Emirates Airlines

When in Dubai, Don’t Fly Emirates Airlines

[shareaholic app=”share_buttons” id=”20872686″]

The same day SVV was going under the knife in San Francisco for a shattered wrist, I was paying homage to the porcelain gods halfway around the world. Up until that point, my entire month in Africa had gone off without a hitch: Although I had packed Pepto Bismol, Cipro, a variety of antibiotics, Zantac, everything short of the kitchen sink, I didn’t so much as have an upset stomach once—until my flight on Emirates, that is. I hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink the entire day until my in-flight meal on the overnight leg from Johannesburg to Dubai. About four hours later after eating it—“it” being poorly undercooked mystery meat—my stomach started gurgling violently. Uh-oh. That’s never a good omen.

I arrived amid a flurry of South Africans, many of them on holidays to Dubai, for a 24-hour layover in the glitzy city and went immediately to the transfer counter. I told the woman my problem, that I was very sick and had a connection the following morning to San Francisco (17 hours, it should be noted) and could she put in a request for me for the front exit row seat so I could be in close proximity to the lav (my current seat was a window in the back and would require I climb across a row of people each time nature called)? She said no, that exit rows weren’t released until the last minute and that I’d have to ask again the following morning.

I spent much of my time in Dubai terribly ill in my hotel room, then arrived three hours before my connection the next day. I immediately went to the counter, asked again for a better seat should I need a quick escape route and was told all the exit rows were booked (so much for releasing them “last minute”). I explained the situation, that I had gotten food poisoning from their flight and needed a seat with better accessibility. The check-in agent said sorry, no can do, no sympathy here. I went to another counter, this time customer “service” (a questionable term, no doubt), where the agent was equally as unhelpful. By this time, I was in tears, as I was having to frequently run to the bathroom, and two Emirates employees (after the previous two mentioned) went as far as to LAUGH in my face at my misfortune when they saw my pallid face, spouting, “she a funny passenger!” Nice. Just what one desires—mockery—as she bolts off to empty her internal organs in the loo. The worst part is my doctor had given me all sorts of antibiotics and pills should I get food poisoning, a bacteria infection, etc. but my bag was checked from South Africa all the way through, and the agents wouldn’t let me reclaim my bag to get proper medication.

I had all but given up–not only were the Emirates employees not willing to help in any way, but they clearly lacked all displays of human decency. So imagine my surprise when I went through the boarding gate and was stopped by security. At first, I breathed a sigh of relief: “Finally, some kind soul has come to my rescue, to move me to a more comfortable seat. There is a God after all.” WRONG. Rather, they heard my pleas and instead of aiding, sent a medical professional to me saying they weren’t going to allow me on the flight due to being ill! He wanted to check me out and hold up the flight; I told him I simply had food poisoning, nothing would make it better but time, that I had picked up something over-the-counter at a local pharmacy and that little could be done other than wait it out. I just wanted to get back to San Francisco, not stay in Dubai a moment longer. He raised his eyebrow, questioned my illness and didn’t believe I had food poisoning (let alone got it from the airline)—claiming it would only last a few hours if that were the case, not 24+. Funny, this inaccurate advice from a medical “professional” as food poisoning can last a number of days (something SVV and I learned the hard way over Christmas). I finally just had to tear away and scamper off in frustration as he wanted to give me a full examination before allowing me to fly or hold me back and put me on a later connection (still in the nose bleed seats, I’m sure). All this because I asked for a seat close to the lavatory!

I guess I should know more about this working in the industry that I do, but I do very little writing that has to do with airlines specifically. That said, I had always heard airlines have contracts of carriage that give passengers some rights, such as stating they’re required to relocate an ill passenger’s seat in such a circumstance. One Norwegian friend had a similar occurrence—food poisoning and poor treatment on Continental aboard a transatlantic LA to Oslo flight—and due to their code, she later got a free round-trip ticket because they handled the situation all wrong, similar to how Emirates did in this instance. The flight was far from full; in fact, all of business class was empty. They could have upgraded one of their premier members and moved me to their economy seat, but they said they only do upgrades when economy is overbooked. Though I think it’s pretty obvious that these days passenger comfort is the last thing airlines care about.

