints for which you might actually receive compensation would be the non-reclining seat and the broken IFE, both of which you should have registered a complaint onboard. You can expect a few miles.

As far as service shortfalls go (medicines and spilled beverage), you'll get an apology from customer services at the most. I've never encountered an EK crew member with an attitude such as what you describe, so I wonder if you did something to aggravate them. Asking nicely always gets you what you want, and if that doesn't work, well maybe you just need to switch to another carrier then.

Ahmed777

Let me see if I understand this. In a previous post, you advised us that you were 13 years old. And that you had no income (understandable as I would assume you would be at school).

So is the compensation request for you or for your parents?

Putting aside your age for a moment, there are some things that concern me (as a parent for one). I haven't met too many young teenagers who are often "outraged" or "horrified" by what many might regard as very minor service issues in an economy cabin.

You talk about the entertainment being so poor and that you had to sit bolt upright for 10+ hours due to a faulty seat recline. You're 13 right? What more were you expecting from a Y seat, even with recline? What specifically was the issue with the entertainment? Granted, if you were travelling on an aircraft fitted with ICE, your experience no doubt would have been better.

You then mentioned that you started feeling dizzy on EK1 and you wanted medication or sleeping pills. Are you still 13? And if you are, are you telling me you regularly take sleeping pills? Would you expect an adult crew member to administer to you (a minor) a prescription grade sedative (not that they would have them in a first-aid kit anyway).

On the return flight, you then go on to say that the IFE had to be reset and that the FA spilt boiling tea on you. Did you burn yourself? Did you report it to the Cabin Supervisor? Why did you not move to one of the empty seats you noticed?

How exactly does a 13 year old "ruin a pair of jeans and a shirt" with tea? Surely a simple once through a washing machine would fix it. But lets put that aside for the moment.

What sort of amenity kits in Y were you expecting?

You finally mention that EK was not the cheapest and that you could have had the ticket at half the price with Egyptair. Is this you talking or either one of your parents?

If you feel unjustly treated (or your parents do), then there are multiple avenues for you to lodge a formal complaint with EK, via their website, via one of their offices or in writing.

I'm just not sure how we are supposed to take this post - given that you have told us your age. It may not be appropriate to "judge" you by that fact alone, but in the absence of actually knowing you, and your own disclosure, and the fact that this is a dynamic internet bulletin board, you might find our responses somewhat less sympathetic than you might have hoped for.

Bit curious that this topic popped up after the one you posted about getting opped up. surely if it was that bad this topic would have been your first one one this forum?

I want to know how it takes 10 hours to go from Durban to DXB! Does it really....I have done JNB to DXB and back many times and it was always 8ish hours....

Ahmed777

Let me see if I understand this. In a previous post, you advised us that you were 13 years old. And that you had no income (understandable as I would assume you would be at school).

So is the compensation request for you or for your parents?

Putting aside your age for a moment, there are some things that concern me (as a parent for one). I haven't met too many young teenagers who are often "outraged" or "horrified" by what many might regard as very minor service issues in an economy cabin.

You talk about the entertainment being so poor and that you had to sit bolt upright for 10+ hours due to a faulty seat recline. You're 13 right? What more were you expecting from a Y seat, even with recline? What specifically was the issue with the entertainment? Granted, if you were travelling on an aircraft fitted with ICE, your experience no doubt would have been better.

You then mentioned that you started feeling dizzy on EK1 and you wanted medication or sleeping pills. Are you still 13? And if you are, are you telling me you regularly take sleeping pills? Would you expect an adult crew member to administer to you (a minor) a prescription grade sedative (not that they would have them in a first-aid kit anyway).

On the return flight, you then go on to say that the IFE had to be reset and that the FA spilt boiling tea on you. Did you burn yourself? Did you report it to the Cabin Supervisor? Why did you not move to one of the empty seats you noticed?

How exactly does a 13 year old "ruin a pair of jeans and a shirt" with tea? Surely a simple once through a washing machine would fix it. But lets put that aside for the moment.

What sort of amenity kits in Y were you expecting?

You finally mention that EK was not the cheapest and that you could have had the ticket at half the price with Egyptair. Is this you talking or either one of your parents?

If you feel unjustly treated (or your parents do), then there are multiple avenues for you to lodge a formal complaint with EK, via their website, via one of their offices or in writing.

