globaltravel

Hi

Just wanted some advice, I am a skywards member with EK, I travelled in Business Class from the UK two months ago. I had made a complaint about the terrible service I experienced onboard one of the flights to Customer Affairs, I then received an unsatisfactory response, in the last email I was given the following response.

In conclusion, whilst I regret that you remain disappointed with our response and we regret that your expectations have not been met once again, we have nothing further to add other than to thank you for writing to us and for allowing me to restate our position.

I have written back to them telling them that this is not acceptable, they have not even offered to credit my skyward account as a gesture of goodwill, they now do not respond to any emails I have sent to them, this has been ongoing for over a month now.

Is there any advice you could offer, I did copy the email into their VP of Customer Affairs and even Tim Clarke, but as expected no response.

I cannot believe how Emirates have gone so downhill and the degree of arrogance towards their customers.

Thanks

Piltdown Man

Are you really surprised? They are hidden thousands of miles away behind impenetrable legal barriers. That's the price of flying with an airline controlled by laws from the Middle Ages. But they are on the wrong side of social media barriers. Publicly post how they got it wrong and possibly you might get a solution.

Heathrow Harry

You get the same from just about any big airline - they handle millions of people each week - do you think they care about one complainant?

globaltravel

I guess you are correct, I did post on their social media page, they responded in a private message that this matter is already concluded and won't be discussing it further.

As has been pointed out it is no surprise, but luckily the choice is mine where I spend my money and it certainly won't be with a backward appalling carrier like Emirates.

Thanks

Andy_S

Without knowing the exact nature of your complaint or the nature of EK's reply it's difficult to comment. But I don't think they're under any obligation to offer you recompense just because the service wasn't entirely to your satisfaction.

And quite frankly, if every CEO had to personally deal with p***** off customers then they'd probably never get any work done.

globaltravel

I guess a lesson learnt, I see EK are going downhill, they are not welcomed to the USA and they are reducing fights to some UK airport like BHX and downsizing from A380 to B777 on some routes, fortunate for others and myself we get to choose were we spend our money, one thing for certain I will do my upmost best to avoid Ek altogether.

Thanks to all who replied.

DaveReidUK

Unless your name is Oscar Munoz, when you might wish you had paid more attention to them.

Evanelpus

Vote with your feet and use another carrier, simples

S.o.S.

globaltravel Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting. I think the replies you have had, although seeming harsh, are not untypical of the replies to this particular carrier. The folks who post in here are, for the most part, seasoned travellers and will reply honestly.

I hope you stay around and contribute to the forum.

globaltravel

SOS many thanks, we can only learn from our mistakes, looking forward to a more positive post in the future.

GrahamO

I am still none the wiser as to what the problem actually was which created such outrage ?

The lack of clarity on the issue seems puzzling unless the OP is worried that the disaster of not having the wine at the right temperature spoiling a 12 hour journey might be ridiculed.

Or were the flannels too late in the trip

FWIW I have had an EK Gold card for the last five years and have only complained twice and both about BHX baggage slugs taking two hours for offloading.

As to them going downhill, I disagree - they are surviving the downturn better than most and are not randomly cutting slots but are matching aircraft types to demand and not being dogmatic about it. BHX outward in May is quiet so they turn off a slot rather than fly half empty, but its back on in June, July and August when the demand is there.

Thats not failing, but really smart aircraft usage.

globaltravel

The problem without going into too much details is as follows:

Sector from the U.K. to DXB night flight.

1. On boarding the aircraft my elderly companion was struggling to reach the overhead lockers to put her baggage in, opposite side of the row, the cabin crew just stood their and saw her struggling and carried on chatting among themselves without even a courtesy of asking her if she needed any help.

2. The service took three full hours to complete, everybody was tired and the time between each serving was well in excess of 30 minutes (starter, main course, desert), that I and other passengers just politely said it's taking too long and wanted to sleep. The crew were quite cold and didn't have a single smile on their face. The lights finally went off with about 3 hrs remaining to Dubai. The lights went to full bright for 10 minutes with 1:50 mins to Dubai, then it was turned back off, it may have been a mistake when adjusting the lights. The seatbelt signs kept being turned on and at no point did the crew come and verify everybody had their seatbelts on.

3. No breakfast was served at all, when I pressed the call button nobody responded, so I wanted a glass of water, I went to the back of the galley on the upper deck A380 as I was travelling in Business class, the cabin crew were just stood around the bar talking among themselves and showing each other stuff on their mobile phones.

This is hardly a consistent premium service but on the contrary quite sloppy and poor, so no it was not a case of the champagne being incorrectly chilled.

The service was not worth what we paid for.

Gulf Julliet Papa

Hi GT, I'm in no way related to EK but just some points on what you have said into MAYBE why you would of not got anywhere....

