Emirates going downhill

[wood73]

I have recently flown emirates man-akl via dxb, and can honestly say the service has hit rock bottom!
Having flown the same route a number of times on emirates I've always been more than happy with the in flight service I've received, but the last time the cabin crew seemed miserable.
The food service was a bit of a shambles, being offered the 2 choices even though they only had 1 available.
The hot towels have disappeared and the prices, whilst competitive on the face of it, by the time you pay seat reservation charges, which are a lot!, are no cheaper than the likes of Singapore.
So I'm sorry emirates but you have lost a regular loyal customer!
Anyone else noticed the same?

[olympus]

Well, I must disagree here. I flew Emirates for the first time STN to BKK via DXB back in November and I have to say I thought they were excellent. Admittedly, I flew Business Class out and First on the return so my viewpoint may be different from that of the OP. Accommodations on both the 777 and the A380 were splendid as was the service on all sectors but the main thing that struck me was the 'newness' of the four different aircraft on which I flew. The STN-DXB sector was operated by a 777 and as far as I could see, was the only sector where the a/c was completely full, which surprised me as it was a fairly new route.

The Business configuration on the 777 is 2-3-2 and I had an aisle seat in the centre three. I thought this might be a problem with the centre seat occupant wanting to climb past me to get out. In the event it wasn't; he slept all the way to DXB.

Thought I might try Etihad on my next trip but that means flogging round the M25 to LHR. STN is much closer and my November experience was quite acceptable once through STN itself and on the aeroplane.

As an aside I was quite surprised at the number of Emirates aircraft parked around the airport at Dubai. I couldn't count them all but there seemed to be A LOT!

[rog747]

Comparing any airlines' Y product to their F and J/C (even a legacy airline) is not really constructive.

True, a misery crew can make or break a flight seated in any class.

EK have had a consistency of a solid Y product on most routes and aircraft types although the 380 usually wins for Y pax.

Seat reservation charges on a legacy airline seems to be the norm now which is a shame - even charging for seats in the premium classes.

[KelvinD]

The last time (in fact probably the only time) I flew Emirates was many moons ago from Heathrow to Manila via Dubai, when the airline was fairly new. I don't remember what type of aircraft they were but the one thing I do remember was the seats. After an hour from Heathrow it became obvious that the seat cushions were thinner and less comfortable than something one might find on a church pew! By the time we alighted at Dubai I could barely walk. After a couple of hours respite in Dubai, it was back on board the next one to Manila. For some reason, the seat cushions were not quite as vicious as those on the first leg, but less than comfortable. An experience unpleasant enough to remember that when I was working in Saudi Arabia between 2011 & 2013, my trips home from Abha with FlyDubai to Dubai to London on BA.
olympus: In my time in Saudi, I used to have to leave every month for visa purposes so I used to go to Dubai for a night (and a decent drink!) I used to fly with FlyDubai from Abha to Dubai and the trip around the airport to and from the terminal FlyDubai were using was interesting. If my trip was going to be onward to Heathrow, I had to take a transfer bus from the FlyDubai terminal to the one being used by BA and this bus ran around an interior perimeter road, past the noses of massed ranks of Emirates aircraft. This was like the aircraft equivalent of the massed bands of Emirates 777! Hordes of them!

[vctenderness]

Emirates has a fleet of 244 aircraft. I think it has 110 A380’s at present.

[krismiler]

being offered the 2 choices even though they only had 1 available.

This way only those whose choice wasn't available are disappointed, those who went for the available option are happy to have been offered alternatives even though in reality there weren't any.

[Hotel Tango]

These days no airline stocks sufficient meals of both options for the entire complement of passengers. It can often depend on where you are sitting in the cabin as to whether both options are still available by the time they get to your row.

[nivsy]

These days no airline stocks sufficient meals of both options for the entire complement of passengers. It can often depend on where you are sitting in the cabin as to whether both options are still available by the time they get to your row.
How about the third row in business class on board 777 that Mrs nivsy experienced "sorry your choice is no longer available" and reluctance to serve breakfast after she woke still over an hour out of initial decent. She has flown Qatar ever since this episode and purrs over them...

[krismiler]

Singapore Airlines carry every choice for every passenger in First Class. A lot of food gets wasted but with their prices they can’t really tell someone they’ve run out and could they have something else instead.