I'm just not sure how we are supposed to take this post - given that you have told us your age. It may not be appropriate to "judge" you by that fact alone, but in the absence of actually knowing you, and your own disclosure, and the fact that this is a dynamic internet bulletin board, you might find our responses somewhat less sympathetic than you might have hoped for.

Lol no my dad flew it and he got a return J class seat free and 5000 miles! I was shocked cuz it doesn't sound so bad. And btw the A330 is not AVOD. Not ICE it has 20 channels to watch TV on a loop. Lol. I just copied his email to them. We all normally fly together but he went alone cuz of family emergency.I leave for home on tuesday:DI thought ek gives a lot as compensation turns out he ot lucky!

FT allows a poster to be discredited because of his age?

I want to know how it takes 10 hours to go from Durban to DXB! Does it really....I have done JNB to DXB and back many times and it was always 8ish hours....

It's 9 hours 40 minutes. But it always ends up circling in Dubai for 15-20 ins:td:

FT allows a poster to be discredited because of his age?

Not at all, but we also don't allow duplicate accounts either or permit 2 people to use the one handle.

The only complaints for which you might actually receive compensation would be the non-reclining seat and the broken IFE, both of which you should have registered a complaint onboard. You can expect a few miles.

As far as service shortfalls go (medicines and spilled beverage), you'll get an apology from customer services at the most. I've never encountered an EK crew member with an attitude such as what you describe, so I wonder if you did something to aggravate them. Asking nicely always gets you what you want, and if that doesn't work, well maybe you just need to switch to another carrier then.
Were Always nice to everyone. We normally fly J or F but he flew Y alone. I like to see the FA's faces when they saw a 10-11-12-13 year old in F

Not at all, but we also don't allow duplicate accounts either or permit 2 people to use the one handle.

But that has nothing to do with your response, which was purely based on the posters age.

Were Always nice to everyone. We normally fly J or F but he flew Y alone. I like to see the FA's faces when they saw a 10-11-12-13 year old in F

Well, that's not uncommon for a middle eastern airline. And if you're flying with your parents, it's obvious who is paying for those tickets.

It's probably a little more uncommon to find young adults (who are presumably paying their own way) in premium cabins (traveling alone), but after having been on FT long enough, nothing is amusing any more.

Especially as premium travel becomes increasingly affordable and people's incomes go up, it's common to see entire families on holiday in J (less so in F, but it happens).

He took us on a RTW trip in June for my bday in F:D. It was awsum. We went DUR-DXB-SIN-BKK-DXB-LAX-JFK-DXB-DUR. Its so fun. But the DXB-DUR there's no F

Just wondering how come you are still Skywards Blue after that trip? You should be comfortably Gold after completing that.

He took all the miles and donated them to emirates airline foundation (some charity thing) I would have had like 100k!!! But we did the good thing:)besides he pays for all our upgrades to F and J so it doesn't bother me:)except on Tuesday I'm flying Y for the 3rd time. I HATE Y. When I asked him to upgrade me he said no because hes saving so he can take us on a private jet in holiday from DUR to CAI and morocco. So I gotta suffer in Y.

He took all the miles and donated them to emirates airline foundation (some charity thing) I would have had like 100k!!! But we did the good thing:)

I'm sure the Emirates Foundation (or whatever charity thing) is so grateful for your largesse. What a wonderful story. ^

It still however does not explain why you are not Gold, since that does not depend upon what you do with the miles....

But HE took all 4 of our miles and tier miles. It all goes to the family head or something like that. But basically he took everyones miles and tier miles. But anyways me and my Sis had no skywards accounts. We just flew. Now we only have skywards (since sept 2011) and both have 18k) spent alot in the raffle but sadly lost:(. I spent like 10k in that raffle:). So basically we took no miles for the RTW

But HE took all 4 of our miles and tier miles. It all goes to the family head or something like that. But basically he took everyones miles and tier miles. But anyways me and my Sis had no skywards accounts. We just flew. Now we only have skywards (since sept 2011) and both have 18k) spent alot in the raffle but sadly lost:(. I spent like 10k in that raffle:). So basically we took no miles for the RTW

That is just extremely poor planning.

Firstly, the head member only earns 20% of the miles, so you lost 80% of each of your miles in the process.

Second, while donating the miles is a great gesture, you're better off using the miles for your own tickets and donating the money saved instead. It's worth more.

Third, the savings on Y instead of J aren't going to pay for a fraction of a private jet trip, unless it's JetSuite SuiteDeals for $500.

