Emirates Marketing Madness

[Al Fakhem]

Two weeks ago, I redeemed some Skywards mileage for a return flight DXB-BOM-DXB and flew the outward leg on 01/09/06. On 06/09/06, I realised that I could cut my (business) trip short and contacted the Skywards service centre in Dubai by phone to arrange for my original booking on 12/09/06 to be moved to an earlier date.

To my surprise, the agent told me there were no seats until 12/09, except for one on their 4.30 a.m. flight the very next morning. As I was 5 hours from the nearest airport and it was already 5 p.m., there was no way I could make that flight.

Subsequently, my secretary tried purchase a ticket (so we moved from fliying on a reward ticket to a new purchase), but again was told that all flights until 16/09 were full from all airports such as Bombay, Cochin, Hyderabad, Madras, etc., due to the end of the Onam holiday in Kerala.

Obviously, regular travellers (I am a Skywards gold card holder) are not preferred over once-in-a-blue-moon holiday travellers......

But to my surprise, at 6.00 p.m. on Saturday, 09/09, our travel agent called to inform me there was indeed a seat on EK 543 at 4.30 a.m. from Madras the next morning. So I took a connecting flight to Madras arriving at 11.00 p.m. and checked in for EK 543. At this point, the agent told me he could not credit my Skywards account with miles, as my ticket was Air India and this was a code share flight :hmm: , something I had not noticed until mentioned by him.

So, here we have Emirates refusing a loyal customer and Air India can sell empty seats that come up literally 10 hours prior to departure on the same aircraft??? This is total madness.

On a more general note, why do Emirates run code share flights when they can't even accommodate their own customer base??:E

[Flame]

Although I am unable to comment on EK's FF programme, my own experience as a top level member of EI, BA, BD, and AF..is that the programmes always were to the benefit of the companies.

Going back pre 2001, Top Level with most airlines FF programmes meant something to customers, but just look at the way the airlines have moved the goalposts since then

If more passengers (FF members) voted with their feet, this would make the airlines sit up and listen....is it any wonder that the Low Cost companies are doing so well

With the trouble and hassle trying to get award seats on my preferred FF company, also trying to make sure that all flights are accredited for points .... its getting to the stage that being a member of any airlines FF programme is becoming more trouble than its worth

The main problem is that collecting miles is addictive and the airlines know this.....now where can I find a counselor to help me with my addiction :*

[slim_slag]

Now that's an interesting thought Flame. I am top tier on Star, the missus on One World. Going over our complaints over the past 12 months, all except one has been about miles (and that was a complaint to a One World airline when the airline ran out of breakfast in paid full fare business class).

Now anybody reading this from an airline customer service department who spins that to say that means that obviously the airlines are doing a good job should think again, some things are just not worth pursueing.

Maybe that's why the el cheapo airline complaints are so low, they don't offer a loyalty program. The missus and I have complained to four so called 'real' airlines in the past twelve months about miles. The annoying thing is that only one of these 'real' airlines actually ponied up the miles that were due!

[Globaliser]

With the trouble and hassle trying to get award seats on my preferred FF company, also trying to make sure that all flights are accredited for points .... its getting to the stage that being a member of any airlines FF programme is becoming more trouble than its worth

The main problem is that collecting miles is addictive and the airlines know this.....now where can I find a counselor to help me with my addiction :*Much depends on what your aim of FF scheme membership is. In my case, I'd long ago decided that getting the occasional award flight is just icing on the cake. The real benefits - and the benefits that I am prepared to spend some time and energy pursuing - are those that come with higher tiers in the FF scheme. They are benefits that take most of the stress out of travelling, and they're worth their weight in [whatever shiny metal colour your plastic card come in].

[Globaliser]

So, here we have Emirates refusing a loyal customer and Air India can sell empty seats that come up literally 10 hours prior to departure on the same aircraft??? This is total madness.

On a more general note, why do Emirates run code share flights when they can't even accommodate their own customer base??:EIf it's a particularly busy time, then it may not be representative of the usual situation. It may well be that EK can normally accommodate all of its own demand and have spare capacity, and that you were just unlucky because of when you wanted to fly.

Sometimes, codeshares are done on a blocked space basis. The operating airline allows the codesharing airline to sell a fixed number of seats on the aircraft, which are not available to the operating airline to sell. So the operating airline could sell out before the codesharing airline does. In that case, you may be able to get a ticket from the codesharing airline even though the operating airline can't help you.

Many frequent flyer schemes have reservation guarantees for their higher/highest tier members, eg we guarantee you an economy class seat on any flight even if it's otherwise fully booked. Does EK's? If not, then that's a difference between them and other schemes. Maybe the answer is to make sure that in future you only fly on a different airline that does have such a guarantee?

And frequent flyer award seats are frequently unavailable at times of high demand. So it's not unexpected that you can't change your booking at short notice. Some airlines have routes on which you need to book 11 or 12 months in advance to have any hope of securing an award seat.

[rsoman]

Globaliser has answered the questions raised by the thread starter accurately.
Emirates flights to/from MAA are codeshares with AI. Not their fault exactly, since at the time they started flights, the Indian government was willing to give EK permission only if they entered into a codeshare with Air India. Situation subseqently has changed, but at the time of obtaining MAA route rights by EK, AI was having a severe shortage of aircraft and found an easy way (with the government's help) to expand their capacity/route network
And Globaliser is again right in the fact this particular codeshare is indeed a "blocked space". So it is for Air India to sell the seats in whatever way they want. The sale of these seats are not in control of Emirates.
Infact I would blame your travel agent squarely for this mix up. I used to work for one of the GDS systems which the travel agents use for booking airline seats and every GDS displays warning messages clearly prior to booking if the flight is a codeshare and operated by whom! Apparently this information was not passed on to you by your travel agent.
Dont expect many frequent flier seats to be available ex India during "Onam" period. Flights go chock a block even from DEL on all airlines flying from India to Middle East.

Airlines just like any other business make the maximum money in times of peak demand and so it is unrealistic of you to expect them to give away too many award tickets during this time. And any regular traveller will tell you that India - DXB peak travel time is not during "Thanksgiving" but "Onam". As for not bumping someone off for you to travel, if EK was not willing to do that - I would say well done. Many of these pax including those in F and J would have purchased their tickets months ahead! Again Globaliser has summed it up correctly - fly on an airline which guarantees their highest tier FF members an economy class seat even on a fully booked flight. I dont know about EK, but QR used to give this guarantee to their top level FF members.

Cheers