I flew with Emirates last month (in Y) and was affected by the fog on 23rd February, resulting in me misconnecting.

I'm not one to unnecessarily complain or make issues of things beyond the control of any airline (i.e the fog) but felt my "customer" experience on the ground at DXB was truly shocking resulting in me missing numerous connections and having to wait over 12 hours at Dubai Airport.

My experiences led me from desk to desk at DXB with no member of staff seemingly having authority to do anything. Members of staff tried to charge me for rebooking my flight despite it not being my fault I misconnected. It eventually took over 4 hours to rebook... and that was only on the authority of the EK duty manager. The highlight of course was being sent into the "admin office" behind the check-in area with a number of other passengers and having EK staff arguing/shouting at passengers.

I received a comprehensive reply from EK customer services and was expecting a relatively decent gesture of goodwill based on my experiences and time wasted; obviously in the knowledge I was not entitled to physical monetary compensation due to "force majeure".

Instead they send a useless (to me, at least) 10,000 Skywards miles and made it sound like I should be grateful...

Perhaps I'm ungrateful for what they did offer but is this a typical Emirates thing? Even Air France are more generous for much lesser issues!

Rant over...

Amazing, the only emirates response I have ever gotten to a complaint was .... none :-)

Wow, that actually IS extremely generous relative to what Emirates usually offers (a choice between a kick in the groin or a poke in the eye).

Yes, I would agree with B747 that the offer of 10k miles is actually quite generous !

Looking at the bigger picture : it's fair to say that the fog was totally outside the control of Emirates, and given the sheer volume of movements they have at their home base of DXB, dealing with the general fallout and knock-on effects was always going to be something of a challenge for them. And it sounds like they really didn't do a great job as far as your own rescheduling was concerned.

I was affected myself on that very same day when flying EK from Christchurch to Sydney (incoming aircraft having been heavily delayed by fog) but I had no onward connections to worry about. My own situation was dealt with very courteously & efficiently, and for me it just meant a few more hours in Christchurch, and then a determination by the captain to make it to SYD before the (strictly-imposed) 11pm landing/take-off curfew kicked in !

It is something of an irony - and certainly not one that EK can be proud of - that the overall standard of service and 'reaction' speed when things go wrong can be far, far worse at their DXB base than at many outstations. I learnt by chance whilst passing in & out of DXB several times over the past few months that there is no such thing as a dedicated 'Customer Services Desk' for Emirates passengers anywhere within the sprawling and opulent airport. Quite surreal.

+1... I got the poke in the eye when I complained about being downgraded from F to J, the only silver lining to them telling me I am owed nothing is that I didn't get the kick in the groin.

Thanks guys... Guess I'll just vote with my feet for future trips then!

(And use the miles for an easyJet flight!)

I guess that's what you must do if you feel strongly that you have not been treated in a fair manner.

"You pays your money and you takes your choice"

Although .....l somehow doubt you'll find an airline anywhere in this big wide world that manages to please ALL its passengers ALL of the time .......