Emirates flights? Experience?

[bell123321]

Hi all

 

I just wondered what people's experiences of flying with Emirates were? I have been looking online and mostly can only see bad comments about staff being rude. Also wondered if anybody had used the wi fi they provide and if so how much was it? Looking at going over to Sydney just after Easter and Emirates after vietnam airlines is coming out cheapest.

 

Thanks in advance

[paisleylass]

Only flown to NZ with them. Won't go via Dubai ever. Wifi was ridiculously expensive. Sounds cheap but if you buy xmb for $x it runs out fast. For a brand new A380 the toilets were disgusting, dirty and smelly. Would't consider flying more than a 4 hour flight with them!

[Guest Guest66881]

All the way from england to here excellent service very clean toilets lovely polite crew, Dubai is just to big though but we went through fairly quickly compared to other stories we have heard.

[Diane]

My parents had a nightmare journey with them 18 months ago - late leaving LHR so missed their connection (there is a very short connection time allowed for such a large airport imho anyway), then re-routed via Melbourne and that was late too so they missed THAT connection too. What on paper looked a quick and efficient trip turned into anything but! They were flying Business Class as well so it wasn't cheap.

 

I think maybe they have ironed out a few wrinkled now though (the airline, not my parents) so hopefully if they ever fly with then again, it won't be as bad. They didn't mention anything bad about service or cleanliness on board.

[Nearlythere1]

Only flown with them once and found them to be fine. I've been on worse carriers that I won't name but Emirates, I've found, certainly aren't the worst.. Singapore airlines were good, Qantas were good, Etihad messed my seats up but were ok. I probably won't go with Malaysia Airlines again and not for the reasons you're thinking of, didn't find them very attentive unless you're from Malaysia. Cathay Pacific were fine, To be honest, they're mostly pretty similar, I now go for the shortest journey time, combined with cost of course. If it costs me an extra £30 to reduce my journey time 15-20 hrs, that's great in my book... some can take upto 45 hrs from the UK, depending on times between flights and how many flights/destination of course, I try to get my journey time to under 30 hrs, 25 if possible.. Don't like hanging around in hot airports for 7 hrs.. I've got Qantas from London - Dubai - Brisbane - Townsville in November - Journey time 25 hrs.. The food can be pretty ropey on all BTW.. Good luck with your search..:wink:

[WeegieDave]

Have always found emirates very good. I flew Perth to Dubai, then Dubai to Glasgow with then only 6 days ago and the staff were very good. The toilets were clean the food was pretty good and the inflight entertainment was good. No complaints really.

Flying back to Perth with them on Sunday.

The danger with online reviews is that the one in every 500 people flying with them who perhaps had a bad experience will be the person who goes online to vent their discontent whereas the 499 who had no complaints will just carry on as normal.

[CaptainR]

For the most part emirates are good, if going economy they are as good as any other airline. Dubai is fairly easy stopover, particular if you arrive and depart from concourse A. They have a good safety record.

I've flown them quite a lot, but generally prefer to route via Singapore or Hong Kong now as I like a stopover in those places.

[noworriesmate]

Emirates and Singapore consistently take the top two places in quality of their services for international travel. I am a frequent flyer with emirates for eight years and have never had a bad experience. I have no hesitancy in recommending them to anyone and since Dubai airport has finished it's upgrade/extension it is a great airport now too. Over the past couple of years I have been fortunate to fly business class, so that does make a difference but my kids have been flying economy a lot recently and reckon it's still amongst the best out there.

 

NWM

[Guest]

Flown with Emirates twice and would never, ever fly with them again - this was mainly due to our experience at Dubai airport, i have found my (very old) post about it here

 

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/transport-shipping/66431-warning-anyone-flying-via-dubai-very-serious.html

 

This wasn't the only issue though - on our first transit through Dubai airport my OH had a chain confiscated - the sort men have on wallets and then Emirates staff at the airport refused to get a drink of water for my very thirsty and crying 5 year old - told me I had to go and buy one (we had no currency as it was only a couple of hours)

 

The in-flight service was adequate but nothing more - drinks were only served with meals (though you could ask for more but I prefer to be offered!) - compared to Singapore airlines they were 3*

 

If I won two first class return tickets, you'd be welcome to them because I wouldn't even fly to Dubai for free.

