DYKWIA

That's nowhere near correct I'm afraid.

You keep adding more and more bits to the story which makes it difficult to piece together exactly what happened. Previously, you said that when you went to re-ticket, EK said "we can't touch that, as it's an AS ticket". What happened exactly after that? You got into an argument trying to make the agents change their minds? You said there was a queue, so I can understand the agents getting frustrated if you were blocking the queue.

Call me an EK apologist, but I don't really see what EK did wrong. Other people managed to get from the plane to their SIN flight without issues. From what it sounds like, you got on the correct bus for the SIN flight as it took you Concourse A, so I struggle to see how other people made it but you didn't.

JasperT

Sorry to break it to you, but in this case it is EK's problem to reaccomodate said PAX, it is a service EK uses to get PAX arround the airport. There is no other option, said PAX has to use this service, if this service breaks down and causes further issues, it is whatever groundservice EK uses that is at fault, but EK signed a contract with you and has the obligation to solve any issue this might have caused.

For instance if you use a CD that Emirates supplies through a 3rd party, and you end up being late because said car broke down, than EK surely will solve this matter for you. Eventhough it has 'nothing to do with EK being at fault'

OP was delayed for 40 minutes as busses had to wait to drive on because of an accident that happend on route.

ft101

They make a point in the Ts & Cs of saying they wont, although in practice they might be more accomodating (particularly at outstations).

OP. I told the tale here a while back of a mate that was in a similar situation to you in that EK called him a no show when others made a connection and he didn't. He had to pay to get a later flight. It sounds like you would have too if you hadn't been on a partner award and the partner sorted things out for you.

I think both of you have been caught by EK putting rules in place aimed at catching out those that deserve to pay the costs and it inevitably catches a few borderline cases by mistake. The rules don't allow for local staff to be flexible and that's where it falls down IMO, although I can see that allowing flexibility has it's own problems. My suggestion is that you put it behind you and use it as a learning experience that everything isn't like the USA. No amount of stamping your feet now will change things and if someone eventually does put their hands up and admit EK screwed up you'll get a few miles compensation and that's it. Is it worth raising your blood pressure over?

ASismyfav

I’ll call the Dubai Police who showed up, and get the police report. If it involves EK vehicles, will I be vindicated?

ASismyfav

Saltire74

CALlegacy

Three comments in my opinion:

1. Yes, it is bad customer service whatever the legal T&C. The whole debate should not be about fault.
2. It is unnecessary to attack the poster on this in favor of suggesting a solution, which at this point is to follow the above advice and address EK customer service, but . . .
3. The personal description of the manager is inappropriate and places the OP down a hole before the discussion even begins.

ASismyfav

A concise complaint has been filed. It would be nice for Emirates to take notice, and empower their front line employees, like gate agents especially, and at the very least empower their supervisors to make smart common sense decisions.

Brink

When I read the comments from the OP I thought to myself that the attitude of EK staff was poor. Only one side of the story, but taking everything at face value I think the OP was right to feel hard done by. On reading a lot of the replies I have to say many of them are pretty mean and not particularly supportive, irrespective of the facts. It's OK to show a bit of empathy now and again.

MSPeconomist

This is my thinking too. The bus service entity is functioning as an agent for EK. EK either pays the bus company directly for the service (which EK makes available to customers at no additional cost beyond the ticket price and for which EK customers have no alternative but to accept to use such service when it's provided because the flight doesn't use a jetway) or the bus service is bundled into the airport fees that EK pays to the airport. Moreover, with EK being such a large customer of the bus service and having such a huge presence at the airport, EK is in a position--if it chooses--to impose standards on the bus service that is offered. By this logic, EK is responsible for failures of the bus service even if EK didn't directly cause the failure.

BTW, IANAL but I do understand the concept of agency.

Dave Noble

Common sense says that if a passenger is a no show, that the passenger be advised to contact the place where the booking was made to handle in accordance with the fare rules. Common sense also says to have travel insurance that will cover such eventualities should the cost exceed that which the person is happy to take the risk for

kb9522

And they did. Ten others made the same connection without issue.

And if EK's bus had broken down due to poor maintenance, you might have a valid argument. Something completely outside of their control happened. They are simply not responsible.I have. On many, many occasions. This is an occupational hazard when you travel a lot. The difference is I accept responsibility when I'm in the wrong - which has happened on more than one occasion as well. I find when I acknowledge that it was my fault (in cases where it was), the airline is far more amenable to helping me out.

Xlr

All they had to do was rebook OP on the next flight and call it a day. Instead, they had to argue and waste everyone's time.

I don't know if this the culture in the company, or if these rebooking agents have specific incentives (how would they be measured in situations like this?), or something else, but I've had to deal with this thing once and it was a terribly stressful experience when jetlagged.

I hope they didn't cancel your return flight lol.

whimike

Who said EK was at fault? I don't recall anybody saying that the accident was EK's fault.

ALL passgeners, not just a subset. Because 10 made it doesn't mean anything unless all buses made it to the terminal within a reasonable amount of time of each other. If there were no buses and the flight went to a jet-bridge then it would make sense if 10 made it that all others could have as well. But, if 100 people got off the plane then the jet-bridge failed and 200 were stuck on-board for 40 minutes, the 200 are not SOL just because 100 people were able to make their connections.

Absolutely incorrect, why do you keep stating these grossly incorrect statements?

If an EK flight arrives late to DXB because of a weather issue in JFK and the OP misses his connection then EK absolutely would be responsible for re-booking him yet weather is something completely outside of EK's control. Just because something is outside EK's control doesn't absolve them of being responsible. Just as a weather delay requires EK to re-accomodate a breakdown of ground-services (paid for by EK to get the passenger to the terminal) due to no fault of OP or EK should also require a re-accomodation. Let us look at this another way, if the EK flight landed at DXB but an accident on the tarmac delays the flight by 40 minutes in getting to the gate, EK is still responsible for re-accomodating the passenger even though it is outside of EK's control.

kb9522