hfly

I just finished a 4 segment trip with EK in J. Flight one was short, I did not sleep. For flight two, when they handed out the breakfast cards, I very specifically asked the two FA's NOT to wake me for breakfast. This was confirmed with, "we will not wake you for breakfast". I went to slepp. A few hours later, what happened? Shaken by the arm, "Would you like to eat sir??" "No, I already told you that!", "oh, so sorry sir". Of course I could not go back to sleep.

Flight three. I specifically told the Purser when he came to do his greetings that I did not want to be woken up......................What happened? You guessed it. Was woken up AGAIN.

Last flight, totally exhausted. Fought to stay awake until we were rolling so that I could go flat and sleep. Was out cold. Heard, "We are serving food" I nodded NO. A few seconds or minutes later (I do not know, I was that deeply sleeping), My arm is forcibly nudged several times until I am awaken, "Sir, we are serving lunch!". To which I reply, "No, it was obvious that I was deeply sleeping, I already nodded NO, and how dare you physically and repeatedly wake me up!"

I go back to sleep. About an hour before landing I wake up and ask an FA if I can still get something to eat. She helpfully says they can do appetizers and dessert. I say fine. She goes and speaks with the Purser, comes back and tells me that they have put everything away and "as we are about to land" it would take to long to serve me as I, "Had not eaten at the proper meal time!". I explained to her calmly that, 1) We were an hour out, and not about to land. 2) Her other colleagues seemed to be doing NOTHING in the galley (I was in the first row and could clearly see this, 3) Every other person in the cabin was sleeping and they had nothing else to do but serve me, and it should not take them much time, 4) As a Biz passenger I can eat whenever I please within reason, 5) I did not appreciate earlier having been repeatedly physically touched and awoken.

Within 2 minutes my table had been set and I had been served. When I asked the Purser whether it had been that difficult he bristled and started ranting that 1) I had not eaten at the right time, 2) I had been rude and used a bad word when they had "politely" tried to wake me at "meal time", 3) That them serving me now was some sort of incredible special favor.

When I strongly pointed out that repeatedly shaking my arm was NOT acceptable at any carrier let alone EK, but what do I know, I have only been Gold with them for a decade. He sort of backed down.

So my question is this. Have any of you been victim of this aggressive wake up behaviour lately?

(BTW, there was no eyeshade and socks packet at my seat with a DND sticker handy. Admittedly I had not looked for one, but when the Purser tried to make that point he had to go into another seat back pocket to find one....)

cargueiro

Nodding to signify no might be part of the problem. In many cultures a nod means yes and a shake of the head means no.

eternaltransit

I think it's more an EK thing - they get so many more complaints about missing meals that the service standard is to wake people up for them unless they specifically have the DND sticker visible.

As for the specific points raised by the OP, although I agree with him that the waking sleeping pax up for meals is probably one of the most irritating aspects of EK's service if you don't know to put the DND sticker on - and that having told the FA you don't want food should be sufficient for them to note down DND on their menu sheet, I do think his expectations might be a bit high, namely:

1,3 - An hour to landing is about 30 minutes of flight service time to go, as it's 40 minutes to top of descent and 10 min of clearance/checks before that. I agree with the crew that 30 minutes is not sufficient for a proper meal service, especially as carts etc. have been put away

2 - I don't think other crew doing nothing at that particular time would have a bearing on whether a full meal can be provided given the timings involved (anyone who's worked in hospitality can tell you that adding more people to a service just gets in the way)

4 - It's not dine on demand on EK J, even within reason. Even in F they stop hot meal services 90 minutes before landing. I think that is an over-expectation, especially with an hour before landing and that the easy to prepare food has likely already been locked away in carts for landing.

5 - I'm not sure how being angry at being touched to be woken for food when not wanting it then means the service recovery means you should be served food, given it's not a dine on demand service. I think that is just frustration at not being able to sleep through the previous flights bleeding through onto inaccurate expectations of what EK J offers, rather than a service failing (being woken roughly notwithstanding).

Although I think the Purser failed by arguing with you about meal service - there are more tactful ways to go about things and he should know that shaking someone to wake them up is not going to go down well, he really was doing you a special favor in having a meal service so close to landing, imho.

NoY

Oh, come on, please, stop making up excuses! The FA’s, in this case, got it wrong!

It’s an EK thing for sure. Mrs NoY flew on the 00.50 departure from HKT last week, she was flat out asleep right after take off, under the duvet/blanket. She was physically shaken by the arm to offer a mattress pad!? What?! Thats’s just plain wrong

hfly

eternaltransit


Please note that I was absolutely FINE with just the appetizer and the dessert. I did not insist on the HOT entree. So no I was not expecting the full meal nor service.

