There was a messup with my payment, but they managed to resolve it an hour before checkin, with some very impressive work by the folks at Manchester, who were ready to hold my reservation longer to enable me to make a cash payment at the airport.

I am in BOM now, and boy, am I impressed with emirates. They managed to send a hotel request from the ticket office at the airport, *after* I had checked in, and on reaching Dubai, the folks there had my voucher ready, and to my surprise, the package also included my visa.

They also managed my meal requests on both the flights. Amazingly, less than 24 hrs from FCO, and they managed a meal with cheese for me. Well, they have just won a new fan, and unless there is a major fare difference, I am going to be flying emirates for sure.