[pettinger93]

Just returned from around trip with Emirates from London Gatwick via Dubai to Colombo: absolutely excellent service .

[pax britanica]

Ref last post I did the exact same trip last year-almost the exact same time and Emirates were very very good on all sectors and despite the hurried connections in Dubai they did a great job.
380 trumps the 777 every time except it seems in the accountants eyes , the product and experience on the 380 is way better than the triple.

[Hotel Tango]

Singapore Airlines carry every choice for every passenger in First Class.

I believe we were talking about Business Class. First Class is something else!

How about the third row in business class on board 777 that Mrs nivsy experienced "sorry your choice is no longer available"

Yes, unfortunately that can happen. It may vary on some airlines but my experience is that only one member of the cabin crew in the Business cabin (quite often the Chief Purser, or equivalent) takes the meal selections. So, it can come down to which aisle they started from first. Depending on the C Class configuration, Mrs nivsy may have been in row 3 but passenger number 25+ to be asked her choice.

[Wannabe Flyer]

A very Very frequent flyer on EK. Mostly in Y unless I get upgraded or it is a last minute purchase for emergency travel. Between the Family & myself have probably clocked 100 flights over the past 12 months. Mainly Long Haul to the US east coast & some into Europe & Africa & ME. As a Gold love my little comforts of check in lounge & priority baggage. Small luxuries.

Also subscribe to their family awards so we can get more bang for the buck as well as Business rewards when on business. The staff is pleasant & their hard product good (8.5/10 with SQ getting 10/10 primarily on seat width & comfort in Y & more so in J). Their Soft product ie: The staff at Dubai is a 10/10 in the East a 8/10 & in the US a 2/10 for the most part (Both contract & on rolls).

My biggest grouse with them

1) Very frugal frequent flyer mile program. On the Economy Saver ticket round trip from Dubai to New york I earn about 2100 miles total excluding the Gold tier bonus. With the amount of flights I have taken last year it seems unless I convert them all into J I will barely retain my gold next year.

2) If you redeem a ticket (partial cash + miles) in business rewards you earn 0 miles & lose FF Gold privileges on that ticket therefore showing up as NIL status. It also does not count towards tier status. (SQ & the other programs I am always give you credit for cash spent & never remove your status privileges just because you are on a part redemption)

3) Business rewards allows only a max of 25% redemption of value at a time & not more

4) The standard sky rewards program offers spot rewards, upgrades at or before check in or via the app or website etc but if you are family rewards, business rewards or another plan you subscribe thru the rewards get bumped to a round about "different processes where everything has to be planned it seems months in advance taking away the joy of the spot upgrades.

Their baggage service in all stations except Dubai has really gone downhill recently & bags have gotten left behind damaged or just come out last despite a priority tag

Considering Dubai slowly is dropping off my route plan am now evaluating other carriers who might give me better trimmings with all my travels

[mdfleet]

Regular passenger to the Indian sub-continent flying from Birmingham with Emirates and I feel there has been a clear deterioration in the quality of the service. I have had a few situations where I have had to talk to their customer relations team who have been very poor at trying to sort things out, even to the point of being just plain rude. I really dislike the charging for seat reservation, which gets me off on the wrong foot but then once on board there are a number of things that you used to get but no longer. The hot towels have gone, and I'm sure you used to get a drink or water as well. If you request a drink of wine with your meal you no longer get a mini bottle, instead you get a half filled plastic beaker. Having said that I find that the staff are mostly good and try their best, it is the corporate bean counters that limit what they can do.

[Hotel Tango]

mdfleet, too much competition now days. It forces them to bring prices down and once that happens it's downhill all the way. Look how even legacy carrier standards deteriorated in Europe because of competition from the likes of Ryanair. You can argue that Ryanair brought air travel to the masses but, paradoxically, it also greatly reduced the basic standards the older generation were once accustomed to. The same is happening/will happen in other parts of the world.

[PAXboy]

My understanding is that they are following a well worn path:

Buy market share with good prices
Expand to become a household name
Turn the financial screws

But then, I'm just cynical.

[old,not bold]

Last year we finally gave up trying to get an Emirates wholly-owned subsidiary based at DXB to settle our bills from the previous year, and stopped supplying them. The liability was not questioned, but excuse after excuse, promise after promise, ridiculous questions about the invoice and service supplied (notwithstanding a formal Purchase Order) and finally, the internet equivalent of "the cheque's in the post" when it wasn't.

