Hi there

I've just booked my Christmas holiday and thought this time I would visit a little of Brazil. Given Lan and Aerolineas are booked out, I selected Emirates to fly me to Sao Paulo (GRU) from AKL. However I felt 40 hours of continuous flying was a bit much so I elected to stop in Singapore for two nights. Big issue was that EK just won't sell AKL-SIN flights for peak periods (lowers yields etc)....annoyed I was offered the "just call Skywards 48 hours before you want to go to get the seat as per your gold status)". Not helpful. After 3 weeks of a waitlist I finally got a confirmed seat. I do find it quite problematic to book with Emirates....their stories/reasons for any issues are never genuine and you get the feeling that sometimes they are just arrogant. Alas I'm now AKL-BNE-SIN-DXB-GRU rtn confirmed.

I guess the more loyal you are to EK the more you get frustrated.

cw

You are right, they are just arrogant. With full planes, they have the attitude that if we don't like it, someone else will take the seat/service. I share your frustration, apparently Etihad is much better, like Emirates of before.

I think the interesting thing with AKL is that (AFAIK) EK only flies there because it is more productive than having planes wait at BNE/SYD/MEL all day. Moreover, the flights ex BNE/SYD/MEL almost always go out completely full so EK revenue management only gives limited seats to ex AKL pax.

I wonder if EK will ever provide a DXB-AKL service for passengers who actually want to go to/from Dubai.

Cheers,

I have to fly EK because I'm brainwashed by the music/marketing, the upgrades are continuous, they fly to places I want to go and they are cheap from AKL. If Etihad launches here I'll be suprised if they make as bigger impact/corner the market like EK has.

AKL-DXB direct is a dream for my family and I who detest the stopover. Alas I doubt EK could even half fill an A340-500 on that route.

cw