The worst part of it all? I figured, oh well, at least my United premier status is already renewed for next year considering Emirates is a United partner and my trip was nearly 25,000 miles in all, and that maybe, just maybe, it was a rather large price to pay for such insurance. Only, I returned home and checked my account online to find that while it is a United partner, Emirates is not a Star Alliance member, so my miles don’t even count, $@!#^$!@. If I’d known that, I would have forked over the extra cash for South African Airways. Spoken by a true traveler, yes I know.

How about you…have you had such an experience on any airline? Encountered such rudeness aboard Emirates? If so, pray tell! Misery loves company, especially when it involves airlines!

One thing is for certain, though: I’d rather fly Aeroflot for the rest of my days than ever giving a penny to Emirates again.

COMMENTS
  • May 10, 2010

    That is HORRIBLE. I haven’t had that experience and am hoping I won’t… I’m currently in Cape Town trying to recover from the worst food poisoning of my life, caught in Mozambique, and I am scheduled to fly on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I’m glad you posted this now, because I’m going to look into Virgin’s fine print to see what my rights are. I was already thinking of asking for a seat closer to the lav because I’m 30 weeks pregnant, but I think I now have twice the reason…

    So sorry you dealt with this. Food poisoning is the worst, worst, WORST. And that 24 hours bullshit? Maybe it’s sometimes true in the developed world, but in the rest of the world it doesn’t apply. I’m on day seven.

  • May 10, 2010
    Bethany

    Ugh, I’m so sorry that happened to you! I don’t have any similar stories to share, but, ugh. What a horrible experience.

  • May 10, 2010

    That’s awful! Ive never had food poisoning let alone have to deal with it on a flight or while traveling, think that would be my worst nightmare! Im sorry you had to go thru that. My friend is an air hostess for Emirates, I wonder what she will have to say about this, shed probably agree theyre shit! haha

  • May 10, 2010

    Oh man that’s awful, you poor thing!!!!!!! I hope someone from their company reads this and compensates you in some way!

  • May 10, 2010
    Katie Hammel

    My experience was not nearly as bad as yours, but I did get stuck in Colombia while sick. I had a raging cold – I was in that stage where your sinuses are totally clogged but things still seem to be draining so you can’t blow your nose and you can’t sniffle – all you can do is jam some tissue up your nose, breath through your mouth and be miserable.

    It was like this that I flew 30 minutes from Medellin to Bogota for my 2pm Mexicana Air flight from Bogota to Chicago (with a stop in Mexico City). But when my husband and I arrived at the gate, we were told we couldn’t check in for 30 more minutes. We came back a half-hour later and still no gate with the Mexicana logo. We asked at the Avianca desk where a nice gate agent took us on and said she’d help us figure out what the deal was.

    She disappeared for 15 minutes and when she came back, she only asked us to follow her…behind the agent’s desk, over the moving luggage conveyor belt, and into a back office of Mexicana Airlines. There we found out that our flight that day had been canceled (and it had obviously been canceled some time ago as we were the only people to show up and everyone looked very surprised to see us) and that the next flight was tomorrow at 8am. We’d be given a hotel and a voucher for food, and we were told to be back at the airport by 5:30am. So we went to the hotel, where we stayed from 2pm until the next morning. My husband ate the free food (a disgusting dry chicken breast) and watched tv while I slept and was generally miserable.

    The next morning, we tried to figure out what happened. We had been given a piece of paper with our itinerary on it and were able to surmise that the flight we were supposed to be on was canceled and we had been moved to an 8am flight that same morning. But, since we were never told about it, we didn’t show up. So when we showed up for the afternoon flight, they bumped us to the flight the next morning. When I asked to speak to a manager to find out why it happened, she was incredibly rude to me. She wouldn’t answer me, and instead spoke to another employee in Spanish, then went into the back room. The manager never came back – the other person came out with a complaint form for me to fill out.