All the symptons, in short, of an organisation in the financial mire with a cash flow problem. Just like Dubai itself, in fact.

[Wannabe Flyer]

Wow.....I am assuming you have legal re course?

[GrahamO]

Emirates no longer serve proper scones with real cream and jam but fake, shrink wrapped garbage so they must be going downhill..... yeah, right.

The price for my home flights has dropped from an average of 5,000AED a couple of years ago down to about 3,500AED at the moment.

The 777 cram-fest is now an A380 on all flights.

Too many FWP people here.

[esa-aardvark]

I was told "when we run out of Bolly, we'll start on the Taittinget".
First with SIN.

[zero-five]

I'd say the OP is spot-on, certainly from my not-infrequent experience.

The average flight may contain a crew from 15 countries who can speak 20 languages but if they all lack motivation it doesn't make for a great effect! And there really is no excuse for the scant regard to consistent cabin safety checks I've observed.

It's also a mystery why they choose to serve breakfast 2.5 hours before a 08:30 Europe arrival or why it takes 2 hours for the meal service on a 22:00 departure to Dubai (both of which are basically 6.5 hour flights).

Imho, KLM delivers consistently better economy class service from Europe to Asia, albeit clearly with far fewer destinations on offer.

[Mr Mac]

I would agree that the service and meals are not as good in Business as when I first started flying with them back in 2003, but still way beyond some other legacy carriers I could mention. Meal service I guess is down to how long it takes to set up and clear. Outbound from Man after pre take off champagne there are usually drinks over the start of the North Sea, with Dinner starting before Dutch Coast with service completed over Slovakia, and of course there is the Bar on the 380. In bound breakfast served when starting to cross German Belgium border and they try to clear before getting to the turn for the North, though I do try to avoid that early morning flight if possible. I have not flown KLM for years, though Mrs Mac was a regular with them in Business on trips to Vancouver on the old MD11, which she really liked, and we still have a fair street of pot Delph Dutch houses somewhere as a result !.

Cheers
Mr Mac

[bricquebec]

I find Emirates business class good enough - my only problem is in any seat other than an aisle, I have difficulty getting in and out particularly when the seats are in recline. As someone very prone to cramp, that can be problem.

[edi_local]

I first flew on EK in 2013 LHR-DXB-PEK//HKG-LHR-DXB. All A380s and all pretty new at the time too, thought the service was excellent, the best airline I had flown on at the time. Didn't think much of DXB, still don't, but the airline was flawless in Y class IMO.

Since then I have flown on many other carriers. I can only really compare them to QR in terms of direct competition, both of which I have used out of EDI on long haul in Y class in the last 12 months. The meals on EK have gone downhill and the overall attitude of the crew on all 4 of my EK flights last month was not great. Smiles were certainly few and far between and the response time to call bells (even outside of meal service times when the crew are not as busy or trying to p
push carts around) left a lot to be desired. QR crew have been the complete opposite. Some of them spoke to me more than my own family did and the service was always top notch. One thing I did like was that the EK IFE featured complete series or several films from the same franchise, where as QR tended to only have random mid-season episodes or the second film out of a trilogy for example. QR had more choice over all though, so it's really just a matter of personal taste. Cabins on QR appear more modern, however I have been on some tired looking 330, 340 and 777s out of DOH too.Both EK 777s I've had out of EDI have been dated, but I've also had a newer 777 on the BKK route, which was nice. EKs 380s are still like new IMO. QR offer more than EK does portion wise and tended to come round more with snacks and refreshments in between meals, although some of the offerings I have had on QR have left me wishing I'd brought my own food, especially when it comes to breakfast, which I think they fail on massively. EK was a lot more palatable when the breakfast service came round.

That said, I do think they have gone down hill. I think perhaps even Finnair offered a better service. EK still beat any US and most European carriers hands down.

I have had a few TK flights this year too, only short haul, but I may be using them for a long haul towards the end of the year, so it will be interesting to compare them. The short haul flights have all been fantastic. Food, baggage and IFE on inter-Europe flights is wonderful. Even on domestic flights inside Turkey a free hot snack and drinks is served in Y, which is very rare these days.