The EK Suites Rip-Off
 

So it happened AGAIN! Just got a call from Emirates advising me of a change of aircraft from Suites to regular seats. No apology, of course - but at least they called ahead - that's a (very slight) improvement. Unfortunately, my schedule does not allow change to a different flight, so I'm stuck.

Given how frequently this happens, I suspect that this has nothing to do with 'operational' emergencies - ie the original aircraft is being repaired. I would bet that EK simply uses it as an underhanded way to maximize yields, along the following lines:

1) Splash advertisements all over the world with pictures of the Suites
2) Attract pax to pay top dollar to fly in the Suites
3) Sell more FC tickets than suites
4) Switch aircraft last minute to aircraft with (larger number) of regular seats
5) Rip-off the passengers and make great profits (at least in the short term)

With their treatment of and attitude toward premium passengers, EK will surely suffer dramatically soon. I look forward to watching them go down from my front row seat.

It has happened to me twice already this year and there is no way in hell im travelling emirates. The customer service really sucks. Just like dubai, emirates is headed for a downfall.

The T&C state operational reasons, not operational emergencies.

If you don't like it, take your business elsewhere! It's no good just moaning on an internet forum, put your money where your mouth is. Once more and more people start doing it, Emirates may realise that p*ssing off premium passengers is not a good idea.

Cheers,
Rick

I dont knw how many times i have said this if u dont like EK dont fly mate. Fly which ever airline u want then compare it with EK. U surely will feel the diffrence.

This is good to know. Won't waste my money booking them to DUB. Unfortunately, very consistent with the many stories I've herd from travelers recently traveling on the carrier. Not so good service for a carrier that markets itself as an over the top experince.

Guess the rapid growth is catching up to them

They don't fly to Dublin :D

I've never had a bad experience with them... yet. Try them once and make up your own mind. A lot of people moan for the sake of something to moan about.

Cheers,
Rick

Rick is correct the only way is to vote with your wallet. Contact Etihad and ask them to status match your level with Emirates. Take a premium flight with Etihad and then write to the director of customer services with your complaint. Include a copy of your membership card and ticket and see if they really do want to keep your business. Do a bit of research and try to find the name of the director so you can address your complaint on a personal level. Believe me any sensible company will want to hang on to your business.

FWIW, I know the OP is annoying some on the board but personally I'm glad of the repetition. If EK keep repeating this sort of experience for pax, then I want someone to keep telling the world about it. I agree with Rick, make your own mind up. There is no such thing as a "bad experience" in J with Emirates let alone F.

But, if first time premium travellers use this board to discover that their expectations on hard product are not guaranteed with Emirates ( - and for sure they are not), then the board is doing its job.

Arguments such as 'this is how the airline business works' are valid, but the problem is more pronounced with Emirates than anywhere else, and that's just a fact.

Absolutely. This is bound to happen as a result of the number of products that Emirates has in Business/First (not so much in Economy) and the number of different aircraft that they have. Combined with aircraft maintenance, route lengths and aircraft/route requirements, they have quite a juggling act to do.

I'm not excusing it, it's no different to other airlines and their products (VS, BA, SQ, JL etc have all had problems with guaranteeing service on flights when they roll out new products. The difference here is Emirates is rolling out markedly different products on their aircraft, and are moving them where they want to from a strategic or operational reason. People are purchasing seats on particular aircraft because of the advertising and the message that EK is sending out to the consumer through advertising. Therefore customers will feel shafted if their aircraft changes, no matter what the reason.

Snap. We were delayed a little coming out of sydney earlier this year, but that was as a result of a completely inebriated passenger (in Economy:D) who insisted on standing for the taxi to the runway. EK staff wouldn't accept that he would stay seated for the takeoff (understandably)!

Once again, wise words!

Of course the do this. Just one of many stories that demonstrate a rapid decline, RIP.

Serious question - have you ever flown Emirates? **Edit** - just read your other post, so ignore :)

I see quite a few posts mentioning a rapid decline, RIP etc. Most of these posters are based in the US, so would have less chance of flying EK than most people in Europe/Asia/Australasia.

The regular flyers on here (I include myself in this) don't see this rapid decline. Emirates aren't perfect, but no airline is.

So, my question would be - is it just 'wishful thinking' from the Americans that Emirates (as a Middle Eastern airline) go under?

