DXB is a special case; airlines are not permitted to have their own transfer desks (I presume you were in transit BA to CX from your description) and their is a generic service that does the transfer for all airlines. This is a very substandard service and is chaotic at best, with long lines and no knowledge or interest. So the problem isn't CX, it is DXB (I think mandated by the gov't, which also happens to own EK which doesn't have this problem in their terminal). I happened to talk to the BA station manager a year ago and the topic of hidden competitive factors came up, which gave me an earful of the onerous restrictions that they face at DXB all designed to make competition just a bit tougher (and EK that much more attractive).