You really ought to get someone to manage your Skywards accounts properly.

That is just extremely poor planning.

Perhaps some people value charitable donations higher than mere miles. It can bring them an inner peace.

You should try it sometime, ung1. Donate some (or all) of your miles to the Emirates Foundation and see whether you are a happier person for it.

http://www.emiratesairlinefoundation.org/english/Make-A-Donation/donating_miles.aspx

Perhaps some people value charitable donations higher than mere miles. It can bring them an inner peace.

You should try it sometime, ung1. Donate some (or all) of your miles to the Emirates Foundation and see whether you are a happier person for it.

http://www.emiratesairlinefoundation.org/english/Make-A-Donation/donating_miles.aspx

The poor planning referred to setting up a family account and losing 80% of the miles in the process.

My point about donating miles was that unless I know what value EK assigns to them I see them as poor value for my contribution. Are they using the miles to redeem them for tickets for the underprivileged or are they saying 100,000 miles = $1 and we'll donate that to some charity? I'd rather redeem my 100k miles for a $4,000 ticket and donate the money I save to charity - my contribution would be greater.

I'd rather redeem my 100k miles for a $4,000 ticket and donate the money I save to charity - my contribution would be greater.

There is no sacrifice component in that action however. The true inner peace comes from the joy of self-sacrifice in order for another to benefit. The quantity of this is irrelevant, for the true enlightenment is all encompassing.

I am sure Ahmed777's father can explain better.

http://www.emiratesairlinefoundation.org/english/Make-A-Donation/donating_miles.aspx

I HATE Y. When I asked him to upgrade me he said no because hes saving so he can take us on a private jet in holiday from DUR to CAI and morocco. So I gotta suffer in Y.

Good grief, kids today huh?

I hope you have to pay for your own tickets some day. Then again, by the sounds of things it won't matter. :rolleyes:

We've gone from what is reasonable compensation to donating miles etc. Can we please stay on topic...

Thank you B747-43B. And ung1 I will be sure to forward the thread to my father who can see and maybe hire someone to manage our skywards accounts. Why did people say I'm like ung1 in my first thread????! And people still haven't answered the main question in the thread! Anyways I am flying BA to Edinburgh tomorrow so will be off FT for a day as no wifi in the hotel. Bye

Thank you B747-437B.

You are quite welcome Ahmed777. After all, a little change can change a lot.

I am flying BA to Edinburgh tomorrow so will be off FT for a day as no wifi in the hotel. Bye

Oh no! How dreadful. I hope you are collecting hotel reward points though. Would be a terrible shame to let those be wasted. Think of all the hospitals and orphanages in Bangladesh and Chennai that could use those points.

Can we please stay on topic...

And people still haven't answered the main question in the thread!

Sorry! I guess we got so carried away in the emotion of the charitable talk. How appropriate around the holiday season!!! :-:

Back to topic though, I think that the offered compensation of a free return ticket in Business Class and 5000 miles is a little on the low side for a non-reclining seat and broken IFE. After all, it was a 10 hour flight (well, 9h40m with 15-20 mins circling at Dubai). He should be a little more assertive and request a free First Class return ticket and 10000 miles. Or two free Business Class return tickets, if he wants to be flexible.

Can we please stay on topic...

And people still haven't answered the main question in the thread!

Sorry! I guess we got so carried away in the emotion of the charitable talk. How appropriate around the holiday season!!! :-:

Back to topic though, I think that the offered compensation of a free return ticket in Business Class and 5000 miles is a little on the low side for a non-reclining seat and broken IFE. After all, it was a 10 hour flight (well, 9h40m with 15-20 mins circling at Dubai). He should be a little more assertive and request a free First Class return ticket and 10000 miles. Or two free Business Class return tickets, if he wants to be flexible.

Thank you :)

Why don't you try donating even 1 dollar and feel the satisfaction you get.
poor ung1....Just traveled half the world in F and no thought for charity....