    We finally got back home, 22 hours later than planned. After badgering the airline for three weeks, they offered me a $100 credit.

    I’ll normally jump at the chance to get a free extra day of a trip, but there is no worse feeling than being in unfamiliar or uncomfortable surroundings while miserably sick.

  • May 10, 2010
    SVV

    I have Emirates by its scrawny little neck and am slapping them around like the petulant child that they are. It is simply cruel they didn’t move you to Business Class once the airplane took flight. It wouldn’t cost them a penny more to do so. Airline FaIL

  • May 10, 2010

    I’m so sorry about your horrible experience! One year, when flying home for Christmas, I had a layover in Cincinnati. By the time I got off the plane for my layover, I was miserable with some sort of bug – fever, chills, headache. I had put on a tee-shirt with my skirt suit and heels (classy!) and curled up in a ball at the gate and cried. When I asked the gate agent if I could have a window seat, instead of the aisle seat I was assigned, so I could lean against the window and sleep, she looked me up and down and said “um, no. I shouldn’t even let you on the flight because of your germs.”

    More tears and, finally, when I got on the plane, I was lucky enough that the person in my row in the window seat was 5 million feet tall and was glad to grab an aisle seat.

    When did flying become so inhumane?

  • May 10, 2010

    I’m seriously appalled by how rude and flat out disrespectful (not to mention unprofessional) they were to you. What was the point of that? Their treating you so poorly, I mean? Honestly, it didn’t help them in any way, as it wouldn’t have HURT them in any way to treat you with kindness. In fact, it would have HELPED them. Having a professional and much beloved travel writer as a fan and advocate of your airline? I would think that’s the best kind of PR in the business.

  • May 10, 2010

    Wow!! What kind of customer service is this! I’m so sorry for your trouble. I think you should consider sending this post to the airline. I thought they are one of the highly rate airline. Guess I was misinformed! Or maybe there is no such thing as highly rate airline anymore.

  • May 10, 2010

    I’ve never flown Emirates, and will now stay away. How terribly rude of them. Yet I’m not surprised that airline food made you ill, it’s never anything to brag about but this deserves looking into more.
    I really enjoyed African Air, great service, good food and free poured alcohol. Plus they gave me my United miles. Sorry to hear about this yet glad you passed it along. Hope your recovery wasn’t too terrible on any more flights.

  • May 11, 2010
    Maria

    How awful! And also surprising, given their fancy schmanzy reputation. Hope your story goes forward and you get the compensation you deserve!

    I’ve never flown with Emirates, however my Past Dream Jobs include an Emirates flight attendant. Four years ago I decided to apply on a whim, and although I’d never wanted to be a FA in my life, was all of a sudden obsessed by the idea. So I started the long and complicated process, made it through stages 1 and 2 and so on, until there was five of us left for the final interview. Interview went well, I showed the tattoos I was worried about, and they were all FINE FINE. After that (LONG after that) turned out that they dropped me altogether because of the tattoos, just failing to let me know, and it wasn’t easy to contact them either. They certainly weren’t going to contact me! A quick email at least would’ve been nice after all the time & energy devoted for the whole thing, not to mention the waiting.

    Looking back now, it probably was for the best! Your story is just awful.

  • May 11, 2010

    Poor you! I have only had food poisoning once in my life, and I pray I never get it again. I felt like dying!!

    Fortunately I have never had a bad experience flying, but I am sure my luck will run out one of these days!

  • May 11, 2010

    eek! being sick on an airplane is the worst, but being sick on an airplane in a foreign country layover has got to be even MORE worse!

  • May 11, 2010

    Ugh what a horrible experience! As someone with chronic motion sickness, I am always asking for front bulkhead seats to alleviate my pain. My worst airline experience was with Delta, who treated us so inhumanely that I will never, EVER, travel with them again. Boo Delta!

