Timekeeping
 

Is it me or is EK timekeeping slowly deteriorating.

There always seems to be some excuse for getting away from DXB late - busy airport, awaiting connecting passengers, ATC, change of gate, scanning of passports at gate etc etc.

My last 3 LGW flights have been about an hour late. Not major but irritating.

Can't say I've noticed consistent delays out of DXB. That being said our flight out of CPT was delayed due to late inbound aircraft which presumably was delayed at DXB.

On my last flight out we had a 20min delay which was attributed to construction near the runways and ATC not wanting to queue too many aircraft in the taxiway.

Not noticed it getting any worse but I have always thought Emirates timekeeping was bad. But they put so much slack in the schedules that even if you leave an hour late you arrive near time.

My first ever EK flight from GLA was delayed well over an hour, nearer 1hr 30m due to closure of Turkish airspace and arrived at the gate about 15-20 minutes behind schedule. Most delays I've had departing DXB have been ATC/Ground control delays. Nearly every time we have been ready on time, pushed back and sat on the tarmac waiting to taxi. Usually watch the nose wheel cam and see the queue of traffic in front.

S

Well once you've pushed back you've departed in terms of airline scheduling so you'd be considered on time.

Just emphasising the point that EK have departed on time with delays being caused by being stuck in the taxi queue ;)

S

And so it goes on.

2 weeks ago - 1 hour late, baggage and passengers late at the remote stand (arrived NBO immediately after QR, an hour in the visa queue resulted.

Return from Nairobi - 30 mins late due to ??

Today ex LHR EK30, so far 45 mins late, locals faffing around changing seats. Purser really offhand when I asked how long the delay would be due to having a 1 hour 5 min transit.

I've been gold for about 6 years now but started running my Skywards miles down now in anticipation of a switch.

While I appreciate your frustration, in many cases the purser/cabin crew have no idea at all why there is a delay. Add to that, often the tech crew have no idea how long a delay will be, for example if they are waiting for an ATC slot, and so cannot/do not pass any particularly helpful info to the cabin crew.

Communication is always an area that can be improved, and a quick PA from the Captain can go a long way (although my preference on EK would be to have far fewer PAs overall), but sometimes people expect the crew to pull information out of the air.

So in the case above I was connecting to Johannesburg. Gate closed for the JNB flight at 03.45.

Due to the late arrival of the Heathrow flight (naturally no reason given) I arrived at the gate at 03.35 (ie 10 mins before gate closed) - cue a lot of tapping and a "sorry sir you have been offloaded and rebooked".

At which point the red mist descended, and me retorting "the gate doesn't close for another 10 minutes, so you need to reverse whatever you have done". Cue another lot of tapping and away we went. Of course my bags didn't make it (as expected) and arrived 6 hours later - they gave me $50 to buy a clean shirt for meetings.

Currently sat waiting for the 08.00 LGW...let's see if we get away on time or alternatively what today's excuse is.

I fly a lot with Emirates, I'm 99% sure that I've never had a flight leave on time - I just accept it - it's the Middle East way ("we take off at 13:40 inshallah")

You can't fly that much with EK then. Just 3 days ago my first flight departed a few minutes early and I arrived at my final destination 15 minutes early...

3 years on the bounce as a Platinum, all flights in economy, you're right, maybe I don't fly that much with them.

In that case I seriously doubt every single flight is delayed, though... I find EK to be on the better side of timekeeping if I compare them to AI, 9W, MS, even EY

+1
By subjective perception, 20% of my flights are delayed (late outbound flight arrival, airport congestion, pax issues, tech issues, ...).


Plat by Y ... OMG. New opup rule must really be a pain.

Latest change has Plats back on top regardless of fare type