Hello Flyertalk gurus. First time poster and hoping you all can help with some advice.

We booked Emirates Business Class tickets for my elderly parents (79 and 83) from Mumbai to the USA (IAD) through a travel agency in India way back in January.

On a previous Emirates business trip they received chauffeur service and lounge access, but the agent recently informed us these benefits are not included on the current ticket because of the fare class. Unfortunately this was never explained during booking, and now the agency is asking for additional $$$ a week before my parents are due to fly out.

Has anyone dealt with this situation before? Is there a way to work directly with Emirates to change the fare class and or get chauffer and lounge added. The Emirates website is not allowing us to add these.

Hello MsLovly, welcome to Flyer Talk and the Emirates forum.

Your parents are on the cheapest Business Class fare, which is called 'Special' ('H' fare bucket). This indeed has not got lounge access, chauffeur drive and seat selection.
As it is a travel agent ticket, only that travel agent can change it into a 'Saver' ('O' bucket)ticket (assuming that Saver is still available on that flight, otherwise Flex ( 'I') or even Flex+ ('C' or 'J')). That is nornmally possible, but it will incur extra costs. Nothing you can do about that. If 'Saver' is still available , the additional costs might not be too bad, but Flex or especially Flex+ might be very expensive in which case a taxi and paid lounge access might be a better solution.

Thank you for that. I was so mad at the Travel Agency. I told them it was very unethical to book us on a special fare and not even disclose that informatin during booking. They then asked for 6k USD to upgrade which I refused. Then they did something and got us Chauffer service in Mumbai and Lounge access for 2k which I agreed to. It does not include Chauffer services in USA. I have no idea what they did but I feel like I have to pay up. Emirates is not allowign any changes on website or thru call center.
Any advice appreciated.

$2,000 USD for one car service and lounge access?! That's an absurd amount. Book these on your own for much less.

The issue is my elderly parents wont know how to use any of the services if I book them myself and I am in the US. At least this way they/I have someone in Mumbai to call if they face any issues. They also said this Chauffer service and Lounge Access would be via Emirates. I dont know what that means.

You should book them a Marhaba transfer service in Dubai for that exact reason. Simply having lounge access in Dubai isn't enough.

https://www.marhabaservices.com/ae/e..._PAX_TRNS.html

For $2k, you could book shuttles in both places, pay for lounge access, and hire someone to fly round trip in coach and assist them at every point.

Welcome to Flyertalk & the Emirates forum, sorry it is such circumstances that bring you here but we hope you'll continue to hang around for the better parts of Emirates after this. Please be mindful that you are limited to 5 posts within your first 24 hours, if you hit that limit you'll be reuqired to wait before posting!

Emirates is correct in saying you need to deal with your travel agent, as they cannot touch the booking. But something doesn't add up here regarding the $2k "payment' -- it does not sound like the agency upgraded your tickets from a Special to Saver. There is no ticket type that includes Chauffer service and Lounge in Mumbai but not the US/DXB, it either fully includes at every point (in IAD, DXB, and BOM), or none at all. Please note upgrading from Special to Saver also includes other underlying benefits such as ability to change/cancel the ticket and slightly more Emirates Skywards miles, if those are important to you.

But, as others have said, it's much cheaper to arrange Marhaba service / other chauffer services independently than paying $2k for effectively a nicer taxi in Mumbai in addition to lounge access in 2 airports (IAD and DXB). Marhaba Gold & Elite service will meet you as you get off the plane, something EK Business/First class does not even do.

ek meets you off the plane in F if transferring

Not always in my experience!!

Thank you all for your advice. So here is the final resolution after some back and forth with the travel agent. Local car service in Mumbai on both departure and arrival (not via Emirates). Emirates lounge in DXB (more expensive that Marhaba but I took it since the layover is 5 hours and Marhaba had 4 hour limit. Also in case of delays did not want them to get removed from lounge) . Cost of the two items above approx $450. Emirates is not allowing them to add on lounge on return flight since layover is less than 2 hours so we will consider Marhaba. Not purchasing it now since its too early. My parents unforutnatley will not have lounge access in Mumbai but they dont seem to concerned about that so I think its OK. This is lessons learned for both me and them. I always wanted to do direct airline booking like we do for our flights but they seemed to like workign with thier trusted travel agent who put them in this mess. Now they are more open to me doign the booking directly for them. So some silver lining to this whole fiasco.

Note that "Special" is just the name of the fare. There are Special, Saver, Flex and Flex Plus fares.

On some flights, only Saver, Flex and Flex Plus fares are offered. These all include lounge and car service.

Other flights also offer Special. This is normally a bit less expensive, but doesn't include the lounge or car. If your parents just asked for the cheapest Business Class flight, then the TA did what was asked.

I'm wondering how the TA has managed to book the EK lounge at DXB. You can pay for access - but I didn't think you could do that in advance?

Yes you can. When mrs t flies Y (and she has no status), the option is there in MMB. She never takes it as it is eye-wateringly expensive (I think $125 plus tax for Skywards members, otherwise $150 but I may be wrong..)

I had a very quick look at fares from India to the USA in business.
Taking BOM as origin and IAD as destination, the fare for one pax is between U$5000 for 'Special' and U$8500 for 'Flex+'. The difference between "sepcial' and 'saver' is only U$700 each.
So it is conceivable that when the TA was asked for a quote including CD and lounge access, only Flex+ was available. For two pax that would be a difference of U$6500 or thereabouts. On the previous occasion, the OP's parents may well have had a 'saver' ticket, which explains the entire story.
Generally, when a TA is asked to book a ticket, they offer the 'best' fare available. And (unless they are really careful and understand the nuances of EK fares), they might not see, let alone communicate what you miss with the 'Special' fare class ('H' bucket).
I think the solution (Marhaba plus private transfers) is very good.

Yes the 6k difference is what was quoted to me by the TA after I found out. I think though that it would not have been a 6k difference if we had found this out in January when we booked the ticket. Thats what got me a bit upset. But we did find a solution so its ok. But like I said earlier, lesson learned to always book directly with airline.