[ramot]

Travelled pretty extensively as ex hostess and husband airline captain.

first of all as long as you land safe that is the first priority!! Ultimately you book according to cost, convenience of flight times and probably reputation, not a lot of difference between most of the major airlines

I am very critical of cabin crew, have had good bad and very indifferent, it all boils down to the crew of the day. On any airline you can have the best ever flight or the worst.

one of the biggest problems with Emirates is the size of the Airline, and the lack of cohesion among the many different nationalities that make up the cabin staff.

know a lot of cabin staff who have left recently because they are over worked with insufficient rest periods, which impacts on the service they give, and from my experience don't bother ever to use the call button, they appear trained to ignore it.

Have a safe flight with which ever airline you choose.

[bell123321]

Thank you everyone for your replies

 

I have only flown with Malaysia airlines previously and Royal Brunei (But they don't fly to Sydney), I will see if there are other airlines that are reasonable priced (Under £900 return for one, Emirates was coming at £740 from gatwick) but I don't mind paying more for a better route/airline. I have gone through Dubai once with Brunei but Lady Rainicorn has just reminded me on how strict they are (Forgot about that guy with the poppy seeds).

[Nearlythere1]

Thank you everyone for your replies

 

I have only flown with Malaysia airlines previously and Royal Brunei (But they don't fly to Sydney), I will see if there are other airlines that are reasonable priced (Under £900 return for one, Emirates was coming at £740 from gatwick) but I don't mind paying more for a better route/airline. I have gone through Dubai once with Brunei but Lady Rainicorn has just reminded me on how strict they are (Forgot about that guy with the poppy seeds).

 

Sounds like a great price. I just paid £692 for a one way London - Townsville, which was a about £30 more than the lowest price one, (Journey times again).. I'd stick with that unless you got a 75hr journey time lol.. Haven't been to Dubai as yet, though i found Abu Dhabi just down the coast to be ok.. No problems with security etc..

[Guest]

We found KLM offered the best combination of price and service - they do code share with Malaysian airlines though so it depends how you feel about that. We did pay an extra £150 each for 'Economy Comfort' seats on the longest leg but the overall price was cheaper than Singapore for a similar level of comfort

 

Now that Air Asia no longer do the route we found Sri Lankan Airlines the absolute cheapest by far and the service was very, very good - the in-flight entertainment not quite so good as Singapore as there was (quite reasonably!) a lot of non-English films and it wasn't 'on-demand'. Food was fantastic but I am a big Asian food fan - I opt for Asia vegetarian on all flights.

 

Dubai just scares me now - Emirates per se was satisfactory if it is the cheapest but on our two experiences (3 flights) I don't get why they are rated so highly.

 

Money no object Singapore everytime for me and the airport there is amazing - mind you we flew through there with KLM too.

[Pumpkin]

We flew Emirates from Sydney to Auckland in business. How I wish I had been going all the way back to UK, it was superb. I had a little minibar beside my seat and everything.

 

Separately, I have flown Qantas back to UK with a change in Dubai airport and it was unremarkable, no harder or easier than any other transit.

[vickyplum]

I am currently in Australia and flew here Emirates business class. As you might expect, I was very well fed and watered! Have never flown long haul business class before so can't make a comparison against any other airline. I would fly with them again if the price was right, but would rather transit via Asia and spend some time there if I fancied it.

 

I would say that Dubai airport was pretty disorganised... Despite it's attractive interior appearance, security etc struggled to deal with the volume of people disembarking from the A380.

[fifi69]

Never had any problems with the airline or the staff.

 

the on ground customer service I found to be good and straightforward ...ie changing flight days at the last minute. Although even though I emailed all the nessasary paperwork required for a refund for changing said flights, 4 months later no money has materialised.

 

Dubai airport is my bigbear with this airline....for me its just too big, too busy, no matter what time of the day/night you pass through.

 

I much prefer if I can escape the airport and have a short luxurious break in the city itself.

[Guest Dave53]

I fly at least 6 long haul flights a year , mostly between Australia and UK , and have flown many airlines on this route over the years from the early 80's to date . On the question of Emirates Airlines , I've had good and bad experiences , and that's the problem as I see it , there's simply no uniformity , and it's just the luck of the draw . Emirates is the only airline to lose my checked in bags , not once but on two occasions , they did show after a few days , but an inconvenience . They also have a poor on time record compared to other operators . The aircraft are by and large modern from Australia to Dubai and return , but can be much older from Dubai to your onward destination , with a inferior inflight entertainment system . The seats in Economy class are uncomfortable and very cramped in the Boeing 777 which has a 10 across seating arrangement where most other airlines only have 9 across , so less space ...

