Emirates

Emirates had become my airline of choice because of the great seats and entertainment system on their new A380's. Until my most recent flights I also found their service and food to be among the best. However on my recent flights from HKG to DXB and DXB to Dublin I found both the food and service to be awful. Their switch to serving food in J class on open plates is a disaster. The food ends up lukewarm and dry. I much preferred the sealed container. The food was bland and tasteless. The cabin attendants on both sectors were pretty indifferent. On the second sector service was particularly clueless with wrong orders and lack of apology. I might just look for other options next time I fly. One thing also to bear in mind if you can avoid it - the HKG-DXB route flies over Bay of Bengal. Turbulence here as on my flight can be fairly rough during monsoon season. Also for some reason we had to be bussed to the gate when we reached DXB. The ground journey took 20 minutes. The place where we were dropped off happened to be the confluence between T1 and T3 and as a result a lot of transit passengers headed off in the wrong direction. A frustrating mistake to make at midnight when you are already tired.

EK 413 AKL-SYD 13 April Business Class. Disappointing service and poor hospitality. Emirates appear to have lost their former sparkle. Problems started at the Emirates Lounge in AKL where numerous Qantas passengers were denied entry due to different rules applying to status levels and guests. Emirates staff looked particularly anguished dealing with the number of complaints they had on this occasion. The Lounge was full to capacity and it was difficult to find a seat with flights going via Brisbane Sydney and Melbourne all around the same time. However the food in the lounge is exceptionally good compared to competitor offerings at the moment. Onboard the business class standard on the A380 was poor in hospitality comparison to current competitors. Young inexperienced staff surprisingly lacking basic etiquette and manners. Staff looked tired and despondent. During the flight I was either served twice or not at all. Despite the new A380 I was surrounded with broken and depreciated equipment. Meal service very average. The staff just seemed to want to rush and close down the service as quickly as possible. The pricing is definitely competitive and if hospitality isn't important and you just want to nod off this could still be a good way to travel. For me the quality is just not good enough in hospitality for business class. Its not just about the IFE and the swish seating capsule. The outbound flight with Air New Zealand may have lacked the latest technology and wizardry in cabin design but made up for it in spades in terms of hospitality professionalism and overall comfort. Have used Emirates a couple of times over the last few years and couldn't fault them previously. Will avoid them for a while. Clearly lost something as I didn't feel looked after on this occasion.

Birmingham-Dubai-Bangkok-Sydney-Christchurch NZ 19 January 2014. Economy. Nice food and good service. Birmingham - Dubai was a 777 (2 class) and we had bassinet bulkhead seats row 8 which gave lots of legroom. Dubai - Bangkok was the A380 which is super comfortable we had bulkhead behind seats next to the midships galley. There was some noise from the galley and there is a locker above the seats which is not great but we were comfortable enough. Bangkok - Sydney was with Qantas this was the least comfortable as plane was older. Although Emirates is Qantas partner you cannot pre-assign seats for Qantas flights so these were our least good seats. Sydney to Christchurch was again a 777 and not full so I again sat in row 8. I believe that Emirates does not make the (777 2 class) row 8 bassinet seats available until airport check in. If there are no babies needing them you can ask at the gate to move into these seats and if you are a frequent flyer you may get moved It worked for us.

EK 418 - QF 8418 - Bangkok - Sydney. Seats - 17A 17B 17D 17E 17F + Bassinet for baby. 24/04/2014. When I saw I was Emirates coming back from Bangkok I was very happy as I had heard great things about them. In the end it was a disaster. Couldn't check in all the way through with my family at Phuket so had to wait until a desk opened in Bangkok then best part of 45 mins. Once on the aircraft we had been split up so cabin crew tried to sort this out but a very large person who had booked the seat insisted having it. It was sorted in the end but took a long time. As for the seats they where like rocks to sit on for any time. I was amazed that the cabins have large screen that keep coming on and off telling us here we are. One was directly over my 5 month old Granddaughter and every time it came on it woke her up. Even with the eye shades provided for passengers the bright light came through making it impossible to rest or sleep. Over all very disappointed.