  • May 11, 2010

    I had food poisoning on a flight once – awful. I got it on Indonesian air – somehow I felt like being on an airplane magically meant I could eat lettuce. Bad idea. Of course that was my second of 5 flights home. My third, from Hong Kong to LA on Singapore air was the 12 hours of puking. In a middle seat, having to step over a sleeping Sikh gentleman because flight attendants won’t throw away puke bags and get mad when you camp out outside the bathroom door. Singapore air also made me sign waivers saying that it wasn’t their fault I had gotten sick, and talk to EMTs when I got off the flight (and I was quite lucky not to be placed in quarantine, which they considered). When people complain about bad flying experiences or bad seatmates I just laugh, because I was the most terrible seatmate possible and had the worst overnight flight possible.

  • May 11, 2010

    Ugh what a terrible experience. Not sure what it is with the airline industry, but they certainly don’t have much of a rep for customer service. Maybe they are a little jaded from the people that go to the counter and yell about absolutely nothing, but in cases when people are actually in distress, you would think (hope?) that compassion would win out.

  • May 11, 2010
    slynnro

    UGH. I cannot even imagine dealing with food poisoning on a plane. I actually got food poisoning on a Grupo Taca flight out of Guatemala, but luckily, I didn’t get really ill until I landed.

  • May 12, 2010
    Kendall

    That’s really unfortunate that you got ill flying Emirates, I’ve flown them about 3 or 4 times from Australia and from the UK and never had a problem with food or with there service. Its unfortunate that you wouldn’t fly them again. Food poisoning on a plane would not be great, touch wood it never happens to me.

  • May 12, 2010
    Jo

    Bummer about your experience on Emirates. I just flew Emirates for the first time 3 weeks ago from Dubai to Cape Town and back. I was very impressed with the airlines. We flew economy down and business back thanks to upgrading with my husband’s miles. Everything was wonderful on my flight and I had nothing but compliments for the airline. I try to stay away from meat dishes on airlines, especially in the Middle East where they do not have any pork products on the planes and thus only mystery meat. As for the Emirates staff in Dubai airport, I can say that they are not friendly at all and must consult the manager for any modifications to the passenger’s itinerary, including seat changes.

    My husband got food poisoning on a United flight in the First Class section by eating a salmon salad. It was a flight from Dubai to USA, so 14+ hours in the air. He got sick about 1 hour after the meal and spent 8+ hours in the bathroom onboard. These days, they would probably have pulled him out of there due to security concerns, but they let him be. He said it was the most miserable experience. We now try to stay away from fish and meat on airlines, even if we are in First Class!

    I feel your pain regarding United being a partner with Emirates. We have separate mileage accounts so we can accrue points for each airline. Don’t give up on Emirates yet.

  • May 12, 2010

    Ouch! What a horrible experience… I didn’t have any problem flying with Emirates before, but I’m sorry that you have to experience that! Must be unpleasant being sick when you have a flying day, and those people were not helping either…

  • May 12, 2010
    Emily

    I’ve learned that in most industries, “customer service” means very little, anymore! I’ve definitely had my fair share of terrible flight experiences and even worse “customer service” representatives, but your story takes the cake! Have you tried contacting United about the Premier status issue, though? Over Christmas, I flew to Germany but my United flight got canceled and they put me on a non-partner Air France flight instead. I also am a Premier member and when I got home I wrote to United about the inconvenience (we lost over a day of our vacation and Air France lost our bags for 2 days) and how I had been counting on the miles from my United flight to maintain my status. United ended up giving me a flight voucher AND crediting me the air miles, even though Air France is not in the Star Alliance or even a partner airline. It might not hurt to at least try and see what they do for you!

  • May 12, 2010

    I’ve never had any trouble beyond a lost suitcase here and there, but I think Kevin Smith might have something to say about the matter…

  • May 13, 2010

    Wow, that’s the first time I have heard anything bad about Emirates, I had heard only good things. But it is only in times of crisis that truly good customer-oriented businesses shine. I am sorry that you suffered so much – that really sucks!

