An Emirates Experience
 

Following discussion on this thread, I've taken the time to post a particularly bad experience with Emirates and hopefully explain what has led to my negative feelings.

DXB-BHX (Y Class)
Worst. Flight. Ever.

Before Take Off

FAs seemed stressed and edgy & unusually weren't addressing passengers by name, instead using "Sir/Madam" and pointing the direction of the seat. This wasn't an issue for me but it was odd.

As passengers boarded (I was already seated), one FA was walking towards the front of the aircraft whilst a passenger was walking towards the rear. She told him to, "get out of the way please." He seemed taken aback and simply moved into a seat row to let her past. Why couldn't the FA have done this and let him pass by?

On previous flights, a hot towel and water/grape juice drink were served prior to takeoff. I asked a passing FA (the one from the previous paragraph) if I could get some water. She said drinks would be served to all passengers before takeoff. Those drinks (and the hot towels) never materialised.

I was really thirsty as the flight into DXB was delayed and we had to go to security and then to the boarding gate of the connecting flight asap. Not a big fan of T3's layout!

After Take Off

As soon as the fasten seatbelt signs went out, I went to the galley and got some water. It felt good. :D

Speaking of call buttons, passengers pressed them but nobody ever came. The call lights seemed to switch off remotely. Some passengers got up and got drinks from the nearest galley, as did I (two FAs were there happily chatting away to each other).

Meals were served (only one out of three options available but not an issue for me). Nobody came to collect the trays for over an hour after everyone had finished. There wasn't any post-meal tea/coffee as on previous flights. The passenger in the window seat needed to get up (loo) but said there was no hurry. I asked a passing FA if the trays could be collected. She said she was only selling duty free and suggested I pressed the call button. I did but (as expected) nobody responded.

Due to my aisle seat location (C) I managed to get out of the seat, holding my tray and unplugged headphones. The passenger in seat B then got up with his tray, then the seat A passenger slid out and put her tray back on her seat table. The guy in seat B then sat back down and put his tray on the seat table but I went to the galley to get rid of mine. The interim galley was empty so I went to the one at the rear to find all the FAs chatting away. On my journey to the rear galley, I found some passengers had put their empty trays in the aisle. When I asked whether I could leave my tray somewhere, one got up and took it off me whilst another scowled. I didn't return to my seat until I could see the passenger in seat A had returned.

Probably about half an hour later the FAs showed up to collect everyone else's trays. Still no tea/coffee offered though.

When disembarking, there were two FAs at the exit. On previous Emirates flights they'd made eye contact & thanked us for flying/wished us well/etc. but these two were completely blank faced and there was no interaction whatsoever with departing passengers that I could see.

After The Flight

I sent an email to the Emirates booking office (website has no customer service contacts listed) and they sent it on to customer relations. I followed up six months later and was informed that 'due to unprecedented events' they were not able to reply within 30 days but were dealing with customer feedback in chronological order.

Five more months went by (almost a year after the flight) before I received a response saying records showed there were 30 vacant seats in economy and that there were sufficient crew members serving our row of the aircraft. They then said they were sorry that I felt that way.

For me, this was an appalling endorsement of the service received. I replied to indicate I wasn't happy with their response and for it to be escalated to a supervisor/manager. I was then sent an email response that was intended for a different customer. After I notified them about the misdirected email, I received a response saying they were sorry I wasn't happy with the response and that the issue couldn't be resolved amicably.

At this point I'd noticed that the bonus Skywards miles I was supposed to receive hadn't materialised. I contacted Skywards (based in Manchester, I believe) and was told they couldn't apply the bonus points. I didn't pursue it further... why bother chasing miles if you're not going to fly with them again?

The price I paid for the ticket was a lot higher due to it being a peak travel time. I probably wouldn't feel so hard done by if it had cost less. Hope this isn't too long (!) but I wanted to try and explain as fully as possible why I feel negatively about Emirates. The seven hours on that flight felt like several days. Every large organisation will have staff who are incompetent/aren't bothered, but Emirates should have mechanisms for motivating/disciplining/dismissing such staff. They could have easily restored my confidence with a better response. I got the message that they didn't care about the flight experience, they didn't care that I felt hard done by and they didn't care that I wasn't happy with their "I ain't bovvered" response.

Since this flight, I've not booked with Emirates and frankly won't do so unless they happen to be the cheapest option when booking as that's how I rate their service. Hopefully this will help you understand why I feel negatively about this airline & why I'm not keen to give them any of my future business.

If that's your idea of worst flight ever, you're in for a real treat! It's not that uncommon to get an off crew (especially as you haven't flown frequently on EK, nothing much to compare against).