EK wants to compare itself with other carriers? None of the carriers that I regularly fly or have status on A) Are so bloody minded in their waking up of Biz passengers, B) Have any such problem in serving anything an hour before landing (within reason), C) Have a problem with you if you do not want to eat exactly when they want you to eat! (OK, sometimes TK)

simons1

I always find the EK definition of "getting ready to land" irritating.

Usually a code for the interminable announcements, landing videos etc to start.

eternaltransit

I agree with you that EK's procedure is to wake everyone (and make sure they wake up) for meals - in Y and J - is stupid: I've also experienced exactly the same thing as you - with visible DND stickers, eyeshades, telling FA's no food at all and still prodded awake. I haven't ever seen anyone been "shaken" awake though, but I recognise that you might have a different perception of what that is to others and different tolerances to being touched/woken.

Clearly this a conscious decision on EK's part - perhaps they get more complaints from people who get skipped over for various parts of the service than those who complain about being woken. That's EK's decision to provide, just as it's our decision to think it's bad service and to fly on other carriers.

I don't think that because you were woken that way, nor because of the service standards on other carriers, creates an entitlement that just isn't there on EK - namely dine on demand.

Your argument seems to be that because other carriers can do it and you were unhappy, it "must" be done on EK ("As a Biz passenger I can eat whenever I please within reason") - that is what I disagree with.

Yes, it's poor service, yes it would be good service recovery for an unhappy pax to simply do it (e.g. ignore the linen, just dig out the meal from the cart and serve it straight away), yes it's poor for the Purser to try and argue about something subjective (being woken "aggressively") - but I think the proper response is to write to EK and tell them that:

- you want dine on demand in J
- the policy of being woken all the time needs to stop

hfly

I have flown scores of flights on EK, 98% in Business Class, and I have only noted this level of aggressive waking up lately.

Regarding, "dine on demand". I probably eat when its "eating time" 50% of the time, I probably eat nothing 45% of the time, and the other times when I have wanted to eat later, it has never really been an issue. Again I note, I was fine with a cold appetizer and dessert, I had no expectation of a full meal.

I have already written in.

skywardhunter

I sympathise and would be equally annoyed if I had given clear instruction to not be woken and this was disregarded. however OP is completely wrong in expecting to eat an hour before landing as EK does simply not offer dine on demand in J, the fact that you may have scored an exception a a few times doesn't make it a right.

Saltire74

On reflection, this is one part that EK doesn't seem to have mastered

On one J flight DXB-PEK, woken up 2 hours before arrival and then waited an hour for breakfast to be served.

My last flight Y DXB-PEK, woken up 3 hours before arrival and tray put on table. The flight was only 6hrs 50min.

S

hfly

Just to be absolutely clear about something here. I woke up and politely asked a female FA, "if it was possible to get something to eat", to which she instantly replied that cold appetizer and dessert were no problem.....and I was fine with that.

She then went and spoke to the Purser, who obviously had an issue that I did not eat "at the right time" and HE told her to refuse me.

It was only after that happened (again I was seated less than 3 meters away and witnessed all this), that I became insistent, as it was obvious what was going on.

Wtravel

Happened to me a few weeks back on a night flight: told the crew did not want to be woken for meals and even prominently attached the DND sticker. Got woken anyway, first by one then another FA 😡 I put it down to a poor crew who just couldn't be bothered to check the remarks on the pax list or look if there were stickers.

Agree with others that it is high time they introduce dine on demand in business as well or at least adjust their meal times to something more sensible (e.g., what is the point in rushing through a lunch service on a 4 pm departure from DXB to Europe, and then nothing for the remainder of a 7 hour flight with an evening arrival)/be more accommodating with late snack requests. Also agree that their cabin arrival preparations on long hauls are, to put it politely, irritating. E.g., I fail to understand why they often come charging through the cabin practically before leaving cruising altitude to collect the matresses and start telling pax to put their seats upright, etc.

NoY

Yep, totally agree. I really don’t get EK. I actually think its just fallen behind, not just ME carriers but others too. Slopey J seats on B777, 2-3-2 in J class (), no dine on demand, poor food (especially in F) a relatively woeful FFP. Much better options out there.

m3red

I actually think the above is now one of the reasons we prefer F over J. I do think they should do dine on demand in J on longer flights - not everyone wants to eat at the same time and it often feels like the crew are trying to get the "hard" part of the job over and done with.

Even in F they kept chasing me for when I want to eat...

eternaltransit

EK J is definitely a commodity product - but with the collapse in yields and competition on the network front (which was imho one of EK's main competitive advantages), can investment to bring it to leading status be justified?

Little changes like assuming people should be left to sleep / dine-on-demand in some form such as snacks/cold meals would go a long way though.