Originally Posted by
pomkiwi
Welcome to FT and the EK forum.
I sympathise and hope the last leg of your trip home has been OK (too much to hope for an ironic op-up?).
I recognise much of what you say but feel it applies to pretty much all programs and airlines now. Yield management has become much more subtle and effective and in general records systems more accurate (for several yeares I flew with one * Alliance carrier upgrding with miles and then receiving miles credited for the upgraded cabin flown). All the groups here on FT are full of complaints about reward availability and deteriorating earn / burn ratios.
I am less bothered now about earning miles but choose my carrier based on schedule, price and in-flight experience. At the moment EK does pretty well on thiose parameters but not as well as it did.
Good luck with BA. My recent experience is that the crews can be really great or really quite poor, schedules are good from London but planes and lounges get less good and dirtier with every month.
Probably one of the most sensible and intelligent comments I have read on FT.
I think the problem when you hang out in this "tribe" is that we sometimes set our expectations too high. I know have. And perhaps still do.
You sort of think, well, I did X miles on your airline last year (or Y million in the last Z years) so why cant I expect something different to the average Joe? Why doesn't the program treat me/reward me/acknowledge my existence? Why am I not greeted by scantily clad women/men (take your pick) who pander to my every need and scatter rose petals in front of my freshly manicured feet
Loyalty programs aren't designed to reward those at the fringes. They are designed to reward those in the middle. I came to realize not so long ago especially as far as EK goes, that we are simply a number in their database.
More than any other airline I know of, EK follow a set of rules. There's this inherent fear of Big Brother in Dubai - so very few employees are prepared to step outside these boundaries. Perhaps thats how you achieve consistency of service. But I have been on enough EK flights to know that consistency is not what they are known for. Perhaps the management excuse is that the only way you manage explosive growth is to enforce these rules. I'm not so sure.
I have become far more pragmatic now that I have moved to the US - and its why I maintain status in both the majors. Because at this point in time, price, schedule, ability to redeem and upgrade is what counts. And pricing ex US for EK is not floating my boat.
I still have a huge affinity for EK. I think their product is excellent. But in my very humble opinion, this militant determination to stick to the single hub operation is going to bit them in the bum (and sooner rather than later). And their inability to reward those who exceed the program limits and their dogmatic approach to customer service is ultimately going to hurt them.
Flying is still a highly emotive experience for many. Whether you are a hard core road warrior or a once a year leisure traveller. No airline is perfect, no hotel chain is perfect. But those who understand the 80/20 rule are the ones in my view who nail it.