On a recent flight on 22 April from Warsaw to Guangzhou via Dubai (EK180) I was upgraded to Business Class. Finally I get to sample the much advertised Emirates Business Class. The Business Class was full and so was the entire flight I assume. The welcome was the usual that you get with the welcome drink but none of the staff offered to take my jacket. After take off the bar service started quite late. There was a wait of approximately 40 minutes. The second round of drinks took ages. I had ordered a second whisky which the staff conveniently forgot. I had to remind to which I was given a curt unapologetic "it's being made"! That too by the chief purser a lady in her 50's. During the meal which was nice the wine came only once. I had to remind the stewardess to fill-up my long empty glass. The staff was not well-informed about the plane either. I asked one if it was the new 777 to which she replied that she did not know. She never bothered to find-out and inform either. I can say one thing about Emirates. The hardware is there but the 'software' still needs to be updated. Staff training on customer satisfaction has to be intensified. I would not recommend anyone to buy the Business Class unless it's only for the additional comfort. Service is definitely lacking. Wonder what the First Class is like. Taking into account my experience in the Business Class I am certain the pampering is non-existent. Frankly I prefer Lufthansa. The service in all classes is very good and that keeps you aching for more.

Flew from Zurich to Tokyo via Dubai. The flight was efficiently handled. B777 on the way out was fine though the seating was not better than normal. A380 from DXB to ZRH had noticeably more seat space and was remarkably quiet. Meals were exceptionally good but service was patchy. Not everyone got coffee maybe the team needs to bring in some f/b to improve there.

Flight EK050/EK705 in Economy Flight EK706/EK051 in Business. Used special EK offer for business class. From MUC to DXB and back A380: comfortable seats with enough leg room even in Economy! DXB to SEZ a very different story: A340-500 with really cramped seating in Economy seats in Business on SEZ to DXB are not lie-flat and not comfortable. Food ok on 3 legs but worse (with old bread) in Business on SEZ-DXB leg. However can not understand the policy of EK to serve breakfast on a night flight at 3am on DXB-SEZ leg in Economy whereas the C-Cl and First Class Pax could sleep. Crew in general were polite but seemed very unorganised with bad service in Business Class on SEZ-DXB leg: they just served coffee and tea after breakfast with no refills and no additional drink rounds or offers. Personally addressed in C only on the DXB-MUC leg but also forgot after dinner to serve coffee or tea and the chocolate to me and my wife. In MUC they had troubles fixing the airbridge at the upper deck which resulted in late disembarking of all C and F-Class pax so at the passport control all Y-Pax (almost 300-400) were in front while the priority baggage was already on the bag carousel. IFE as already mentioned before: wonderful but not working properly on DXB-SEZ leg.

Flew LGW to SYD via DXB then Perth to LGW. All four flights were on time and pain free. Able to book seats on all flights well in advance and choose rear doubles on 777-300s which gave additional space albeit with crew reserved seats behind. Caught up on most of the films I had wanted to see for the past 6 months and a few more beside. Very good quality meals with real metal cutlery provided. Rest rooms were kept clean by flight crew who were always available to offer service - although not too difficult when they are only just behind you! Love to get the chance to fly Emirates again. Wish they flew direct to USA from London!

First problem on EK018 only 1 USB port worked between 3 seats. When I placed the food tray down there was remnants of the last meal and coffee stains all over it. EK805 delayed approx. 2.5 hours combined with delay in immigration caused me to miss my connecting flight in Jeddah resulting in a 9 hour wait for a place on connecting flight. I arrived at my destination in Medinah 12 hours after I was supposed to. EK802 delayed 1.5 hrs from Jeddah. I ordered Asian veg meal but was served an omelette with sausage. EK017 delayed 15-20 mins causing me to miss my train which I had booked before travelling. The food on the outward journey was very bland but on the flight to Manchester was wonderful. The only consolation is I was travelling alone and not with my family.

LHR-DXB-LHR in Y on A380 - for leg room and width still the best in economy on this plane - I'm 6'3 no problems on a 7 hrs flight. IFE excellent as always. Food - EK have changed there attractive economy meal tray set ups to all half size trays and very standard shape dishes - food still good but no room to move things round and very charter carrier style - shame! Although £391 return to DXB cant complain at all.