Here's a fact:
The one chink in the plan to offload the pax is that there were no EK groundstaff at heathrow to help them out. Just the dispatch company. So they had no chance of offloading the pax and bags before the curfew and barely made it out as it was. Yes, it was a complete cockup.
I will agree with what a few of the guys said, that they are severely understaffed in ops. The unfortunate things is that if you diverted with your hair-on-fire and forgot to send an acars msg to ops, you'd be in for a good bollocking when back in Dubai since you didn't follow the FCI's on the issue. Of course I'd personally tell them to stuff it in that case with a wry grin
A disaster, yes, but I guess I've just come to roll my eyes and to expect them.