Emirates

The business class on the A380 is one of the best business class seats in my opinion. I love the layout of the cabin, the privacy especially if you select the rows which have the seat right next to the window, plenty of storage space, and great IFE. The food option was tremendous. My only complaint, like on several of my recent flights with Emirates, is that the onboard wifi works terribly. It was painstakingly slow and a complete waste of even my $1!

We flew Emirates on Feb 14 on A380 from Dulles, Washington, DC to Dubai then on a B777 to Delhi. A380 is very quiet and a much smoother ride since it flies at a higher altitude. All flights were on time but the quality of service is not the same, they used to have a drink service before dinner or lunch which does not happen anymore. Now they bring the lunch and dinner followed by drinks. Washington to Dubai leg, service was much better than Dubai to Delhi leg. Still a pretty good airline and good service. We left Delhi on Feb 27 to spend 4 days in Dubai, back to USA on 2 March, 2016, we experienced a similar service.

Change of seat at the last minute due to a different 777-300ER configuration leading to be reallocated one of the worst set of seats in business class (seats 6A and 6B) from Dubai to Colombo. No contact made by Emirates on this change early enough to seek better seating. When loading with economy passengers my wife was continually bashed with their large walk-on luggage, she had to move to one side to avoid in being hit. When inflight a very cold draft was continually experienced even with our personal valves shut off. Entertainment very good, but video quality on older aircraft poor. Staff service quality varied between flights from very good to poor.

I have been a long time fan of Emirates from the 90's, when they provided enough competition to make flying more humane from the antipodes. More recently though I have been less than satisfied with their service levels and customer service, this has accelerated since the "merger" of routes with Qantas. This flight was not so pleasant - the flight was delayed from Gatwick due to an oil spill and impacted the whole journey. The inflight service was generally good, food okay, the A380 seats are in the top quartile at the price point for comfort and pitch, I was comfortable on the A380 for the whole journey despite being a tall Aussie. I even snagged some good seats near the bulkhead which made legroom no problem. The 777 segment from Dubai to Melbourne (via Malaysia) was not pleasant. The planes are older, tired, have narrower seats and I was uncomfortable the whole journey. Try and avoid any Emirates segments that use this older equipment, it generally sours your experience of Emirates. The main problems I had with this journey was the late departure. The 4 hour delay caused me to miss my booked connection, and I was put onto the dog-leg segment via Malaysia. Emirates have refused any form of compensation in breach of European rules and refused to supply any assistance at the journey end for this delay. The obnoxious behaviour of customer service staff makes me rethink my loyalty to this brand.

Dubai to Warsaw with Emirates. My seats, selected 3 month before the flight, were changed without any notice. When we boarded a plane they told me that they cannot do anything about that because aircraft was full. Seat belt was not working and the seat was broken. When we complain about it three times they said that they will check what can be done and will let us know. No one came to explain anything. We were really disappointed.

This was my third encounter with Emirates. First the booking did not go through and I had to call the office with 10 min in waiting. Got it finally and confirmed my seats at night. Woke up to drive to the Airport, checked my emails and had a new itinerary for the next day flight. I was 45 min on hold and finally given a reason of bad weather. Wasn't offered anything, not even the later flight. Had to fill in my own refund request. You cannot do anything for the weather, but not letting passengers know is just not good enough.

Flew Emirates business class from Birmingham to Bangkok via Dubai on 1 March, comfortable flight with no problems. However return journey on 9th was a completely different story. Total lack of customer care. I appreciate problems were caused by the storm in UAE, but this does not excuse Emirates of customer care. No information was supplied in Bangkok as to rescheduled flight and connections and therefore had 12 hour wait. Once on board flight the crew were indifferent and unhelpful. Arrived in Dubai and no help with connection flight. Went to business lounge and was told we had been downgraded to economy and we had 27 minutes to make the flight or would have to wait for 2 days for another flight. Was told luggage would be transferred on flight so we decided to run to catch the flight. Seated next to toilet and disturbed by smell and passengers all flight. Arrived at Birmingham to be told luggage was still in Dubai. Have yet to be contacted about compensation for downgrade or delayed baggage despite making complaint at BHX. I think Emirates is on the slippery slope of becoming arrogant and then awful.

I flew Business Class with Emirates from Brisbane to London with my daughter, her husband and three children - a three year old and twelve month old twins. I knew this was not going to be easy, but in my worst imaginings I hadn't dreamt it would be such a nightmare. The babies were booked on bassinet seats with their parents, but were too big to be able to use them. I was a few rows back with the 3 year old, but shared baby duties through the night. Right from before take-off, I could see we were not welcome. Even with the comfort of lie-down seats, it was very difficult to keep the little ones asleep. So we would take them to the bar area so they could crawl around a bit without disturbing too many people. On two occasions when I was there with our little twin with cerebral palsy, her fingers were stepped on by the same hostess who had made us feel so unwelcome. Towards the end of the long flight to Dubai, we were all exhausted, but not once was there any offer of relief or assistance from the attendants who were standing around chatting amongst themselves. Believe it or not, the next leg of the journey was worse, as the seats I was in with the three year old would not recline. On two occasions I sought help. The attendant said she would 'reset' the equipment. This meant the video system also went off for 15 minutes. I didn't see this attendant again. His seat did recline after this, but mine still did not! I tried again, different attendant but same story! I was forced to sit upright all the way. Having outlaid almost $10,000 for Business Class, I was not happy! Emirates boast about how many different countries the attendants come from. Perhaps they would do better to choose staff with a bit more empathy towards their passengers instead.

The Emirates A380 product is very good, although the seats in business class are rather tight, especially in fully flat position. Food was okay. The real issue is the diverse quality of the cabin crew: on the leg from DXB to ZRH they were just okay. From BKK to DXB I flew First: nobody addressed me by my name with the exception of the cabin crew director when she introduced herself to me. The service was not efficient, neither friendly nor First Standard.

Sensational experience on Emirates A380-800 from Bangkok to Newcastle via Dubai on March 10th. The cabin crew on this flight were fantastic. I fly through the Middle East a lot on business and have never encountered such a professional, well trained cabin crew. Another major plus was the extra leg room.