    • November 13, 2017
      Akash

      Just flew Emirates. Am Indian. Can vouch the air hostesses on the europe route were visibly racist and hostile towards non-white customers. Multiple incidents. Was shouted at by staff for “blocking the way” when it was actually europeans in the way. Another air hostess tried skipping me for a meal to preserve her valuable “few” hot meals for her chosen customers and gave me the food when i put my foot down. Another milder asian couple went hungry. European air hostesses (as versus Americans who have much more multi-cultural experience) are often visibly racist with browns.

      • November 27, 2017
        rut

        I agree with you on the racist deal,am African and therefore earned a 15hr stay in the airport while whites stayed in a hotel

  • May 15, 2010

    Wow, that’s horrible! I can’t believe they called in a doctor to exam you. Did you get on the flight? That’s crappy customer service for sure. I’d be pretty upset if that happened to me. We were ill a couple times we took planes with stomach issues and always took immodium before the flight. I’d write to their head office about this…

  • May 17, 2010

    I’ve heard either great things or horrible things about this airline, not much in between.

  • May 18, 2010
    Joy

    You’re a lot nicer than I am. Faced with the horrid experience you endured, I would have taken pains to make sure I puked/dumped on their shoes, instead of trying to dash to the loo. There’s no excuse for such callous treatment. I’m especially apalled at the b*tch who actually LAUGHED at you! Ah well, karma and all that. Comfort yourself by knowing that it will come back on them, multiplied seven times. Meanwhile — very glad you’re safely back home!

  • May 21, 2010

    We had a bad experience with Emirates on our flight from Nairobi to Bangkok via Dubai. I was really looking forward to flying with them, because they’re supposed to be top-notch but we found their service to be awful in many ways. One of the most annoying was that as we were boarding the flight from Dubai to Bangkok they scanned our tickets, then stopped us, and said that our seats had been reassigned. (After we’d gone through a huge rigamarole to get seats period when we got our tickets back in Nairobi.) Our newly assigned seats were in completely opposite parts of the plane. I put my foot down and said no way, that we had seats together purposefully and that we wanted to sit together, or at minimum within shouting distance. They resisted forever but then finally put us together…in the very last row. We walked by where we were supposed to be seating and saw a big family was taking them all. Apparently, they re-did their tickets to seat them together but had no problem separating us. The service on the flight itself was pretty shoddy. I passed on the food…good thing maybe!

  • May 26, 2010

    harsh words if you would rather fly aeroflot. I’d NEVER fly them. i like to live.

    Re miles: If the miles transfer over into ur united account, then all those united miles can then be used to fly on a star alliance carrier. Your united elite status carriers over to ALL of their partners, whether in star alliance or not. So if you used your united mileage plus number then it doesnt matter. If united says ur elite then its honored by all of their partners.

  • May 27, 2010
    Vaibhav Sapkal

    Emirates is the worst airlines i ever traveled. The air hostess are rude and some of them are over friendly giving away their plastic smiles…which is quite obvious..these ppl are soooooo ARTIFICIAL

  • July 25, 2010
    catherine

    I have worked as cabin crew for Emirates for just under 2yrs. I just want you to know that some of us work very hard in our job and really do care about the passengers. I always go out of my way to help everyone on board. I even carry a hotwater bottle with me incase pax have stomach cramps. On many of my flights I have pax giving me a hug or shaking my hand as they leave the aircraft. Plus I eat the food everytime Im working, many of the meals I enjoy and have never been ill from them. So we are really not all bad.

  • December 30, 2011
    Kevin Barretto

    Catherine, there may be a few good people like you on Emirates, but the airlines you work for sucks. It is true you all have plastic smiles and very rude behavior to customers. I was served a gluten free mean where the chicken was raw and had so much fat and it smelled rotten. The hostess said it was not her fault and that it was the fault of the catering company. I requested for a regular mean and never got it. Instead I used the words PLEASE and she kept saying I am rude. Another hostess apologized for her wrongdoing but ended up throwing the left overs of customers dinner on me. Called for service several times pressing the service button, but no one turns up. Wanted water and walked to the galley during turbulence but was told rudely to get back to our seats. But not once was told that they would come back. During landing a few of your personnels rudely were waking people from their sleep and asking with an arrogant tone to open the windows. Four hours of flying time and no food. And you pay a high price for it. You people don’t understand what service means. If you are in this profession, you need to use your smile and also your sweet tounge to ensure that you provide professional service

