EK SYD Recently
 

Noticed that EK service to/from SYD is a mess! Wats wrong with them?
any idea?

tell me about it.

I had a flight June 9 SYD-CHC. The aircraft was scheduled for departure at 7:50am and we took off around 9:15am. What annoyed me was, they insisted it's bad weather in Sydney causing late arrival of aircraft, where in fact, it's the storm in Arabian Gulf that caused late departure. I had a 2:40pm connection to Queenstown, which, after a frantical dash across the airport, made on time. But this was only because (1) I was first in Y-cabin to get off and top of queue at immigration (2) I had no checked-luggage (3) no quarantine to declare (4) already online-checked in for connecting flight.


Then, on my return journey, 11June CHC-SYD, I sat on plane for 5h in christchurch airport, before finally being told at 10pm local time (6:05pm departure) that we weren't taking off. I was served meal on ground (first experience of its kind) and pilot was very professional in keeping us updated. They even opened the back-door of aircraft for fresh air. (how often can you take a photo with an open door at tail of airplane??? :cool: ) I had a night in CHC, and departed at 10am local time for Sydney. I feel sorry for those who were connecting to London via dubai... they had to overnight in Dubai also, after arriving at 9:30pm local time!!!

I liked their service very much though^ . The only thing that put me off was their not-so "on-time" departure.

Re: SYD
 

:) haven't really noticed to be honest. Here in AKL the 419 always leaves on time (well, every time I'm at AKL Intl) and the 418 always gets here. How are the loadings on SYD-CHC-SYD?

I was on that flight too... and I have to say I'm less than impressed by Emirates.... Fair enough the plane goes tech, but to be sat there for 5 hours was ridiculous... And the farce in the terminal, join three seperate queues to get accomodation, rebooking tickets, transfers...... argh.... 3 hours later.....

Glad you reckon you got "a night" in Christchurch.. I arrived at the hotel at 1.15am and checked back in at the airport at 4am ... woohooo!!!

That's wat i m worry abt...i will be connecting on QF CHC at 1515, I so freaking scare that they will delay and make my planned trip spoiled!

wat if they really delay like today? it departed SYD at 1230 instead of 0755? will they put me/us on QF/ANZ SYD/CHC service in order to connect on the CHC/ZQN service? or juz making us to forefit the tagging on sector??

Regarding Emirate loads, I flew SYD-CHC on April 26 and returned on May 14. Both flights had plenty of space in Y and C. I would image the flights are fairly heavily booked during Aust/NZ school holidays.
Incidentally, both flights were on time as were my TTAS flights on Emirates a year earlier.

chrisweka:
The load for SYD-CHC on 9th June (sat long weekend) was like 60% in Y and <10% in J. I spotted lots of empty seas in Y. I doubt there was any F travellers. The load for CHC-SYD return was like 75% in Y, and I think entire J-cabin behind Door 2 was empty (well, they must have rerouted to other carier)

bluenose:
I share your thoughts. But I think Emirates acted rather professionally in this one. Pilot kept us informed, drinks were provided (and the meal). They opened back door for fresh air which I don't think is norm. Glad it's winter evening, imagine it being in HK in summer!!! The pilot kept us informed, and best of all the ICE entertainment kept most passenger happy (or not).

The trick with re-booking is you must dash to check-in areas. I had these type of experience in past, and I knew I had to literally RUN to the check-in counters for my hotel voucher (I know people were congregating at ticketing counter, which is wrong place to be). I was 3rd in line to get my hotel, and was in bed by 10:45pm. So it wasn't too bad.

krisflyer:
I think last flight from CHC to ZQN leaves at 4pm for Air Newzealand. Emirates has no responsibility to rebook you or accomodate you on other career (unless you booked in 1 ticket). Matter of fact, Emirates was unwilling to protect us, so I went to Air NZ lounge, explained the situation, and asked notes to be put on AIr NZ PNR so IF missed my connection, they would automatically rebook us on 4pm flight instead of 2:40pm. They were happy to do so.

But it's not the issue of $$$. You really spoil your holiday if you miss a night in ZQN. I bought a travel insurance at airport terminal in SYD on the day of departure using internet terminal, because I KNEW the flight was delayed. I suggest you also pick up generous travel insurance for this.



ok it was too long of a post...:p

Delays of this nature can happen with any airline, and are perhaps more of an issue at remote locations (vs hubs where a/c could be more easily substituted if needed).

I don't think there are any official on-time stats in NZ, but in Australia DOTARS keeps some stats. Perhaps someone could look up EK's performance?

I sometimes see EK in AKL running an hour or two late, but normally reasonably on time. LA is the chronically late airline in recent weeks (many times AKL-SYD-AKL is cancelled to recover about 10 hours of the delay).

Buying insurance when you know your flight is delayed is almost certain to result in no cover for missed connection (a basic principle of insurance). You need to buy insurance before the trip starts.

According to flightstats.com:

(April 1st - May 31st 2007)

EK418 SYD-AKL

Ontime: 82%
Ave Delay: 21 minutes

EK419 AKL-SYD

Ontime: 90%
Ave Delay: 26 minutes

EK412 SYD-CHC

Ontime: 68%
Ave Delay: 31 minutes

EK413 CHC-SYD

Ontime: 100%
Ave Delay: 4 minutes

Cheers,

I agree with Kiwi Flyer - this sort of delay can happen anywhere, anytime - it's just "one of those things". No guarantees when you're at the mercy of the weather.

At least you didn't sit on the tarmac for hours with no food, no drink & no fresh air for hours on end like the poor folk in this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=580597

I have done the CHC-SYD trip return 4 times in the last 6 months with EK, & no delay problems (maybe 15 mins in SYD at most), so no complaints from me.

I have had a delay travelling with EK MEL-AKL (an hour or so from memory), causing me to miss a connection with NZ AKL-CHC. I knew my connection was relatively tight if there were delays, but took the risk. Didn't pay off, but not EK's fault.

I figure that if you really desperately want to make another flight (and it's not on the same PNR as your previous flights), then you should leave a LOT of spare time up your sleeve.