I was on this flight: Excellent Pilot and Crew - Emirates is the worst though!
I was actually on board of this plane with my family. I believe that the statement of Emirates was not correct at all!
The only good thing was the fact that we had an excellent pilot who managed to bring us back safely to the airport. What happened was, according to the announcement of the pilot and what we as passengers could tell: there was a loud bang and vibration after take-off, followed by heavy vibration. After a little while some passengers shouted that the engine was on fire and we could see the orange glow on the left side through the window. Basically, the captain explained later, a bird must have hit the engine, for it to fail after a little while. All of the passengers actually thought we would not make it back alive! One of the stewardesses said that she did not want to go down on her birthday! This was serious!
Fortunately the pilot managed to land the plane comfortably and safe and explained the situation to the passengers, saying that we would be taken care of at the airport and people would be waiting for us. Also refreshments would be there. So compliments to the crew and the captain for betting us back safely. All the passengers were applauding when we had landed, some shouting "God bless Emirates". Little did we all know, that the quality of Emirates was still to be demonstrated...
Having landed fire engines, police, and other safety personnel was waiting for the plane to be inspected for about 15 minutes before we carried on taxiing to the gate. There buses were waiting and took us back to the gate, where some staff told us to move upstairs to the departure lounge. And then, ... nothing!
There was not a single member of staff for 30 minutes. About 300 economy class travellers were left without any kind of support or refreshments. People were crying and upset and Emirates did nothing. When passengers started stopping emirates personnel to ask what was happening, they did not seem to know anything. After 30 minutes, we were told by some staff member to go to the Burger King, there we would hear more and get refreshments. This was not announced, but just told by an emirate staff member who was asked. We still had no single point of contact, and definitely no manager or crises manager who seemed responsible. Getting close to Burger King, we were sent to place upstairs, called Food Court. Once all had gathered there, we still did not get any information or refreshments and were sent away again to gate 241, I believe. By now we were back in the departure lounge for more than one hour. By now all passengers were no longer upset, but especially the European travellers were getting angry. This is the total opposite of what one expects from Emirates, especially after a traumatic experience, where we all thought we would die!
By now there still was no manager, but 'someone in charge'. When confronting him with the situation - we wanted to know what was happening and our children of 3 and 6 to get to a bed at this time - he just walked out on us!
Once at the gate more people got upset, and this same person (I will file a complaint against him) told someone to "shut your face". Besides this he was constantly smiling, not seeming to take this situation seriously at all.
At this point it felt that they were not treating this as a near crash with people having had traumatic experiences, but as a regular delay.
A new person 'in charge' arrived and basically said that another plane was made ready for all passengers to get into to take of to Colombo.
Myself and some other passengers from the Netherlands heavily protested against this. We were not going on another plan right now! Amongst these passengers was a lady who had only flown a few times before; she had sat next to the engine and had witnessed the whole thing and was in shock. Another male passenger was crying. And still there was no support by Emirates and no support was offered even. Still there was no manager. We were treated without any respect. They basically sorted out the first and business class people and left the rest on their own, with not even refreshments by this time, about 3 hours after we returned to the departure area!
All the passengers were told to walk through to the boarding area, where they got refreshments, a carton drink and a piece of cake. Ten of us - all from the Netherlands - stayed and demanded a hotel and a reschedule. Initially they said they are happy to reschedule, but the hotel would be at our own costs - CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS ??? Obviously we did not accept and the person 'in charge' went back to management - which in the end never showed up - and managed to get us 1 night at the hotel and a flight on the 17th at 9:40am.
From that moment until we got into the hotel room, it took us another 2 hours! Still no manager, no ownership, we were constantly left by ourself to find out the next step. We were with to kids who needed sleep as well as 4 pieces of hand luggage - and no support whatsoever!
I really thought Emirates was one of the best airlines to fly with. This was the worst experience of our lives and it was made even worse by Emirates. They just do not take their (economy class) passengers at all!