I was supposed to fly from Mumbai to Accra via Dubai on Wednesday 27th April. Flights were EK 501 departing at 430am with a 90-minute connection in Dubai to EK 787.

At around 4am, we were advised that due to a hydraulics leak on A6-ECX our departure would be pushed back by 3 hours to 730am. We returned to the lounge.

At around 530am, we were advised that a replacement part would be required and would be en route from Dubai on A6-EBC operating EK 504 arriving at 830am. Our departure was accordingly rescheduled for 930am.

Once the part was on hand, it was determined that the repairs to A6-ECX would take longer than earlier expected. Our departure was then rescheduled for 11am.

This posed a problem as the crew were running out of duty hours. It was then decided that the crew originally scheduled to operate EK 501 on A6-ECX would instead operate EK 505 on A6-EBC and the crew from EK 504 would disembark in Mumbai, wait for A6-ACX to be fixed and then operate it back to Dubai as EK 501.

This meant that passengers due to depart at 430am and who had been waiting 5+ hrs already at the airport would continue to remain in Mumbai while passengers checking in for the 945am flight were being transported. A virtual riot ensued with fistfights breaking out between the two groups of passengers. A handful of ringleaders (about 20) were then "rewarded" by being granted passage on the spare seats on board EK 505 while the remaining passengers who didn't get involved in the fisticuffs were left behind. EK 505 actually left with empty seats as the ground staff were unable to rebook additional passengers due to time constraints with crew duty time.


Throughout this period, passengers who politely requested rerouting on other carriers were denied rerouting, but those who shouted or threatened were swiftly pulled aside and rerouted. Refreshments were offered to passengers at Celebrations restaurant (and of course those of us who had lounge access were able to eat there). Boarding on A6-ECX finally commenced at 1130am and we were airborne at 1218pm, a delay of 7h48m. We landed in Dubai at 123pm local time and disembarked at approx. 140pm.

Arrival in Dubai was chaotic. Passengers with lounge access were asked to proceed through security to the lounge who would handle our rebooking. At the lounge, they discovered that my flight had already been rebooked for the next day at 730am and they printed a new itinerary for me.

I asked about hotel accommodation but was told that none would be provided since my booking class was not eligible for STPC departing India. I tried to argue that this should not be relevant as this was a misconnection rather than a straightforward STPC but the agent was unable to do anything. Accordingly, I made a booking myself at my corporate rate (AED 400) for the Crowne Plaza Festival City and proceeded to immigration at around 3pm.

I began the transit visa paperwork process at the Emirates Stopover desk but the agent there saw my itinerary and advised that Emirates would be able to sponsor my transit visa. She also inserted a hotel booking at the Millenium Hotel into my PNR and provided me with a voucher. It was already past the cutoff deadline for my room at the Crowne Plaza so I politely declined the hotel booking but accepted the visa voucher.

I asked baggage services in arrival if they would be able to retrieve my baggage but this was not going to be possible. This is especially annoying as I had to pack my laptop charger into my checked bag when leaving BOM in order to comply with the 7kg weight limit for my backpack.

On reaching the Crowne Plaza, I contacted the office and rescheduled the meeting that was the primary purpose of my trip. This meeting was scheduled for Wednesday at 230pm and I had tried to use the Gold Guaranteed Seat to change my booking from Wednesday to Tuesday to have sufficient buffer in case of eventualities like this, but this had been denied on the flimsy grounds that while Dubai to Accra was sold out there were still seats available from Mumbai to Dubai so the Gold Guaranteed Seat benefit didn't apply.

That aside, the meeting was now rescheduled for Friday afternoon in Accra. Accordingly, I decided to change my booking from the Thursday flight that I had been auto-rebooked onto instead to the Friday flight, allowing me a day of work in Dubai on Thursday. Emirates was able to do this for me, but charged me an INR 4000 change fee for the privilege.


I made multiple efforts to track down my luggage on Wednesday and Thursday to no avail (I was eventually advised on Friday that my luggage had somehow wound up in Doha). I had to spend AED 180 on one shirt, one set of underwear and one pair of socks from Marks & Spencer, plus AED 349 on a new DELL laptop charger. I had additional costs as well, but those were a result of the voluntary extended stay and are not relevant here.

I eventually flew to Ghana on Friday morning. My two pieces of baggage from Mumbai on Wednesday did not arrive with me. I filed a PIR with Aviance (the Emirates handling agents in Ghana) and although the girl laughed when I asked about compensation, they followed up efficiently to have the bags forwarded from Doha. I have no need to purchase additional clothing in Accra as I maintain an apartment here, so costs are irrelevant. I received a text about an hour ago advising that the bags are now in Accra and ready for collection.


My questions are :

a) What refunds/compensation, if any, should I seek from Emirates for the flight delay and the baggage delay?
b) Should I have been charged the change fee after my original schedule was already disrupted, resulting in significant inconvenience?
c) Is the situation in Mumbai where passengers who created a nuisance were rewarded ahead of those who remained civil worth complaining about?
d) If I do write to Emirates, what aspect of this situation is the most aggregious and worth agitating about?