This afternoon (7 March) my family and I had to travel back to Doha on EK843. Our appointments in Dubai finished early and we arrived at the airport at 11.45, expecting a quickish check in (yes, we were in economy), a spot of lunch and some shopping before the short hop home.
What transpired instead was a complete nightmare from a SLF point of view. Once we had navigated the security screening we were met with a scene of complete bedlam in the check in zone. There were in excess of 1000 passengers going in different directions with no explanation of where we should check in. We eventually managed to join a queue heading towards an entry point, after about 20 minutes we had moved about 10 metres when the Scottish cricket team (no I am not making this up) came through heading to the Special Services desk, pursued by another 50 passengers who then proceeded to try and push into our non moving queue. The cricketers then also had to rejoin our queue as no arrangements appeared to have been made for them. We counted a maximum of 10 check in desks open on the left hand side whilst the right hand side was full of angry Mancunians and Germans trying to check in at dedicated desks.
To cut a long story short we were hauled out of the queue and sent to an unstaffed desk where eventually someone turned up to check us in at 13.45, meaning a mad dash to reach the gate. To add insult to injury none of the travelators and only one escalator were working. No problems with the flight, except a short 10 minute delay but I have a number of questions to ask:
1. Is this a normal morning in DXB?
2. Where were the management or supervisors? Do they always disappear in this fashion?
3. From a Health and Safety point of view this would be a disaster waiting to happen - there were so many passengers in the hall that escape would have been difficult in the event of an emergency. What is the policy on this?
4. Do Emirates think it is acceptable for their customers to queue
2 hours to check in for a 40 minute flight? Or for that matter any flight? We are in 2004.
5. We gather from talking to Dubai residents that this is becoming the norm, the only thing to do is to turn up 40 minutes before the flight and hustle through - can anyone confirm this?
6. What arrangements would Emirates put in place for special needs/unaccompanied minors? I am fortunate that my two children are older and seasoned travellers but I would not like to imagine what it would be like for anyone with smaller children or special needs.
7. Is there a problem with the check in systems in place as each transaction took an inordinate amount of time?
8. Do Emirates realise what image they are creating to people who will leave Dubai forgetting the wonderful time they had and instead telling everyone they meet what a disastrous airport there is in Dubai?
9. How happy are Dubai duty free with this - we had no time to look at anything, along with just about everyone else, not good for their coffers I would think?
10. I cannot believe this was all due to fog as we were told, perhaps someone could clarify why Emirates could not inform us, have staff on hand etc. etc....?
11. Could the people responsible for this area travel to somewhere like LHR T4 and see how to manage check in - not perfect I know but some very good lessons if you are interested.
I am sorry to have a rant here but I hope I might get some sensible comment and perhaps touch a nerve within Emirates and Dubai Airport. I am more than happy to talk directly to anyone concerned - send me a PM.
One very unhappy Diver with angry Mrs Diver (no shopping) and
two angry mini Divers (no lunch, no shopping and everything else).
