subject2load

First offers absolutely no guarantee that problems won't occur (I speak, unfortunately, from bitter experience ) and I agree with other posters that standards have slipped somewhat over the years.

With all (quality) carriers, the hard product has of course improved incrementally (and out of all recognition compared to say 20 years ago) and onboard facilities, showers, suites, lounge bars etc have become the new battle ground of competitive advantage. But for me it's always the crew who make the difference and there is just far too much inconsistency where EK is concerned, with variations ranging from exceptional to distinctly forgettable & ordinary. One could argue that this is probably true of many airlines - but that's no justification for below-par standards.

ukdoctor

Have seen J pax and the occasional F pax boarding early and sitting on a wrong seat by mistake. (At least I hope so!)They then proceed to drink water / eat stuff from the minibar till they either realise the mistake or are told to move by the crew/ actual pax with the alloted seat.

I have seen this happen several times and have seen other pax muching on my chocolate when I reach my seat. The worst was someone who started drinking the bottle of water. Then decided to go to the correct seat. Left the same bottle of water for the next pax. Similarly you can occasionally see pax pinching pillows /swapping earphones( which may not work properly ) with another from the next seat( not all pax will not know its supposed to be sealed). I don't know why they do that as all they need to do is to ask the crew.

At boarding the crew/ purser only checks if you are in the right cabin and don't actually see where you actually sit down. Obviously you do usually have an enthusiastic crew member inside who might take your jacket off you/ give pre take off drinks etc but I have found this very variable.

isle11

Well said..! ..I had a better experience with easyjet when I travelled with our toddler, than with EK or EY. Ofcourse the hard product isn't any way to be compared between the middleast giants and an EU low-cost, but the people made the difference,right from the smooth check-in or boarding or inflight..!!

I find the main problem with EK is that they are becoming complacent. They expect the Y passengers to be contended with the food/drink/ICE.. In J they are expecting only regular ''business'' people who intends to sleep through, who keeps the crew work minimal. They aren't expecting any passengers who are there to ''experience'' the product. To the crew it looks like the J cabins passengers are way past that phase.

I started liking KLM, travelling with them will not let you have any bad memories, but won't be exceptional either. Like '' no news is good news''...!!

ioto1902

Last year on April, E-gate cost me 220AED (of which 20AED of administrative fees ...)
You can get it indeed at DNRD office of DXB. At T3 arrival, turn left after customs (and not to the right as to get chauffeur drive). Check opening times beforehand, and avoid prayer times ...
You may queue a long time even if there seems to be nobody ahead of you. I waited 1 hour despite being the fourth client in line ...
Nevertheless, entry / exit process takes only seconds. Unbeatable. Really worth it if you travel a lot to/from the UAE.
The car is valid 2 years, and you may have a long gap between two entries despite what they may say you ("no gap longer than 30 days" ...).

SW card can be used as eGate, but, as I was not really sure how to proceed at SW renewal, I preferred to have an "official" card.

Havoc10G

I spoke to a friend of mine who works at EK and he told me they are having real issues with staff retention. Cabin crew and pilots. Seems more leave than are replaced. So people are getting rushed through training and also cabin crew working more shifts which all leads to an inevitable variance in service experienced. As another poster remarked seems the expansion really doesn't help.

ung1

I've started to see EK as a glorified airline living off its past reputation. I, too, flew EK almost exclusively (not a huge amount but enough to maintain Gold) between 2008 - 2012 and at the time the service used to be excellent whether one was in Y, J or F.

Fond memories aside, the few times I've used them in the last couple of years, I have been disappointed and they don't compare to competitors.

For example, in J ex-Lyon, I was seated beside 4 pax that didn't speak any English (crew didn't speak French, strangely) and had never flown EK before and didn't understand how anything worked.

At least when I fly LH F, the other passengers are familiar with the product. I find that the service is superior, and especially with LH/LX the ground service (when in F) is fantastic. It is much more consistent and end-to-end than what EK offers.

In J it is a different thing -what EK offers on a 2-3 hr flight is far superior to what you get for instance on LX J to OSL or ATH for example. Intra-European business is pretty disappointing, though I was very impressed with Aegean's business class product on GVA-ATH!

DYKWIA

You're complaining that fellow passengers don't speak English? You can hardly blame that on EK

malct

I was on the EK 17 on the 24th May and I have to say that i was quite shocked at 2 stewardesses .....ing about another stewardess and saying that they were not going to collect any more trays since they had collected 2 lots and saying that another stewardess had not done any, they later commented that all that she had done was the duty free.

I understand that people may get frustrated when others are not working has a team, but these comments should be kept away from the paying customers.

I had not flown with emirates for 2 years and i used to be a gold member and standards have dropped, but the product is better that Etihad and Qatar who i have been using over the last 2 years since they have been cheaper to fly with.

lighthand

Just came off a half way round the world journey in Y. As I've said previously the FA's service standard is really hits and misses.

However I was appalled with the quality of food on GIG x DXB flight. It was so bad I took one bite, and cover it up for return. Even the FA's onboard (who had to eat the same food) said it IS horrible.

m3red

Ok here's my two cents worth.

Just taken 4 long long haul f flights with my wife - Dxb man, man Dxb, Dxb HND and kix to dxb.

I don't think the service is slipping in first - the crew were all really pleasant some of course are better than others. I do think that it was pretty consistent across the a380/777. Food was good and well presented and I got what I paid for - dine on demand and a comfortable space to relax. I don't think that they could have done much more to be honest.

Highlights were the crew to and from Japan - stunning in more ways than one ^ and the flight back to the uk from dubai - very fun time at the bar was had by all!

Have a j flight in 3 weeks so will be interesting to compare with the recent f trips but I know it's not a patch on f but then it's much more expensive.

subject2load

For me, this explains a lot. Your reference to training sometimes being rushed strikes me as a very significant factor.

My own assessment of EK standards is based on experience of travelling with them either in F cabins (mostly) or J cabins (occasionally) during two distinct periods :
1) in the late 80's and early 90's and 2) over the last couple of years or so.

What I notice is that whilst some F flights can be memorably good, others can be just 'acceptable' or indeed mediocre. As others have observed, it's the inconsistency that is more disappointing than anything.

I am generally happy with EK, but IMO there was more style about their service in the early years of the airline, whereas today I get the impression that many staff are promoted before they have acquired the expected level of inter-personal skills, polish and professionalism.

eternaltransit

One could also argue it's just a regression to the mean of global airline service standards

Dubai76

The quality of people flying as also come down IMO ... Try delivering a great service to animals can be a challenge ! I have witnessed crew getting their patience tested with very poor and illl manered passengers ... That added to what a fellow poster said with them being overworked mmm still is better though then 95 percent of airlines out there , the world is changing , passenger profile is changing ... All i see on most of my flights are FA working like donkeys trying to satisfy 400+ mental cases on a flight lol my two cents .

subject2load

"Mental cases" ..... "Animals"....... Really .....??



So can we presume that you include fellow FT members & EK regulars in that sweeping description ...?

And perhaps yourself too .....?

eternaltransit

I guess I am really lucky, I haven't actually come across any rudely demanding pax in any class this year...that's 40 sectors so far...(a lot of them in Y!)