Do you really expect crew in the aisles to address you by name without having any way of knowing what your name is? Not collecting meal trays or serving tea and coffee is bad - but should have been taken up with the Purser on the flight and not with customer service without any way of validating your statement.

I see. I never fly economy, but this sounds appalling. Worth having a Bad Y thread and getting that to EK in my view.

Worst. Flight. Ever.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

+1.

So, you had exactly *one* bad experience?

Not addressing by name? Do you think they remember the name of every Y passenger?

Drink before take off in Y? I've never had that on any flight, EK or otherwise.

As for the trays, it may take 20-25 minutes to get the trays out to everyone. So, if you are one of the first (maybe a special meal??) to finish, it's going to take a while before you get your trays collected, as other people are still eating.

Again, I think your experience is not the norm...

My next 10 flights are in j or f thank goodness but I flew y man dxb in dec and it was ok...y is hit and miss but mainly pRetty good.

Purser is the one to raise it with after the event is pointless

I never said that and it wasn't me involved. Here's the relevant part of my post in case you didn't read it properly:

Why the Purser? Not sure I saw anyone who appeared to be in charge. If they aren't already doing their job properly, why should a passenger be the one to challenge them? How was I to know how they would have reacted, given how rude some of the FAs were? Customer relations should have looked into it properly (that's their job) instead of broadcasting the message that they don't care about the in-flight service.

Perhaps he was wearing a "HI! My name is ____ " tag? :D

I've never been served drinks before takeoff in Y on any airline.

From the OP's statement that only one choice was available I suspect he did not order SPML, so 'over an hour after everyone had finished' plus 'half an hour later' means the trays were out for about two hours. I can't say I have ever timed it but this does seem a bit long.

How would you suggest customer relations have looked into the matter other than by reviewing crewing logs (which they did) and presumably any other reports that would have accompanied a service failure. If tea and coffee were not served, perhaps the kettles had failed. However if I had really wanted a cup of tea I would have gone to the galley.

On the whole I agree that your flight sounds a little off, EK could definitely have done better. In my experience the good outweighs the bad.

Out of interest, which other airlines do you regularly fly and which would be your preference for inflight service (in Y or otherwise) regardless of route or price?

So from what you said you flew in Y and expected to be greeted by name?...or any other passengers in Y for that matter.....flight is usually operated by a 777 so you expect the crew to know 300+ Y class passengers by their name?....Maybe your expectations are just a little too high???

Perhaps he is referring to being greeted at the door of the aircraft, when the name would be visible on the boarding pass. A first world problem if ever there were one.

You are right but that is something I have never witnessed on any airline I have flown or worked for unless someone has elite status on their boarding pass.There are also many passengers I have spoken to who would rather stay annonymous and don't like their name to be heard out loud.

No special meal request. It was an omlette (hot on the heels of another omlette on the flight into DXB). Luckily I am a fan of omlette. :p

I've flown Singapore (Business - sent by company to a conference as colleague couldn't go) and Qatar, Kingfisher, BA, Swiss and Air France in Economy. All were very good but I'd rate Kingfisher and Qatar as head and shoulders above the rest. Singapore Business was amazing. Only four seats per row & service quality was simply perfect.

Some replies seem to be completely misreading my OP or intentionally misrepresenting what I said. Where did I say I expected the crew to memorise all 300-400 Y passengers' names? I can only refer you to my clarification in post #7.

Can't explain those who claim they've never had a drink (water/juice) in Y before takeoff. It's happened on all other EK flights that I took and was one of the things that made them stand out (along with their IFE). Maybe they've stopped doing it? Do they still do hot towels?

Customer relations could have referred to other passenger complaints (there was at least one other complaint made and I'm sure there were others). Otherwise, is there really no way for the second largest airline in the world to ensure its service is up to scratch if passengers don't scrabble around the cabin to obtain evidence themselves and interrogate the Purser? Or is it more likely that they couldn't care less about Y passengers' flight experience because it's First/Business that bring in the bucks?

Ah, the multi-omlette itinerary... I have not had this on EK, TK are the worst offenders in my book.

They certainly still do hot towels - I had a hot towel in EK Y recently and it was about five times as thick as the cheap gauze you get in BA or AA F!

The aircraft would not have any Y seats if they were not the most profitable use of space...

If there were further complaints then one would hope these statistics are collated - in my experience a good or bad Purser makes all the difference given that there will almost always be a mix of crew of different motivation levels. Your problems would all have been solved had they supervised the crew in Y more closely.

They only provide this service on routes to/from the Indian sub-continent.