Pathetic Emirates Customer Service
 

Taking advantage of a sale, I booked my tickets from United States to Pakistan in March this year at a price of $1,325. Due to the death of a close relative, I had to move my tickets to August. The ticket price at that time for flying in August was $1,750. I called the customer service and asked them to change my travel dates to August. They said that there will be a change fee of $400 per ticket but if I provide supporting documents of the death of that relative, this $400 will be waived. I would only need to pay the fare difference of 1750-1325=$425 per ticket. I also asked them if my fare price is locked and if they can make sure it will not be changed till I provide the documents, the customer service representative said yes, we assure you it won’t be changed.

Subsequently I provided the documents after a couple of weeks and then when I asked them to send my tickets, they said you need to pay the current price of $2,35 per ticket. I was literally shocked to hear this. I even asked them to refer to the call that I had with the CSR but they said sorry we can’t do anything. I even talked to their supervisor but he said the same thing. After many unsuccessful attempts of calling and writing them, I gave up at last and paid the full amount. I will never ever travel Emirates in the future and will suggest all my family and friends not to use them for any of their travel needs.

Was there a reason to wait 6 months to post about it such that there is nothing that can be assisted with on the foum and too late to do anything about it?

It reads to me that you didn't confirm the change at the time and that by time you made the change the new fare was higher or availability in the booking class had gone

Rather than pay the higher amount, you could have got a full refund in this circumstance and then rebooked elsewhere

Why did you not cancel and book with another airline?

My tickets were non-refundable

I thought that this rule becomes void in case of a death of a relative

Indeed...

Fares are refundable in cases of death of family member

Same basis as why you were permitted to change the dates without penalty. You could have requested a refund instead of changing and then booked on another airline. When changing the flights before departure, even though the penalties are waived, any fare difference still needs to be paid


From an example EK fare rule

FARE RULE
CANCELLATIONS

ANY TIME
PER TICKET CHARGE XXX FOR CANCEL/REFUND.
WAIVED FOR DEATH OF PASSENGER OR FAMILY MEMBER.


CHANGES

ANY TIME
CHARGE YYY FOR REISSUE/REVALIDATION.
WAIVED FOR DEATH OF PASSENGER OR FAMILY MEMBER.

I would definitely get the wiring checked

You see... another loophole with the customer service. They didn't refund my ticket.

Did you specifically ask for a refund due to death of a family member?

From your post it looks as if you asked them to change the dates due to death of a family member.

Did you ask and they said no?

What do you mean?
If you asked for a refund and it said no, that is an issue
If you never asked for a refund, how is that a Customer service issue ?

The information given is that you only asked it for a date change

Im aslso curious on what the purpose of the posting was. This event sounds like it took place several months ago and that the trip is now complete and that it is too late to really do anything