Chauffeur Drive in Dubai - Feedback Requested
 

**This is only for Dubai Chauffeur Drive**

I met someone yesterday who is very high up within Avis in the UAE and as many of us know Avis is the provider of the Chaffeur drive in Dubai.

I raised some of the issues I have experiecned and he agrees there is some changes that need to be done--- but what? That is where he would like to hear (read) the pro and cons , the good ,bad and ugly. I will forward him this link and lets see where it takes us!

A couple of tid bits is that we will see more Caprices coming and although they would like to do more for First passengers it wont be happenning. The BMW trial was too expensive to run.

I know the service providers are different abroad, but if EK can afford S classes and 7 series in places like Europe, even for Business pax, then why can't they in DXB where cars are cheap, fuel is cheap, and drivers are cheap? Let's not forget that the J and F fares for ex-DXB pax are significantly higher than pax originating from other places also. Perhaps they went about implementing this the wrong way?

Other than problems with scheduling and such, I would do something like offering these premium cars either to only pax originating in DXB, or to say Golds in F. Or maybe only to pax being picked up/ dropped off in DXB, and not the rest of the UAE, as obviously picking someone up from AUH takes more time and fuel. Or perhaps only to pax on certain routes. The Volvos look very very dated now.

The current system (my dad's experience, not mine): timeliness of drivers, and confirmation the day before the flight and a thank you sms after being dropped off at the airport.

What needs to be fixed: The insistence on picking up pax hours before the flight. Yes, one shouldn't keep it so close as to miss a flight, but there's really no reason to leave home more than 45 mins before check in closes, especially at 5 am, and when you're catching a 45 min flight to MCT.

I don't like the Caprises especially when in F. Additionally, agree about p/u times being too early relative to the flight.

Otherwise, it's a nice service to have.

Another vote for the inflexibility of pickup times. Not only do they insist on booking for hours before the flight, but they invariably turn up early and threaten to disappear if they are kept waiting more than 15 minutes.

Other than that, the service is excellent and I have no complaints.

How about increasing the drivers' pay by 50%? I feel stupid having paid thousands of dollars on a flight, to spend 45 minutes with a driver struggling to make ends meet. Personal generosity (tipping) can never beat the feeling of a good solid salary. The drivers will focus more on their driving, and hence enhance the safety of the road trip than on talking about their misery, hoping for a healthy tip from an empathic passenger.

On a different note, in my last couple encounters, the drivers struggled to find the route to my destinations (hotels about Dubai). Specifically Somerset Jadaf is a mere 15 minute dash at midnight from the premium terminal. It took the driver 40 minutes, because he had circled in vain, stopped twice to ask for directions before we made it to our destination.

The drivers which I have had really need to slow down and drive safer. The quality of vehicle is also unacceptable IMO for First Class pax.

the booking/ reservation protocol for chaffeur drive.

online or phone, you cannot simply rely on either reservation. must we repeatedly call to double check and triple check the confirmation? i've been screwed a few times by this, all in dubai and surprisingly none at any international location.

Hear, hear - it has become so bad that I now do not use them for Dubai pick ups, ever. First it was the inflexible pick up times and then the unreliability of collection that you could actually rely on to be unreliable! I now make my own way to the airport at a more appropriate time. Perhaps they insist on insanely early pick ups to make it easier for you to arrange alternative transportation and still make the flight? Etihad on the other hand are super efficient and call to check well in advance and even called me the day before yesterday on the morning of my flight to see if I had changed my mind and needed a pick up even though I had not booked one!

Really? They are actually always on time when picking me up in DXB - unreliable? No!

My flight tomorrow is at 1825 (RUH) and they allowed me to schedule the pickup at 1630. I also hated when they insisted on an earlier hour but 2h before is completely fine, right?

I suspect that may be something to do with the sheer volume of cars required for the DXB operation, whoever is providing the service. The sheer cost of supplying S classes on the scale of operation running in DXB is likely prohibitive. In London however, it likely isn't. Lets face it, a taxi from LHR into town is about £80 so a limo company cna probably charge £50 and make good money. Much harder for the contractor to make money on DXB where trip costs (and by default the competition) are so much lower.

Personally I have had good service so far with this. Not really bothered if its a chevvy that takes me to the airport....i mean it would be a toyota camry if it was a taxi so not sure it really matters. Each to their own though.

It's quite the opposite actually. Take JFK for example, with two daily flights, and a total of 50 premium seats on each, you need say 50 cars. Now, the big advantage with DXB is that there are flights at all times of the day, so the usage of any car is MUCH higher than it would be at JFK. If I'm paying a First fare, I don't care whether there are 100 F pax or 3 F pax at that station, I expect a certain standard of service.

The other thing is that at LHR, cars, fuel, drivers and running such an operation cost a lot more than they would in Dubai. The overheads are much higher when dealing with such a small fleet of cars, when compared to the number of cars required in the UAE. So I don't buy your argument at all, and think it is more feasible in Dubai than anywhere else.

Limit it to ex-DXB pax paying ridiculous fares if you have to, because if I could afford to pay USD 15k to get from A to B, I sure wouldn't be riding in a Camry or Chevvy or whatever.

Doesn't EK outsourced the chauffeur service anyway to a regular taxi service (that has upper class cars)? The regular and usual benefits of outsourcing come into effect:

- Hardly any overhead (EK pays for the service)
- OPEX and not CAPEX (no investments in fleet, hence no double thoughts about utilitization)


So particularly in destinations which sees 1 or max 2. flights per day, say DME, nothing is easier to approach a service company for which you pay x number of cars for EK's premium cabin customers, right?

Well, at least in DXB they are all Emirates branded cars, so are used exclusively by EK. Whether the service is provided by EK or not, whoever is operating it for them has greater efficiency doing it in DXB vs. anywhere else. What's the argument for using premium cars working out too expensive in DXB?

For those that use the service complain to Emirates!

If they don't get complaints and people still use they service AND they can save $$ by using a cheaper car, then why would they change!

For what it's worth - my two penneth!

Ref the UK service, i believe they use the "Owner Driver" service, so the cars are owned by the drivers that pick you up, they are all on contracts to the service providor in the UK.

The cars in Mumbai are all branded with the Emirates logo, a bit too much if you ask me, still operated by AVIS, they also have the silver mercs, with EK branded on the sides and the rear window visor.

OK, as to improvments, I think that once you have logged onto the EK site as they have ALL your details already, there should be a way to store address's (such as deliverey addresses when using Amazon). When booking the service on line you then have the option to click on a box. Also, when arranging your return flight on line, have the option to get collected from the same drop off point, just saves some time. Also to actually be able to see what time you are booked to be picked up, as someone already said, the only way is to call to confirm what time. Or include the Chauffer details on MMB, so you see it and it prints off with your itinerary, as it does when you go to the sales office. (I am sure the ownership of this goes to Emirates though)

Another small improvement would be to include small bottles of water - they do it in most other countries, yet why not DXB - one of their hottest routes?

My onky gripe with the Volvo's they use, is that the rear air con is not brilliant, and as the cars wait a while, the ac is usually on low accomodating the driver rather than the passenger.

IMO i have not had a bad car, and only one bad driver in DXB and i use the service a lot, i live in the garhood area, so I can request a car a lot later than other areas!