I am new to Flyer talk so please bear with me.Having lived and worked in Dubai over the years and used Emirates Airlines extensively.I now believe that there Skywards Gold Card is really not worth the trouble. I have never had a Skywards upgrade on any of there flights, the ground services divison in Dubai Airport is appalling, the flights are never on time and all you hear when you fly through Dubai is " It will improve when the new Terminal is finished" Nothing will improve until they sort the main problem which I believe is there very very poor customer services policy.When you complain to Emirates they reply only under duress and to get a refund from Emirates takes months. All in all there reputation is only there because of there flight crews efforts to improve and keep a decent standard of service, as for the rest of the airline ground staff they need to remember they are in a people business and people can make or break businesses or even airlines.