I think I have a good overview as I don't get to pick the routing / airline - so i've flown an odd mix this year - including EK J, SQ F, QR Y, MH J, BA Y and a smattering of regionals (MI, TR, JT).

And i've liked and loathed all in equal measure. I think genuinely the grass is always greener. I've seen pros and cons and equal measure for all airlines (with EK I felt like something out of bladerunner watching the staff plate up 100 J class plates - I guess it's just me that prefers the LGW 777's over the LHR A380!). BA definitely has it's perks - I think it's just the done thing for the British to criticise them.

The downside is that I have have never managed to put my miles together into a decent alliance / ff to get rewarded for my exertions. That's why I came (back) to Flyertalk - to assess my options! At the moment - i'm split between O/W and EK - and unless EK open up a few additional Indonesian destinations I'm thinking O/W will probably get my business.

I havent been on J on the 380 for over 18 months. Unfortunately mrsukdoctor doesn't like the angled lie flat seats on the 777's . I like the 777's for J but now have to fly on the A380 from LHR next month.

Have they sorted out the service issues on the 380? The last time if flew it was pathetic and it felt like premium economy rather than J.

Mrsukdoctor doesn't mind as she eats in the lounge and then sleeps till we reach DXB. I like my food and drink on board.

Looks like I'll probably be at the bar for most of the flight.

PS: EK 008 on 3rd October in case any other FT'ers are on board

Probably not as bad as before, but if you are seated in the second cabin, where I like to sit, you still have to contend with a wait time of close to 20-25 minutes watching the crew take the meal trays/ drinks for the forward seats before they come and service you. Actually, I am quite OK with that as I've been consciously trying to reduce my eating and drinking on flights.

Don't think EK are gonna launch any new Indonesian destinations anytime soon. Most people are expecting a new US destination soon, and probably more to follow. Nothing about new routes to Asia I don't think (correct me if I'm wrong).

Clark has recently been announced.

Taiwan?

Still really surprised Surabaya & Medan isn't being flown by any of the middle eastern airlines considering population size, cargo possibilities and the overseas workforces. Half of Lombok used to be owned by Dubai until it was taken back! And Bali is a nice tag-on from Singapore...

Things have changed since the 3 x weekly Dubai - Sri Lanka - Singapore - Jakarta flight!

Doh! It's actually The Philippines... I thought it was Indonesia.

Sounds more like relationship issues than issues with an airline

Shhhh.

As I follow several airlines' threads on FT I start wondering about these "bye bye (airline XYZ)" and "never again will I fly (airline ZYX)" posts. You read on the EK forum how people will move on or have moved on. Fair enough, and I fully understand the reasons given and I share the observations. But I then wonder where they move to? Reading threads about other airlines most of them cannot be all happy places either. SQ is arrogant; BA has a bad F class and awards are never available; LH is just slipping in standards; LX is too small; QR is over-rated and has a terrible hub; EY is losing its pedigree; airlines from the US hire fat vulgar ladies as FAs and awards aren't available; Air France and KLM have lost any right to win premium business since a long time. So what is left?

This is not to say that I want to excuse EK for anything at all. DXB can be a very painful airport, I personally have a bad punctuality record with them (>60% of flights delayed), their staff are often not smarter than trained monkeys, the interior design of cabins is ugly, their 777 and 330 J product is sub-par, their FFP and status tiers not very attractive - but is there really an airline with a global reach that does at least most of these things substantially better?

There may be people with specific routes or particular preferences or tastes for whose specific needs another airline may be the better fit. But systematically shunning EK just to go somewhere else which isn't much better - huh?

Thus, my conclusion is that we should put these things in perspective.

This was the point I was trying to make earlier in the thread. Going by what I read in other areas of FT, the answer is no.

I've not hung around here for too long, bit even in my short time there have been a few who were "never going to fly EK again" who have come quietly back.

I think that is really a good question that most of us should give some thought. From BOM, EK offers some of the best options for travel to the US hubs JFK, LAX, and SFO which are the places that I need to visit most often. 9W has been slipping continuously and I've pretty much stopped flying them altogether now. LH and BA are options but they are typically either more expensive or similarly priced as EK, and I pretty much try and avoid BA as much as possible. I haven't flown LH much and don't have anything against them but the EK ICE, op-ups, and A380 to JFK (and now LAX) pretty much seals the deal for me.

This comment sums up ek for me right now...

I did the bye bye this year reluctantly, and its been working well for me. I did my DXB-HKG runs on CX J, and once on EK Y upgraded via miles which were expiring and the only reason i traveled EK... yes you get chauffeur drive with EK, lounge better in DXB? subjective to me, better amenity kit in EK, and better IFE i found not specific difference worth the premium EK J charges over CX, which was my main reason to make the switch. CX gave me a better seat in J, decent lounges, great food on board miles ahead of EK.

I just completed BA DXB-LHR-YYZ, in business at the time i purchased i could have gotten a comparable ticket on EK to YYZ (via another outstation) price wise. I chose BA for the london stopover which i could not get on EK. I was very happy with BA service, in four flights in J only one relatively dour male FA, still had kept my glasses topped up, food was far superior to EK on board, IFE was crap (was on a 747 LHR-DXB and the movies were played centrally!!), seats were very comfortable on BA i found myself sleeping a lot more on board, and the privacy was actually pretty good, planes generally older, but ok.

I am now looking for flights to HKG, SIN, KUL, CDG and back to LHR and YYZ - all to be done between now and FEB 14... i pay my own fare and cannot see any reason to pay the premium for EK business class. I'd like to travel them but it just doesn't seem to work out.

Seems i will go from Gold to only earning 8000 miles or so on EK this year... I'll be doing a regular DXB-KHI on EK so will miss the lounge and check-in perk, but not much more i guess. I have about 200,000 miles i need to use up on skywards though.

I think that people who are giving up on EK (or any other airline) are giving up on loyalty to an airline in general. There are of course those who fly enough that it is no problem maintaining status on multiple programs, but I think as an airline you need to focus on wallet share as a measure of loyalty - someone who flies 50k a year on EK but 500k overall obviously isn't very loyal.

In that sense, I've also gone from a time I would only fly EK long haul, to a point where I really don't care anymore. Yes, EK has nice service in J. SQ has great schedules in SIN. CX has a good hard product. TG has good award availability. I'm happy to sample different products and am not focusing on building any loyalty right now, as I see how poor the benefits for so called loyal customers are.

I have friends who fly enough for LH HON, and while that is a program that takes care of its customers on the ground, in the air LH J is still a joke, and F is not practical for regular travel for most people.