Firstly, welcome to FT!
Originally Posted by
geoffgrantham
I would like to let people know
about the poor treatment of passengers by
Emirates during my recent return from Japan. Due to fog at Dubai, our
flight was initially diverted to Karachi, Pakistan (~30mins), then
Muscat Oman (~12hrs).
Do you know if other carriers were flying MCT-DXB or were all flights waiting for the fog to clear at DXB?
Originally Posted by
geoffgrantham
(Surely
the same crew could have flown the last half hour or so?)
Although EK crew standards are lower than that of other airlines, there is still a strict amount of maximum hours that crew can fly. This is presumably because after a certain amount of time they will not be as alert in an emergency.
Originally Posted by
geoffgrantham
An additional
delay of ~5hrs was caused by our departure being prevented by a group of
Nigerians who prevented us from boarding because they felt our flight
had been given precedence over theirs by Emirates. During the ~12hrs on
the ground, getting information as to what was going on from Emirates at
Muscat was near impossible. .
This is quite unacceptable.
Did the pilot/FAs/desk person make periodic announcements or anything?
Originally Posted by
geoffgrantham
I find it unacceptable that Emirates via the
authorities at Muscat permitted this to happen. I was phoning Dubai for
info.
.
While I agree that Emirates is at fault, I think this is more of MCT airport issue. Due the delays, I assume that Muscat was overcrowded and perhaps staff weren't at their best.
Originally Posted by
geoffgrantham
Also, during this time we were only given a cool drink.
.
I don't think EK carries more food than it needs for a flight, especially when going back to it's hub.
Originally Posted by
geoffgrantham
Arrival at Dubai was another nightmare. Lots of flights had been diverted
with the consequence that thousands of people had to re-book flights and
get new boarding passes because they had missed connections. The transit
desk at Dubai was hopelessly understaffed resulting in people standing
in queues for upto 12hours.
I can only imagine! DXB is bad enough when everything is running smoothly
Originally Posted by
geoffgrantham
Thankfully I am still OK but can imagine
that old people or families would have found this ten times more
difficult than I did.
I think DXB really lacks in this respect. They have recently introduced the strollers but care for families at DXB is extremely poor. Once my mother asked for assistance when boarding with my young sister (then 8 months old) and was told something along the lines of 'your child, your problem.'
Originally Posted by
geoffgrantham
One got the cynical impression that this was so to
prevent Emirates having to foot the bill for hotel costs due to the
unscheduled stay at Dubai Airport. They prefferred us to struggle for
hours in the queues.
I may be completely wrong but (as I stated earlier in the thread) I don't think EK is liable to provide any compensation / hotel etc since the delay was due to an 'act of God' rather than something EK could control.
Sorry to hear about your experience. I certainly hope that all my future flights with Emirates are smooth sailing.
Cheers,