Hi Guys,

I've been traveling EK for several years now and maintain my Gold status but have recently not been very impressed with their service, planes and fares.

I am just curious if any other members have experienced flying Qatar as well as Emirates and which one is better.

One thing is for sure the way the EK fares are going Qr is definitely better value for money however i know connections are not as often but when the fare is literally 50% higher to fly Emirates you really begin to wonder if it is worth it.

I recently had some bad experiences of which I am listing some below :


1.Having Flown Lagos - Beijing in J once we had boarded the plane from Lagos we found a very old plane with very uncomfortable seats. This is not a good sign as i have traveled that route before and they had the newer flat seats on the 777 so i figured this must be a one off.

2. Having boarded the A380 from Dubai there was no meal served, just some small Canapes, ok fine it was 3am Dubai time but still there must have been several pax like me who were on different time zones and could have been hungry!

3. When i was woken up for Breakfast i ordered my meal and was then told that they had ran out of meals and was offered extra croissants instead! i was not impressed and told the stewardess that she should try and find a meal for me and somehow she managed to do so.

4. Having landed in Beijing my colleague and me both realised once we got out of the airport that the locks on our suitcase has been broken and our Bags had been opened and gone through.

5. For departure i had wanted to re route my flight to leave out of Shanghai although it was possible being in C class already i was told there were no seats in my class and so i would have to pay something between $500-$1000 extra to upgrade my class and be able to fly out of Shanghai, It was either that wait a few days until my fare class was available! It turned out a better option for me to fly out of Beijing so i flew back to Beijing and took the A380 back.

6. Having boarded the flight for Lagos again found the old uncomfortable Business class seats and couldn't help but once again feel robbed!

7. Having got out of the Airport realised that once again my lock had not only been removed and stolen but also my suitcase latch was broken! These were TSA combo locks which are something like $20 each! Although it was not about the locks but more about the damage to the suitcase and the idea that our luggage had been gone through. Both in Beijing and Lagos there were no ground staff to complain to and as in both times i was in a hurry to catch a domestic connection i decided to just leave.

8.Some time earlier on a newer 777 flight in J class my entertainment system was not working and there were no other seats in Business and although there were seats in F the purser refused to move and then later claimed that that system was also faulty. I have no idea if it was true but i had asked someone for help on the issue several times before they gave any attention to the issue.

I feel the Emirates hype could be getting over and although a few years ago they were one of the best Airlines but perhaps now other Airlines have caught up with them and they are still offering the same services as they have been.

I have even found on service between Dubai and LHR they have significantly reduced meal portions from what they used to be!

I am at this point seriously considering switching over however i am curious as to if anyone here can give me some insight as to if it really worth paying the extra 50% fares for Emirates business class or should i just switch to Qr.