PPS1

Hi all,

Just wanted to get your opinions and experiences.

I'm about to move to Dubai and am considering to whom I should transfer my air travel (I'm a 1-airline kind of guy).

I am BA Gold (roughly 400 points away from renewing status for another year) and EK Gold (just made it last week). I'll be undertaking trips to London once a month, but will also be undertaking trips to India (maybe twice a month). Air travel will be split approx 60/40 (business/economy).

I've gone through FT threads extensively and it seems that the BA card is more exclusive (as in its harder to get), but EK has waaay more op-ups. EK has priority baggage delivery (useful in economy/WT+) but BA has First check in and GF in London.

I've travelled quite a few times by EK and BA's premium cabins (F/J) and BA's definitely feel more exclusive and slicker, perhaps because there are less op-ups from base economy (BA's op-ups to J come from WT+).

There are clearly pros and cons to each, so just wanted to see what everyone's thoughts were...

In the UAE, you also have the BA Barclaycard vs the Citi Emirates card.

Many thanks!

SteveF

In my opinion the best (J) EK is great, but the worst is terrible (something like BA CW cradle seats on night flights) and in my experience you never knew which you would get (my last flights were DXB-MLE-DXB). I also hate the sloping 'flat' J seats on some of their fleet. Oh and EK are the only airline that ever lost my luggage on both legs.

I lived in the ME for 12 years and, if most your travel will be on BA or Oneworld routes, I would (and did) stick with that.

potakas

Have you checked the prices? Are they similar? (DXB-LHR)

GGL Flyer

Stick with both - I have.

For all my LHR and NA travel I tend to use BA and EK get the remainder of my business.

I guess it all depends on your travel patterns and how you like to redeem.

PPS1

Thanks for that - yes I agree, more extremes with EK's service.

In terms of prices, both are pretty much the same (give or take £100)...anything more than that and I'll go for the cheaper option, regardless of who operates the flight!

KenJohn

Does EK business still includes airport transfers are both ends at most location? It used to for use. One advantage of EK I remember from a couple of years ago.

A nightmare getting a cab at DXB airport even in the middle of the night.

Raffles

If you eurocheat, you can retain BA Gold with 3.5 London to DXB returns. That leaves you plenty to credit to EK, plus of course the India flights.

Logically, your holidays will start in DXB so you would want EK miles to use for those. The issue would be Skywards crazily high redemption rates.

tmac100

BA has my flying soul. In 2009 I started flying BA (WT+ when I could) and have had about 50% of my sectors upgraded to CW. I like BA ^


I have flown Emirates 3 times. Their seats are UNCOMFORTABLE. Period. Even BA economy and SU economy seats are better (in my experience). In addition, I have found Emirates' service ".....rdly" with regard to getting a glass of red wine with my meals. Folks rant about Emirate's service, I RANT about the lack of service. In all 3 Emirates' flights/sectors the FAs seemed working flat out with no time for answering questions (SH was DXB-AMM and LH was DXB-LHR). The LHR-DXB service was mediocre and I had to ask 3 times for a glass of wine - finally got it when the meal was over.

Just my experience. I don't like Emirates - no matter how much they huff and puff about their A380 and "superior" service.

BA has better se4rvice - AND FAs that exhibit an interest in the PAX.

tmac100

There are always LOTS of cabs at DXB - both T1 and T3. There are always lots of cabs at DXB as compared to SFO/JFK/LHR, and there are no cops blowing whistles and intimidating you like at SFO and JFK. DXB is civilized in comparison.

Dave Noble

Being based in Dubai and with doing trips to places other than London, I would say that it would be a simple choice to use EK over BA. BA doesn't fly to India from Dubai

Which status is hard does depend on where you live and what type of travel is being taken and in which class. Personally I far prefer Emirates's 1st class cabins over BA's

The chauffeur drive service is also a v nice extra that BA doesn't offer. Also that EK offers a LGW service in London is a great thing for me ;

The other consideration I would say , for travel to London, EK has a lot more flights a day than BA with 8 services vs the 2 of BA

Dave

ung1

If your trips are originating in DXB for DXB - LHR, BA will invariably be cheaper. EK's Y prices are similar to WT+, and EK J prices (outside of current Ramadan/ Eid sales) can be sky high. So from that perspective, you're better off maintaining status on both carriers.

When you get a good deal, fly EK. DXB - LHR r/t J gets you a fifth of the way to Skywards Gold. Agree that BA Gold is more exclusive.

Also, EK's new Y seats and new J seats (which you are likely to get on LHR flights anyway) are good. And there's the flexibility of more flights in a day.

matthandy

Have to agree with this. Being based in Dubai, EK is going to offer you so many more options than BA will be able to. Correct me if I am wrong, there is no Oneworld carrier based in Dubai, so you wouldn't even be able to continue to earn points and miles on another OW carrier and retain that BA card.

DWFI

Not necessarily. Depends whether the OP minds taking one stop flights with OW instead of nonstops with EK.

RJ flies to DXB and they have a fairly comprehensive regional network. I believe CX, S7, AY (and AB and IT and MH) also fly there, as well as BA.

NA-Flyer

Personally I lean more toward BA and its BAEC.

EK is a good airline but I believe in the long run it is going to be more expensive than BA due to the large size of the airline and the associated cost to operate such a large network.

ung1

As a middle east based airline flying A380s all over the world through a single hub, EKs costs are going to be much lower than BAs. The reason they will almost always be more expensive than BA flying out of DXB is because they can exploit their home market.