Recent experience after 9 months
 

I used to fly Emirates about 8 or 10 times per year but work pattern has changed and so it has been 9 months since I flew. I almost always fly economy (unless I use miles to upgrade or the upgrade fairy waves her magic wand) and have previously loved Emirates. However my recent experiences (MAN DXB JNB LUN DXB MAN) were disappointing (and did not compare faboirable with recent delta flights to US). No wet wipe let alone hot towel at start of flight, very little drinks service, disappointing food (esp the replacement of the cheese/dip and breadsticks with cheddar and crackers), no chocolate. Wifi didn't work or was so slow to be useless. Chaotic seating on joining flight in Lusaka (which had come in from Harare) (at least 6 people sitting near me including me had people squating in their seats and crew didn't do much - the passengers just moved to another seat that wasn't theirs - my guy moved three times having refused to show his boarding pass).

Haven't got any flights until September but am thinking of shifting once I use my miles (esp as I will have lost silver status and lounge access by then and I can do the journey much quicker on other airlines.

Same experience here - recent flights have been disappointing to say the very least. Only saving grace has been that their flights to US are pretty empty so have managed to get the seat next to me always free and a 4 seater once all to myself.
True. Noticed that the welcome lemon drink that they serve in Y to flights bound for India has now been replaced by 'maidubai' packaged water. wi-fi didn't work at all on the entire BOS-DXB leg on my last trip.

My trips have been less than previous years and I have been making efforts to club multiple trips trips into one, but still enough to get me Gold. Not that it matters anymore to EK or to me.

I hear you Hellokittysmum. I was platinum a few years ago. Then gold, now silver, and EK is my choice when the schedule works for me. Now I have relocated from the Middle East to Asia I have so many options on schedule, price and service. I will be on EK J class next month after a one year absence and will see how it goes. But today did a PEK - NGO short leg on EY business class and it was just like EK was five years ago (really good.). For me, unless you are a price sensitive Y class passenger I don't see the benefits of flying with EK. I hope on-board service in premium cabins is still top notch, but it comes at a top notch price, and the skywards 'enhancements' give me no incentive to be loyal to EK. I used to get great deals from EK, but they are now uncompetitive and stupid things like charging to choose a seat put associates of mine off them. Ex-china the fares are not at all competitive, and the degradation of the skywards program means they are an option rather than a preferred carrier for me. I guess they make commercial decisions, but then so do we we as passengers.

Agreed. When an airline does not provide the "benefits" you expect, then as the customer, you have the right to fly with whatever carrier you want. :p

EK is not the only carrier in the GCC - no matter what they think. :rolleyes: Lots of options, and I now fly with the other options. For the next few months I will be flying QR, QF, UL, MH and TG.... All different, and all with convenient flight times AND good prices. Mind you, flying Business class with FF status helps too. ^

I have no status with EK and have only flown Economy with them.

Unfortunately although I travel mainly.for.work as i work in educarion we only fly economy and we are price swnsitice. Emirates worked because they serve many of the destinations we go to (and those they do - Lilongwe and Gaberone can only be done with three flights from Manchester which ever way you go) but I might look at other options.

I went to Las Vegas for a conference in January and was very impressed with Delta. I think other airlines have upped their game and Emirates are sliding.

If after flying EK frequently you are impressed by Delta that is indeed a catastrophic indictment of Emirates as an airline.

Emirates need to get off their high horse and stop rolling in their ego of " we are the best , we are Emirates. " Airlines have really improved over the last few years and it seems EK are in denial, this will cost them dearly.

I had low expectations of Delta based on what I has read about US airlines here and elsewhere (and my brother's decent frequent experience on Amerixan) but it was the cheapest option (by a long way) and as I was paying my own travel for the conference I couldn't justify spending £800 for BA ve5rsius £320 on KLM/AF (but mostly Delta metal) Everything about the outbound delta flight (AMS SLC) was excellent even though it was full. Only problem was we were early and immigration only.opens for that flight so we had to sit on the plane for half an hour). And on the return we were delayed at LAS for flight to LAX due to paperwork problem. Staff were brilliant taking people off the flight as we sat at the gate becuase there were better connections than going via LAX.

Nope! It is a fact that with declining ridership it is costing EK dearly. Current business reports support this - courtesy of Tim Clark's interview.
EK cannot rely on past performance. Pax are into "what will you do for my fight dollars NOW?"

More options, more competition and more variations in service and convenience in connections. The past is gone forever. Folks who pay out of their own pocket for flights know that more than corporate flyers who are not as price sensitive ...

Yeah , but people are swaying their business for other airlines as they are getting better and would probably prefer a direct or better one stop option , hence why our points both correlate. :D

^ but there are still many pax out there that don't. Otherwise the loyalty programs with continously "enhanced" benefits would be a thing of the past ;)

for many pax the commercial decision is "this flight is the cheapest or almost cheapest with best timings".

My mother is a little price sensitive but enjoys flying EK and will pay 15-20% more to fly EK over AF for instance, even with the EK Routing being longer. I've actually told her to take the direct flight if it's cheaper but she still prefers to book EK.

I have been flying EK to Johannesdurg and on to Gaberone, Blantyre or Lilongwe for a couple of years to maintain my gold then silver status. But the journey is a lot longer and when I loses status I will probably switch to BA or SAA if I continue to go via Joburg or AF/KLM and go via Nairobi. With no status and the downgraded experience I think it is time to move on. Just need to use my 160000 miles....

EK has a long way to go until the experience is bad enough to warrant going via NBO!

While my experience has been similar to yours, I am not sure I am ready to move on to another airline (EK still has the best connections to USA where I travel mostly). But decided to use up most my 700K+ miles for F redemption tickets before it introduces another series of 'enhancements'.