Hi guys.After one year of carefully analysing each and every flight i have been onboard emirates and qatar airways,i have come to a conclusion that indeed standards are falling at emirates.The biggest turn off is the crew inconsistency.In fact,on one of my recent flights,one of the cabin crew told me that they,the crew,are aware that service standards are declining,and she apologised profusely for the treatment i recieved from her colleagues.What makes me wonder is the treatment i got at qatar airways,on 98% of my flights,i had a truly exceptional cabin crew who worked as a team.Now i know that both emirates and qatar have multinational crew,and we might suggest that at emirates service is falling because of lack of coordination between different nationalities,but how on earth does qatar airways use this same system but their crews are able to give excellent service?

as much as i would like to agree... have you seen some of the comments of qatar's thread!

though i do believe emirates does need to look into this seriously!

Whilst I would agree that service on EK isn't what it used to be in the golden days, you can't really compare to QR. EK is the largest international airline and still growing whilst QR is at a stage where EK was several years ago. Yes they are trying to catch up but haven't quite gotten there yet.

Emirates is receiving an average of 1-2 aircrafts every months and recruit quite heavily so the service is bound to drop with a large number of newbie crew. It is a downside to fast growth.

On the other hand, service onboard on QR might be better but you can't fault EK on the hard product (except for the 332) or ground services such as worldwide lounges and chauffeur drive.

Well for one, Qatar crew have very strict rules to abide by and aren't allowed to have a life.

My experience on QR is limited to one J class CMB-DOH-AUH, and the crew, while polite and efficient, were nothing to write home about. Of course, with the A320 hard product, is it difficult to be impressed.

Unfortunately EK has too many other things working for them now, which means that they can slack off a bit when it comes to service, and still get away with it.

Thank you guys for the feedback,i appreciate your thoughts.^

Ive done a few QR recently and while the hard product is way better than EK Business Class the crew were Ok. ground was sloppy; the business lounge was nice but the bus transits too terminals were weird and security not very pleasant The connections are poor Try doing London-PEk on QR..

Oh yes ansd no booze during Ramadan in the Business lounge!

Oh i always thought the hard product on EK was better,but coming to think of it,it is quite cramped compared to QR.However,the ICE digital widescreen wins hands down!

What about dubai?i think the middle east dont serve alcohol during ramadan,im not sure about dubai though.

I've done a few flights this year on QR, actually hit gold on my last flight (its very easy to attain gold - did it in less than 2 months).

QR wins hands down on service. While their crew are not as "glamorous" as EK, they sure do get the job done much better, and that is what matters to me. I prefer their hard product on J (777) to that of EK's 777 (except the 380). Food is brought to you and out of your sight in about than half an hour on QR - although EK have improved on their meal service, but still cannot attain the same time as QR. QR service is more personal.

However, after my last flight yesterday, I really miss the EK lounges (outside of Dubai) and their chauffeur drive.

There are pros and cons of both airlines, but i will surely be shuffling my business with both airlines again in 2012. It just makes no sense to fly over 50k tier miles with EK anymore.

On QR gold yes ... I'm top tier on QR and haven't even noticed or bothered... if flying business it is useless, unless you are illiterate in epwhich case there is some free Al Maha service at Doha.

On EK also Gold is equally useless if flying business

... Except for some trivial stuff ...you get nice service and your wish is their command with some CC and champers from F if you ask discreetly...I don't think QR cares a hoot about status... And you always get the meal you choose as EK Gold

My LH senator delivers spanking good operatipnal upgrades discounted
companion awards First Class checkin, lounge access for family, good service even from UA (now that's something) and whatnot...These top tier cards only seem to give value on the Alliances...

In the UAE at the airports it has never been a problem as far as I can remember. In fact, i recall about 5 years ago at the old Abu Dhabi T1 (where the bar during the day was part of Costa coffee) having a can of beer during Ramadam in the middle of the terminal (they didnt even have a segregated area).

3 weeks ago I had a at least a bottle of champagne in the BCL in Dubai.

Saying that I remember in Muscat no alcohol was available during Ramadam.

Alcohol is available as usual Airside during Ramadan .

Agree completely that EK Gold doesn't appear to have any real advantages when you fly C - besides the few extra miles you get. I did get upgraded a bit more often after making Gold, but didn't have a whole lot of success there either. But I mostly fly MUC-DXB-SIN vv. and there are always lots of other Golds on board on that route.

now look what you've done! @:-) You've made me want to try qr!

I'm relatively new to EK and have never flown QR. Must say that I'm very dissatisfied with the hard product on EK, specifically the huge differences. My first flight was on a -300ER with the fancy business class seats, and apart from the horrible decor it is a very comfortable seat/bed. Connected directly to a -300 non-ER with the regional C-class, and what a contrast that is! Still, for a 4 hour daytime flight it's quite ok, but apart from a crappy seat you also get a crappy folding out screen instead of the 20+ inch.

Next flight was on a -300 non-ER, which seemed to have a seat closer to the new C-class on the ER, but not quite. Could be wrong though, I was tired at that point. I connected in DXB to a an A330 and boy was I in for a shock - I mean, does anybody else do 2-3-2 business class seating on an Airbus? Screen size was small, quality was crap and the seat was a joke.

Last flight was a redeye from Europe to DXB on a -300ER, but one fitted with the horrible regional C-class seats. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement, and I'm glad I chose to depart a day early; the regional seat is simply impossible to catch a decent sleep in.

Haven't tried the A380 yet and, frankly, I'm unlikely to fly EK ever again unless they standardise their seats.