  • January 26, 2013
    Emirpitts

    Emirates staff at Dubai airport is THE rudest, sexist, racist people in airline industry. They have taken not respecting women to a new form of art. On my recent visit, i saw a well dressed Indian woman who was very polite but assertive confronting them for changed her seats. Poor women had two young children and she was separated from then and her husband. She reservation desk clerk, a middle eastern man rudely threatened her for no reason; “Do you want to fly or not”?: She walked away crying.
    On return flight to Dubai from India one of my bags did not arrive. I was waiting at the baggage handling office. There were four employees, two customers. I was next in line. In came a woman and a man who spoke Arabic. They were taken ahead of me for no obvious reasons.
    Prior to this, they had changed my seats without asking me to worse seats than what I had selected.
    I have flown total of about 12 segments with them, six from USA in last three years. Each time I saw passengers who were screwed one way or other.
    On my wife’s most recent flight, she was delayed at AMD airport for 12 hours because of mechanical problems. She had been at the airport from 6:30 AM. She got no meal at lunch time, except some snake. Finally a small meal at 4 PM. There was no place to seat comfortably and the staff would not give any information as to when the next pane would leave. Instead they threatened that any one who leave the terminal may not be able to board if the special plane from Dubai arrived.
    If you ever find yourself dealing with their call center in India, be careful. Those people do not know anything about the rules. They rushed me to the airport office at DFW to pay cash for a ticket change because they could not process my credit card. My card company was on other phone assuring me that they are not denying the transaction. When I went to the terminal they first refused to take payment. Eventually she did call some one and learned how to process the payment but she kept insisting that the “call center” was wrong and I had to go to the downtown office to make payment during working hours!
    Their rule book mentions different rules for American passengers with special needs but they do not follow them.
    http://www.alluc.org/movies/watch-the-cat-in-the-hat-2003-online/124578.html
    IF YOU READ THEIR CONDITIONS FOR CARRIAGE YOU WOULD NEVER FLY THIS AIRLINE!
    I tried to look up specific site for US passengers mentioned in this communist manifesto but could never find it.
    Same problem with Miles. They gave me only half the miles credit for no obvious reason. I am going to file a complain with either IATA or even BBB in DFW.
    Next an article in local Indian magazine. That should catch their attention as they have lots of Indian customers.
    The way they handle mileage for skyward program is another scandal.
    Avoid!

    • January 27, 2013

      The worst! So rude, so racist, so sexist, so everything-ist. Will never fly again! Ever.

  • May 19, 2013
    Gigi

    Sorry to hear you guys had a bad time.
    Over the last 2 years Have flown Emirates many times.
    Have to say they are fantastic .I found some of the passenger were arrogant and rude on certain routes..
    This year have clocked more than 100 Hours of flights.
    Hope I will be lucky.my advise is complain to the company.

    • October 21, 2013
      aseema

      Sad to hear this, but emirates is one of the top five airlines throughout the globe.I have travelled in Emirates A380 and i think that it’s the best comfortable airline with onboard lounge, ice entertainment system and multi course meals.

      May be in your case you had a bad experience but in my case it was awesome.

  • November 5, 2013
    Mohamed

    About the person who had problems with Emirates Airline. Dear, you had problem with food poisoning on board a flight, and no sympathy from any of Emirates employees. Think about this one, it also happens frequently to their own crew, I mean the food poisoning, and they do even less than they do to you for them. Even worst, on the A380, you should see where they force the crew to have their rest during a flight, with noise et dirty sheets. One of the cabin crew showed us pictures of getting some rashes, skin irruptions etc. on board after resting. There are so many complaints against Emirates Airlines flights that you would be tired of reading all of them. On top of everything else, we were even told by cabin crews that one of them or French origin (France) committed suicide a couple of weeks before, because of how Emirates Airline cares for their own employees, and even if the company told them not to talk about, we were told! One great advice of this world, if you want to stay healthy, avoid Emirates Airline at all cost. They are more than bad towards passengers, and even worst with their own employees.

