Well thanks for asking folks, but I will (for now, at least....) confine myself to an 'executive summary' (corporate speak!) rather than the full gory unabridged version.

So.... a combination of factors :

- shambles of a boarding process at the gate (just about understandable at some (smaller) stations, but shameful at its much-lauded home base of DXB with countless numbers of ground staff to get things right

- shambles of a boarding process on to the a/c itself : Y pax actively encouraged to use the F-only boarding jetty, wandering through F & J cabins for a period lasting over 10 mins in all ("ooh ....why can't WE sit here....isn't it nice ....and such big seats "), thus delaying the initial drinks service & personalised welcome to premium pax

- possibly the worst Purser I have encountered on EK. Perfectly pleasant individual (lengthy discussions between he & me ensued during the flight), but clearly promoted beyond his ability

- a largely dysfunctional & 'disjointed' crew : one FA member asking "can I get you something to drink ?" a full ten minutes after I had actually ordered a drink from another FA, but which was yet to arrive

- overall lack of discretion, initiative & attention to detail, and a robotic rather than flexible approach (if I quote isolated specifics, they might come across as petty/trivial but, taken together, they made for a certain amount of frustration)

One mitigating factor re the boarding : incoming flight had arrived late, and there was a push to get us off with the least possible delay. But that stemmed more from EK's self-imposed scheduling pressures than trying to do us pax a favour)

Not a tragedy given all the nasty things going on in parts of this big wide world. But if experienced repeatedly, and often enough, over a period of time .... you would definitely be thinking of switching carriers. But right now, I am still - fundamentally - a fan of EK.

I was not the only unhappy bunny on board.

Which route was this?

We had y pax coming through the f cabin when I came back from Zurich the other day! Joke!

I flew back from Heathrow last week... had Business and First Class walking through Economy - all past me stuck in 41c, wheeling their trolly bags into me

In light of my very strong views on the Purser, I prefer not to identify the exact sector because that info (along with details re unusually chaotic boarding, delayed departure, and date already implied) could very well facilitate identification of the Purser too.

He was due to detail fully the relevant issues in his log, which I feel is the correct way to go about things from his side ; and of course those comments would then be assessed in conjunction with any formal complaint I may (stress, MAY) choose to make to EK. It's well known that EK insiders do scan FF websites (a good thing IMO) from time to time - but equally, I don't consider an open forum is the right place to potentially damage someone's career.

I can say that the 'general' routing was from DXB to Western Europe (but not UK), so a medium range sector (777)

m3red - check your PM shortly.

At the risk of de-railing the thread, let me rant about the boarding process at the gate:

I think boarding is, in general, not very organized at DXB (except for flights that have security at the gate, in which case people always behave).

Some of this is cultural, and I know that EK passengers tend to fly very long distances, but that can only be a reason and not an excuse. I have always wondered why the bp scanning system does not simply reject people whose seating zones have not been called yet.

Edit: As to my actual feelings about EK, I have only had one truly poor experience. Apart from that one time, it has always been satisfactory - but has ranged from barely satisfactory to unbeatable. Perhaps the variance in service is what keeps me coming back to EK, much like a slot machine

One could argue that the only way that cabin crew managers, senior pursers all the way up to VPs for the customer experience have of gauging their operations is from feedback from customers. I suspect internally that they don't listen much to their staff, but feedback from HVCs especially is taken note of. Without knowing the specifics, you could say potential career damage was done by the provision of poor service, not by your feedback. I would very much encourage you to write in, especially considering you are Gold. I know for a fact that very much more minor complaints (I would argue even frivolous) are taken seriously from Gold or Platinum pax. As much as I don't enjoy the idea that behaving badly and throwing a tantrum gets you better service on EK, they, or at least Customer Affairs, does seem to respond to that, unfortunately. Therefore your actual, reasoned, serious complaint of substance should get forwarded on, at least.

I mean, look at that fiasco with the new Y service design that got shelved - not after cabin crew warned them, but after a load of Golds and Platinums complained about the shambles.

Thanks for those thoughts eternaltransit.

Have carefully digested all that you say, and will be suitably guided ^

Just my personal philosophy on hospitality businesses! I find in most large hospitality organisations I've worked with, feedback in the extreme cases of excellent and poor service needs to be sent in - especially from frequent customers - as there is a tendency for frontline staff to not be taken too seriously, or their complaints to be funnelled into some faceless "guest satisfaction" index which doesn't really make any changes happen!

Not to say that an organisation like EK will make massive changes because of HVC feedback, but I think that feedback is definitely part of the process!

At the very least, in my own experience of a poor flight experience recently (essentially multiple little factors, multiplying over the length of the flight - individually minor, but the damage is done), customer affairs did put a note on my profile so that the Purser on the next flight had already briefed his SFS that there was a problem on a previous flight and to make sure this flight went well - and to their credit they were much, much better!

I travel regularly In J from LIS-BKK-LIS and have always receive an excellent service from LIS-DXB-BKK. In my opinion EK have improved a lot, over the last twelve months, especially in their catering department. I agree there are some agitated staff out there, but some people do have a tendency to complain a lot when they are residing in a hotel, restaurant or on a plane. You only have to work in these environments, for several years, to know that you become less tolerant of bemoaners. I would never knock the staff on EK, because I know how hard they work. I do agree that the 777 provides a much better service, but the staff on the A380 have improved a lot in the last 12 months as well.

My only gripes with EK are:

The lounge catering in DXB is a lower standard than other EK lounges around the globe. However I now use the C terminal lounge that I believe is far superior than either B or A.

DXB boarding is chaotic especially for Business passengers. I always stand in the economy line just to avoid being punched by a Y passenger who thinks you are queue jumping.

One half hours circling over DXB

The dimise of the Skywards program especially the points increase.

Must be like music to the ears of EK management. No need to bother with internal staff assessment reviews from now on ! (We should instead just focus on getting rid of all those complaining customers ....what an inconvenience they are. Oh hang on a mo ...aren't they the very same people who help pay our salaries....)

So .....you would "never knock" any of their staff, because you "know how hard they work"

This means that a member of staff can be incompetent or unprofessional in the extreme - but you would "never knock them" simply because you feel they work hard.....?

Out of interest, do you apply the same philosophy to staff working at restaurants or hotels ...?

The vast majority of EK staff I have encountered since I first flew the carrier a year after its inception back in the mid-eighties have been very good to me personally AND very efficient in their job. However .....there are today (AFAIK) around 20k cabin crew in total ; would you not think it's just possible that out of that number, a small percentage might actually be less than satisfactory - or even very poor - at what they do .....???

And when you say that "some people do have a tendency to complain a lot when they are residing in a hotel...." - could this conceivably be because they have received thoroughly unsatisfactory service ? Service for which they may well have paid a significant amount of money from their own pocket ....?

I am perplexed. I really am.

(not sure what you mean by "agitated staff out there" - although in fairness to you, perhaps that is just an issue of semantics)

I got a free ek silver from the bank without even taking 1 flight !!

How is that good? I'd expect to be Gold if I had multiple long haul flights on EK in 5 months, hell I'd expect it within 5 return flights!

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OP, I must admit that I'm saddened to hear of your bad experience, I'd say that EY is better in the air overall but EK are easier to work with in regards to most things but the food, the food doesn't please me, EY or QR hit the bill better!