When travelling on Staff Travel (EK)
 

What about EK MEL staff, has anybody had a less than pleasurable experience. I. E. Flight has many unbooked seats, even 20 ton under load however told that there may be a payload restriction. At ETD - 1:30 FABs said that the 1 staff on standby accepted. Therefore EK DXB yield management have decided that there isn't a possibility of 20 last minute passengers nor 20T of last minute cargo. Approach the EK counter to politely ask if boarding pass had been issued, one EK staff in a rather turse voice said stand away from the counter, then another polite gentleman said oh yes here is your boarding pass.

I would dare to say that very very few cabin crew resent us when we are on staff travel. On the days when the service is not as good as it should be, give your colleague the benefit of the doubt, as they are probably working their way through a ridiculous roster or perhaps can't get the leave that they want.

Whilst I have used staff travel on EK flights in J, some journeys have been excellent and some are at the other end of the spectrum and have been embarrassing. We can all have bad days at work but when you are looked after well, make a point to let your colleague know that it's appreciated. There are a couple of examples that spring to my mind when the service was light years ahead of what you normally see at EK and I have sent a quick company email to thank them afterwards.

If I am in J class and I choose to eat then I will always throw in a caveat that I am happy with anything on the menu, which is normally a bit of an ice breaker if someone seems to be having a bad day at work!!!

Just checked my history on Trips. 400 sectors on staff travel. Downgraded? 4 times. Offloaded? Once. Best stations? In order of memory: BKK, HAM, FRA, ZRH, BOS, KUL, SIN, PRG. Bad stations: MUC, CDG, TUN, SYD, MEL, NBO. Worst station of all times ever: AKL.
Runner up: Still AKL.

Never had an issue with the colleagues on board ever. Quite the opposite.

I always found nothing but excellence in my time using EK staff travel.:ok:

Just an oppinion
 

I'm not management or crew, I'm in Airport Operations and as many of us, I have flown a couple of times on staff travel, everything was ok every time. Even though sometimes the flight was light (50+ available seats) I still waited but I didnt find that stressfull/frustrating/irritating at all.
The ground staff were always helpful and polite. Not only in DXB but also in other airports (I remember PER especially a couple of days ago)
As for the cabin crew, everytime they asked me if I need anything and they were all the time smiling at me. Its a a hard job, which impacts greatly your mind and body. Sometimes maybe they are not happy-happy joy joy, but to put them all in the same pot its just not fare.


Cheers

I have had no issues while travelling on staff travel either. Especially now with online standby check-in and all that, most of the time you won't have the need to visit the staff travel "shed" and staring at screen waiting for the green signal like an F1 driver.

There was even a time when I got a free upgrade to J class at COK, even though I was travelling on a Firm Y class ticket. And I work at a lower grade that never gets to travel J/F class.

Never, ever had any negative experience with crew when travelling as pax.

However, I have had paxing colleagues on board (only a few) who were behaving like absolute pricks. Very embarrassing. Don't expect the "nice" treatment if you are being a **** yourself.

Just a quick question regarding staff travel...

If you buy an economy id50 and are traveling with kids under 13 can you expect to be bumped up if there's space or do they stand by the rule?

The staff travel is one of the biggest reasons for applying so want to make sure I'm not going to spend the 10 years waiting for an upgrade stuck in economy!

Many thanks

Mr Boombastick

When travelling on any Concession ticket booked in Economy you will not be upgraded to any higher class of travel regardless of your status or children's age. The policy is NOT to upgrade staff, if the cabin is full Revenue Pax will be upgraded but never staff.. That is the policy.

Also they will not upgrade revenue Pax to accommodate Staff Pax on ID90 tickets.

Certain Staff groups can book tickets in the premium cabins, but they have there own rules, and you seem to know that as an FO one cannot book tickets for your children in J class until they turn 13.

These are the policy's, possibly on one very rare occasion an upgrade might have happened, but the system will catch up with the errant station and re-clarify the policy

True.

Not true.

Thanks for the responses.

Can you travel in J on an id90 with the kids?

I will have to defer to Nikita about the upgrading of revenue pax to get staff on, however there are plenty of occasions where staff have been left behind even though there were seats in the premium cabin.

Yes an FO can travel on ID90 tickets with the Kids in J as long as they are over 13, the rules change for Captains.

Staff travel is good with EK, however the tickets have become quite a bit more expensive and you must bear in mind that very many flights operate at very high load factors and your chances can be very slim.

If staff travel is the deciding factor on whether to apply or not may I suggest you re-evaluate what is written on these threads and elsewhere about a Career in EK.

It is rare that staff travel is a point of complaint, but there are plenty of other issues which you should try and think about before you join.

are they still charging a fuel surcharge? it is on my DEWA bill!

Well, first time I hear this, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Flight departure control should on-load everyone by priority (seniority) until there are available seats in every class, unless payload restrictions are lifted.

Revenue passengers get upgraded to accommodate for ID90 staff in Y. In DXB, this is automatically done by the system, which is why at exactly 60 minutes before departure, we know whether we are flying or not. I have tested this by constantly refreshing FABS at 61- and 60-.

Unfortunately this only happens at DXB, where the system chooses automatically exactly based on the priority rule in the staff travel manual.

In the outstations, the check-in agents and supervisors are supposed to follow the same rule of priority manually, but it doesn't happen all the time, unfortunately.