Cheers,
Rick

EK vs Other Airlines
 

I've actually lived in Dubai for several years. There is a reason for my user name ;)

Unfortunately, being a resident of Dubai, I have a somewhat limited ability to take my business elsewhere. I do fly other airlines, whenever schedules allow, however. In fact, I have flown on nearly every large global airline over the past few years. Is EK far better than most American airlines? Absolutely! Is EK far worse than most Asian airlines? Without a doubt!

I post my experiences in the hope that forum readers will benefit from them when deciding which airline to book - that's one of the purposes of this forum! Fact of the matter is, if one is considering booking a premium ticket from London to Sydney, I can't imagine a single reason why that person would choose Emirates over ... say ... SQ.

Unless cash is no object, then perhaps the reason might be cost?
SQ charges for J, what EK charges for F. But again you will argue SQ's J is a better product than EK's F.

Ah, but there's also the miles: I can't think of any other airline that rewards 150% for online bookings in F, not to mention tier bonus and the 200% class bonus. In a single return trip in F (UK-AUS), you will get enough miles to fly J return between Europe and M.E.

I contemplated hard taking on SQ instead of EK, but for what I pay for, EK has better value, if not the best out there.

Suites matter but the plane does too !
 

Just checked my booking on EK's site and they've switched planes on me :mad:

My DXB- AKL flight has changed from the A380 to B772LR ... Both have the suites ... but i want to take a shower and then relax in my suite lol :D

This means that now I have to pay and change to a date which has the A380 :mad:

Luckily my AKL-DXB still has the A380 hope this doesnt change too :rolleyes:

Apparently now, it's A380 then the next 2 days B772LR and then A380 again This is for DXB- AKL or AKL - DXB ... :td:

Which means my outbound leg should be alright ... for now at least ... But bugger what a disappointment :mad: :td:

Geez, now it's 77L for both legs. Seems that the A380 is getting delayed, again!

Where were you flying to/from ? OZ - NZ ? or elsewhere ? ... Cant remember where i read it but i think EK were going to use the A380 from another route to SYD then AKL so guess that route must be also affected now.

Early Feb, I was hoping to catch the A380 SYD-AKL and back.
EK now flies their 77W nonstop between DXB and SYD (as a result of BKK closure); their flights seem to be full so it's interesting how I read before, 77W can't make it back to DXB without penalty.

I always thought, hey, they're using 77W DXB-JFK, quite similar to SYD in terms of length and tail/head winds. Who knows, maybe EK will 'rip us' all over again, and instead of the 77L we'll see a sleek 77W with their skycruiser seats in Feb ;)

I am thinking of keeping the travel plans unchanged up to the very last day, when I could verify the incoming EK412 is indeed an A380 :D

I'm doing the same as there seems to be no trusting EK nowadays :rolleyes:

However in my case i might need to change the plans a week or so before cos of the availability ... In any case they might've just changed the allocation of their A380's ... it could be that they now just want to have the A380 here thrice weekly

I am no expert on this but what i have been told is that Emirates have problems with the A380 one of which is related to the showers. It is something to do with the specifc gravity of water and the amount of fuel it takes to fly with all this water and keep it hot. Could be they are looking at resolving this issue hence one reason for the delays.

Excellent post !

While the problem of getting old product B instead of advertised new product A due to aircraft changes/delay in retrofit is not limited to EK by far but it's intensified here due to their many different products in each class segment. And it makes things worse as they are running the high risk of messing around with their most valued customer base, the premium classes pax. It seems that in case of EK, a big product variety and its efficiency has economically outweighed the number of lost, frustated passengers (in the past at least).

BTW: My flights DXB-SYD-DXB in early/late Feb still show the A380 aka 'the flying shower'. Lucking man, I selected the right dates :-) : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...&postcount=308


I drove past the Airbus plant in Hamburg on Thursday to get a glimpse of one of the EK birds but only saw a single Airboss, in QF colours though.

See the post from Emirates777 for the A380 reason. The 5th delivery has been delayed until the end of March.

Can't really blame that one on Emirates :D

Cheers,
Rick

Yup saw that one :)

But actually got a couple of related queries as my interest in flying / airlines has just started recently so i must've missed out on the following questions/answers ...

I was wondering why is it that EK -being the largest A380 customer -is getting such delayed service from Airbus ?

I understand that there can be manufacturing and other delays but it's strange how a multi-million dollar product gets so badly delayed and a customer who's order is in excess of a few billion dollars gets shafted like this !