  • May 28, 2014
    Abdalla al Hajiri

    I got food poisining in Emirates airlines flight EK91, from Dubai to Milan, on 25 May 2014. I’m not sure if the food was from Buissness lounge or the airlines. I would appreciate if other people had the same experience on the light or on that day. I had a very bad experience. I spent 2 day in accident and emergency. I had a medial report about it.

    When I complained about it to emirates airlines, they defended their position and blamed food I had before or after my flight, which I thought was ludicrous. They also lied about the incubation period of food poisining saying that it occur after 48 hours, which is not true. Clearly they are defending their position. I did not expect this unprofessional reply from what they call them self as world class airlines

    • May 28, 2014

      Yes! Even though mine was several years ago now, I remember clearly how they were adamant about it NOT being their food, that there was no way I could get sick just 12 hours after the flight (when Emirates food was all I had eaten for a 24-hour period) and how they didn’t want me on my connecting flight back to the US since I clearly was contagious. The whole situation and such harsh treatment by a “world class airline” was simply astonishing.

  • March 14, 2015
    Mo

    Wait until you be on Qatar Airways, you’d know other meanings for the words “lousy” and “impolite”.

  • May 12, 2015
    Tawab

    After flying with Emirates for 2 years to earn enough miles/points for business class upgrades for all family members, they changed their rewards program to double the required points for business class upgrades. This is what I call a dirty snake oil salesman plan. Lure people to do business with you with terms and conditions that they agree upon with you, but just when they are about to reach certain milestones you change your terms and conditions to totally screw them.

  • May 22, 2015

    They are vile, they are sneaky. If only we could put them out of business. How they get around treating customers the way they do is beyond me, I won’t fly them either these days.

    • May 27, 2015

      They are so awful! I have heard other horror stories from other Emirates passengers, too. Ugh.

  • October 20, 2015
    jo

    Stumbled on this page by chance. I have known many people fly Emirates with no problem and I have just flown with them.

    We had no problem with them.

    We witnessed people making unecessary complaints about staff members as they seemed to think because they were on a rewards programme, they deserved more drinks!

    Companies change their loyalty programmes all the time.

    It seems unfortunate there have been issues but this could happen with any company.

    Emirates as a whole has always been one of the better airlines to fly with

  • January 25, 2016
    Siti Musliha

    Yea. I had a problem with their customer service upon calling them. Their customer service have no knowledge on the procedures and inagine calling 10 different staffs telling 10 different things. Mine was name issue. Due to character limitation I was unable to key in full name but I called to clarified this issue as generally name has to be the same as passport. Read a lot of travellers mentioned as long as first name and last name is correct that is fine. And even some of the emirates staff said yes and some said no. A few promised that they will get a name change even I told them are they alowed to as I read the terms saying it’s not possible.however This particular lady told me it could be amended and get thr name changed without a fee and to wait 24 hours without a problem. And guess what? Waited 24 hours for an email as promised but NONE. Called again and was transfered to the amendment team and they say they are not allowed to do a name change or to add in names(aka my fullname). Which I have actually asked the previous lady that was it ok and she said yes. Their customer service has got to have a proper info and so far none of them are concrete with their help. Gosh. Last time flying with them.

  • April 14, 2017
    Dave

    I made the mistake of booking a flight to Delhi with Emirates. When we landed in Dubai, we bought Duty Free. The people at the Duty Free said it wouldn’t be a problem taking it onboard as their weight limit doesn’t count with Duty Free. WRONG. The jerk at the counter charged us $350 for our Duty Free, my pregnant wife’s WATER, and my medical equipment. After looking it up online, I see that it’s actually illegal to do, but they didn’t care. They see foreigners and all they want is your money.

Leave a Comment