He should be a little more assertive and request a free First Class return ticket and 10000 miles. Or two free Business Class return tickets, if he wants to be flexible.
Way to go...^^^

Hi, I took an Emirates flight on 10 December 2011 out of Durban King shaka airport to London heathrow. On my DUR-DXB (EK0776)in Y, flight on the 2 class A330 my seat - 17A had no recline!!! This was a service I paid for and I expect it. For 10 hours I had no recline! The entertainment was poor so I just sat bolt upright for 10 hours! This is an outrage, I fly from Durban to LHR every 3 months and I have noted that EK is the worst. Now that south African airways is starting a direct route to LHR they should expect my business now on. On my DXB-LHR (EK0001) I started feeling dizzy and nauseas when we hit really bad turbulence. I went to the FA to see if they had any medication or sleeping pills to help with the problem. But to my horror her response was "take your seat and go to sleep I'm very busy right now" I was horrified. I would have even paid for medicine or any help would be appreciated. On my return from LHR-DXB on my seat 55A I had no IFE and was reset after 2 hours of the flight.after that the FA spilled boiling tea on my lap and acted as if I had did it! So I had to sit on a soaking wet seat for 4 more hours. She refused to swap my seat even though I saw a few empty. My jeans and shirt was stained and ruined and she never even gave me a tissue or towel to clean it up. Absolutely NOTHING. Another service I missed! On the DXB-DUR the flight attendants were more interested in studying for their exams Than serving pax. On all 4 flights no amenity kits provided. All requests by pax were rudely ignored. I travelled on a Y flex ticket and are a skywards blue. The recline on the A330 is disgraceful and I only experienced it once because the other flight it was broken. This was a very disappointing flight with ek and have flown MANY airlines to LHR. Also ek was not the cheapest and I could have had the ticket at half the price with Egyptair. I look forwad to your response on the issue
Yours sincerely
A. Dada


What is reasonable compensation?:confused:

I assuming the recline was broken and that it wasn't a seat in front of the exit row, right? If so, I think that's a valid complaint. Whether or not you'll get anything for it is another story!

The A330 is also not a very nice plane - I would try and avoid it whenever possible even if it means flying another airline.

I hope I am not being too curt but this response really bothers me:

Ahmed777

Let me see if I understand this. In a previous post, you advised us that you were 13 years old. And that you had no income (understandable as I would assume you would be at school).

So is the compensation request for you or for your parents?

How is that relevant to the discussion? I'd say a significant percentage of this forum (myself included) do not pay for their own tickets. Why does it matter if its your employer or your parents?

Putting aside your age for a moment, there are some things that concern me (as a parent for one). I haven't met too many young teenagers who are often "outraged" or "horrified" by what many might regard as very minor service issues in an economy cabin.

Again, why does the age matter? When traveling in J as a young child, I was once told (when asking my meal tray to be taken away - quite politely, I might add) "no, can't you see I'm busy? You will have to wait. I am not your nanny." A young passenger does not give any FA an excuse to provide poor service and similarly a young passenger has every right to complain if he/she receives poor service. Whether the service was actually poor or whether the OP was overreacting is a valid discussion but IMHO age is not relevant.

How exactly does a 13 year old "ruin a pair of jeans and a shirt" with tea? Surely a simple once through a washing machine would fix it. But lets put that aside for the moment.

Again, why "a 13 year old"? Why not "How does anyone ruin..."

You finally mention that EK was not the cheapest and that you could have had the ticket at half the price with Egyptair. Is this you talking or either one of your parents?

Relevance?



I'm just not sure how we are supposed to take this post - given that you have told us your age. It may not be appropriate to "judge" you by that fact alone, but in the absence of actually knowing you, and your own disclosure, and the fact that this is a dynamic internet bulletin board, you might find our responses somewhat less sympathetic than you might have hoped for.



I was about 15 when I joined this forum. If someone had written such a response to me, I probably would have never posted again.

Just to be clear - I think many / all of your points are valid but I still do not see the relevance of the OP's age or who pays for his/her tickets in the discussion.

I assuming the recline was broken and that it wasn't a seat in front of the exit row, right? If so, I think that's a valid complaint. Whether or not you'll get anything for it is another story!

The A330 is also not a very nice plane - I would try and avoid it whenever possible even if it means flying another airline.

I hope I am not being too curt but this response really bothers me:

I was about 15 when I joined this forum. If someone had written such a response to me, I probably would have never posted again.

Just to be clear - I think many / all of your points are valid but I still do not see the relevance of the OP's age or who pays for his/her tickets in the discussion.

The issue I have is that there are clearly 2 separate people posting within this conversation - one is a 13-year old and one is an adult. We do not permit sharing of handles or duplicate handles.

I think we've run our race with this conversation. Please PM me if you wish to take any matters up with me personally