Also given EK's large order why was Singapore Air the launch Airline and seems to be getting it's A380's on time or less delayed ?

Thanks :)

Both Boeing and Airbus are experiencing delays to their new plane programs and both for similar reasons. They are building new planes with new materials and complex manufacturing processes and complex supply relationships (even the 777 has been experiencing delivery delays because of problems delivering the galleys). The Boeing 787 program is also delayed at this point, and I'm not sure where the A350 program is, but it appears to be in slightly better shape than the 787 (probably having learned from the A380 problems).
As mentioned above, it's a big complex product, and new to-boot.
Emirates ordered their planes first, but decided not to be the launch customer, SQ agreed to be the launch customer. SQ ordered fewer planes, and as a result, they are less likely to be as affected. By all accounts the delivery of the A340-500 (and 600) was a bit of a botched job, and I suspect Airbus was trying to rebuild its relationship with SQ. Airbus had to go back to the airlines that ordered the planes, and agree re-delivery. Virgin, for example, delayed their deliver until 2013 (I think), but originally in the first delivery tranche.

This is my understanding of the situation, biggest order doesn't mean first - the risk is much higher for Emirates than it is for SQL (I suspect that SQ's planes were deeply discounted). There are also (complex) agreements on marketing for new planes, and as I said, it's not as simple as biggest order = first delivery.

Emirates WAS the launch customer, initially confirming their intent on 24th July 2000. They just elected to take their aircraft second. Singapore Airlines were actually 4th airline to order, second being Air France and third being ILFC (International Lease Finance Corporation).

Well, there you go (knew I should have got my facts right before posting!)

Sorry if this is old news, but does anyone know whether EK1 is now using the A380? I am booked on it in J later this month and it is showing as A380 - I am hoping it is actually in service, having read about the delays.

Starts tomorrow (in theory)

Thnx ^

Why are you paying
 

Why? I fly in F a fair number of times a month and am allways changing my plans and routes for that matter and never have to pay cancellation or rebooking fees!!

I tried the showers once and never again!! You better off having either a shoer in the comfort of your own home, hotel or when in terminal 3 get a room with a shower at the F lounge much better idea. They should scrap the shower and have a bar like VS.

AU and NZ fares have revalidation fees for changes of travel dates: A sad fact about the market here.

A mate of mine paid almost paid double the fare he had originally paid for changing the travel dates (3 times), and for adding a stopover.
Cancellation charges are also steep too, something like $330AU. It makes me sick how they try to suck revenue out of each market, in every 'possible' way.

Thats odd. I changed my J fare from CHC-SYD, to AKL-SYD a day earlier and only had to pay $13 NZD..

For F fare SYD-AKL return:
[CHANGES/REFUNDS]
CHANGE-BEFORE/AFTER DEPART
CANCEL-150.00 AUD
CHANGE-100.00 AUD BEFORE/AFTER DEPART
FOR ALL CONDITIONS SEE TEXT RULE

Regardless of how much you pay, it's just sick how they charge for date changes (I know, others will come about and say this is how business works etc). Still when you pay premium fare, you would reasonably expect a waiver of all these nonsense 'service charges'.

Why is it, then the fares EK sells from various points in the Middle East and Africa have no penalties whatsoever (refund fee is a mere $25USD, no change/revalidation charges for tickets even in Y -with few exceptions).

I was in Terminal 3 First class lounge yesterday. They have no rooms at all and their showers are not the best. Terminal 1 has short stay rooms with showers. It is a long walk for a shower

It's just an experience to be had that's all ... I mean i dont need to take the shower and 5 mins is too little time for me in a shower anyway :D .... i dont even know if i'll fit in the cubicle it looks quite tight !

Just ask
 

If you ask They will give you a room at the hotel. I am in terminal 3 now having just had a refeshing shower.:D

Sweet will ask for one as after i check out from my hotel i was thinking of having dinner and then checking in early for my flight (dep early morning) so i might try to score a room .... btw how early can one check-in for a flight ? Is the T3 F lounge & check-in counters 24 hrs?

Any tips on how to secure the room ? :)

Check In
 

You can check in ( i think up to 24 hours before deaprture) . Call either Skywards or Emirates customer services and say you want a room when you check in. I am sure they will accomodate.

Hmm that's online check-in though ... I was thinking of checking in at T3 around 11 pm and then hopefully getting the room ... how did you get your room if you dont mind the question ? :)