Trip report - TIP-DXB, April 25.

Does anyone else think that Emirates/DXB is going downhill?

I flew Tripoli-Dubai a couple of days ago and the whole thing was a pretty bad experience. First off, the Emirates check-in desk in Tripoli told about 25 of us that they had overbooked the flight, even though we had confirmed reservations. Heated arguments ensued, we hung around for a while and eventually they found a few spare seats (luckily one of which I managed to grab).

On board, it emerged that they were 91 meals short on a 5-hour flight (and even longer for passengers who had boarded in Tunis). Another 50 meals were then procured from some Libyan caterer (25 minute wait) although even then we had to take off with 40 meals too few...there were presumably some hungry passengers landing in Dubai.

Food and service were fine, although about 20 people who had originally booked business-class were stuck in economy - which caused incessant complaints. But the other annoying thing is the offensively loud, 10-minute long Dubai Tourism video which appears on your screen as you come into land. I think they've updated it and made it longer, but it's impossible to turn it off or reduce the volume. Instead, you're forced to listen and watch the usual PR spiel about how great Dubai is - which people presumably believe until they actually spend some time there.

At DXB we were bussed to the terminal, which took at least 20 minutes as we had to drive all around the as yet unfinished Emirates terminal and drop off transit passengers. Unbelievably, the lanes around the runways used by the shuttle buses and luggage carts are actually congested, so you have to wait for traffic jams to clear. Not even the airport, it seems, can avoid Dubai's chronic traffic congestion.

Thankfully I have a UAE e-gate card, so didn't have to wait in the absurdly long passport queues, but I'd estimate that the wait was at least 45 minutes - meaning that from landing to getting into a taxi would take at least 90 minutes for most passengers. Pretty ridiculous.

Anyway, don't get me wrong - I still think that Emirates is a good airline and Dubai is a good airport in relative terms - but both have become victims of their own success by expanding too quickly and raising expectations with hyperbolic ad campaigns.

The whole experience is now just a complete pain, and a not inexpensive one at that. Hopefully things will get better when Emirates opens its new Terminal in the summer.