1) Despite what passengers seem to believe it is never, ever, the cabin crews job to lift passengers bags into and out of the overhead lockers. If a passenger cannot place their own bags into the overhead locker they have either over packed, or in your case, should of requested assistance at the time of booking or at check in. Assistance is for anyone that requires extra help, no matter what it is, from check in, to seated on the aircraft. This includes bags in the overhead lockers. If you see a cabin crew at the overhead lockers, they are going outside of their job to help, and it should not be a given.

2) It's hard to comment on the whole post, however I've noticed a lot of airlines only check the first time the seatbelt signs go on now. This is fine for me, because it prevents people been woken up over and over again to check seat belts are on. In the same paragraph as people "wanted to sleep" this looses merit. At the end of the day it is the passengers responsibility to follow any reasonable command given by the captain or crew.

3) Are you sure breakfast was meant to of been served? I've just checked the EK34 and no breakfast appears on the menu in business?

Another couple of small points...

- You immediately weaken your position / peoples opinion as soon as you say "not even offered me xyz", you should never expect compensation of any form (except in EU261 cases) if you have got from point A to point B, it is up to the airline to offer, not for you to suggest.

- Go easy on the cabin crew, there is many many reasons they are not smiling or chatty that is not what you paid for. It can range from a poor day stop with minimum rest, their body clocks don't know where they are, bad news from home, flying an overnight flight with no crew rest, a purser who has pissed off the whole crew, a ridiculous passenger complaint from another flight which they may now get in trouble for etc etc. Just because you can sit back and relax does not mean they can. What you have paid for in terms of cabin crew, is highly trained individuals, who can get you and your fellow passengers out in 90 seconds when it counts.

I'm not doubting you feel that the level of service did not meet your expectations, just trying to point out some other ways of thinking...

Andy_S

Now we’re getting somewhere. So basically it comes down to a perception of the standard of on-board service and crew attitude falling below your expectations. Fair enough; you’ve paid for a premium service and you’re well within your rights to expect the same. The problem is it’s all subjective, isn’t it?

Quite honestly, the best thing you can do is to write a polite letter or e-mail to the airline describing, in non-emotive terms, the problems you experienced and suggesting that they consider whether, in this case, they had met the required standard. Phrase this in non-emotive terms so it appears that you’re offering them constructive feedback.

The problem with escalating what, to a third party, would appear to be a trivial issue, is that you devalue any reasonable case you may have.

G-ARZG

It'd be interesting to see how many miles the OP reckons would put things right...

Colleague of mine once complained about QR service shortcoming, the boss (yes, him) actually called him back (to tell him his complaint wasn't justified, but...)

globaltravel

Some very interesting comments and some good points, however ultimately as a paying customer the choice as to if I use them is down to myself, in this case I have decided to avoid EK when I can, I paid a lot of money for two business class seats and expect a decent service.

I see the point about cabin crew not having to open lockers, however I know some operators state in the cabin crew service manual that they should assist passengers with luggage if they need help, I am sure that is stated in the EK manual but happily be proved wrong.

I think at the end of the day as a customer you have to be satisfied and have legitimate expectation that your complaint would be treated seriously, there is no room for arrogance from a customer service team, the fact that EK will not discuss this any further or reply is enough for me to take my business elsewhere with a more service oriented airline.

Gulf Julliet Papa

I highly doubt any airline safety manual suggests cabin crew should be lifting heavy objects that they have not be trained properly for.

If a cabin crew suffered a back injury due to the lift, and the arrogance of a singular passenger who has potentially packed 20kg in their carry on, the whole flight will be delayed. This would cause untold disruption to 500 passengers...

If an airline puts this requirement in their manual, their legal department would require that training is provided. If not the airline would be liable for every cabin crew injuring themselves doing this....

Cabin crew of course can open of close lockers. They should not be lifting anything but their own belongings in or out. If they do it's at their own risk and a bonus. Should not be expected

Andy_S

Again, without sight of the correspondence it’s not possible to do more than speculate, but your first post seems to imply that there have actually been a number of exchanges of correspondence between yourself and the airline, which in turn suggests that they have at least attempted to establish a dialogue with you. My apologies if I’ve misinterpreted that, but I don’t see that failing to accept your complaint in full necessarily makes them arrogant.

Also, you refer to your Skywards account. Are you a regular traveller with Emirates? If so, it seems odd that you’re prepared to abandon them for the sake of one journey that fell below expectations.

Harry Wayfarers

I would suggest that if the cabin service was so bad, particularly in business class, then more than one solitary passenger would have been the recipient of it and there would have been a number of complaints, indeed complaints flooding in.

It would seem that for this particular flight there was only one complainant!

globaltravel

Thanks again,

The trouble is people cannot be bothered to complain, in fact looking at the response I obtained from EK I wish I didn't waste my time. I am sorry but I have traveled on EK a few times and have seen their service really slip, I am a Gold Card holder and to be honest maybe time have changed but in the past when I have raised an issue with other carriers they have been apologetic and offer a gesture of goodwill like vouchers etc.

I am sorry but EK is not the carrier for me and will now draw a line under this and move on. I find Etihad and Qatar much more better to travel in.