Ill be flying to London again next month , this time with BA .... Much cheaper than Emirates and loads cheaper than Qantas and quicker too ... It will be my first flight with BA for many years so I'm looking forward to making a comparison ..

 

Dave

[louisella]

I've flown to Oz twice on Emirates (and family have used them several times) and I've never had any problems with them. I've found the staff to be polite etc but to be honest once I'm on board I tend to switch off from what's going on around so have never really noticed whether they offer drinks outside of dinner service etc. I'm flying with Singapore this time round (in November) so will be interesting to see the comparison.

[nikki244]

We fly with 5 kids, and I found that they had loads of stuff for the kids, activity pack etc. I've only flown with them twice and wasn't that impressed tbh. I mean, most things are thought of and catered for, but the manner of the cabin crew leaves a bit to be desired imo. They are just a bit, well...abrupt.

 

The other thing is that I've flown with an infant both times I've flown with Emirates, and they tend to fill up the bassinet rows with single guys who are looking for more leg room. The only thing is that it becomes a bit awkward as a breastfeeding mother, when stuck in between two six foot guys. I think they need to think more about that. I've ended up having to give up my bassinet seat row, and move to another row with baby on my lap for the whole flight, just so I can feed the little one without me and/or the guys feeling awkward. And on one flight, the guy who had booked his seat in the bassinet row, had the cheek to moan when there were babies either side of him! Don't want to sit next to a baby and a breastfeeding mother? DON'T BOOK A SEAT IN The BASSINET ROW! Sorry, rant over.

 

I will be flying Emirates a bit over the next six months as it's the only way in and out of Cyprus (we're here for six months) if you don't want to go via Europe. But I wouldn't fly with them if Cathay Pacific or Singapore Airlines came to Cyprus.

 

Oh, and I didn't much like being crammed on a standing room only bus standing with baby on hip waiting for 10 -15 minutes for the bus to fill up with the temp in the mid thirties and then the 10 minute ride to the plane from the gate. As airports go, Hong Kong and Singapore are also far better imo, and their hotels a lot easier to find.

 

Actually the only thing I thought was really good, were the activity packs for the kids.

 

ETA: On our last flight from Dubai to Cyprus, one of the cabin crew members spent the entire flight chatting to a girl on the flight. He leaned over her seat the whole time, just talking to her. Now she may have been his girlfriend or his wife and not just some random passenger...but...it was more than unprofessional for him to do so, especially when they were getting off the plane at the same airport!

Edited September 6, 2014 by nikki244

[wakeboard1980]

Emirates are fine. And they have a generous luggage allowance.

[Guest]

Emirates are fine. And they have a generous luggage allowance.

 

Singapore offer 30kg as standard now too. Others also I think, seems to be becoming more commonplace now.

[Pasteypoms]

We are hoping to book our flights for January ( Melbourne bound) 2 adults 2 children (11&7). My question is 'has anyone flown with Emerites? If so are they any good? Also we are not sure if to stop off in Thailand or Singapore for a few days or not stop? - I know we need to refuel. We can either fly from Birmingham or London. Any advise flying with kids would be great, as the last time we went to Australia was 14 years ago and we had a children. Any advise would be a great help x

:wub::wink::wub:

[clarence17]

We are hoping to book our flights for January ( Melbourne bound) 2 adults 2 children (11&7). My question is 'has anyone flown with Emerites? If so are they any good? Also we are not sure if to stop off in Thailand or Singapore for a few days or not stop? - I know we need to refuel. We can either fly from Birmingham or London. Any advise flying with kids would be great, as the last time we went to Australia was 14 years ago and we had a children. Any advise would be a great help x

:wub::wink::wub:

Etihad has flying nannies, who might be able to help with your kids.

[kellyv]

There is an almost identical thread lower down posted in the last few days!

[shaughns20]

Etihad has flying nannies, who might be able to help with your kids.

That don't actually do much! My aunt flew from Brisbane to Dublin only a few weeks ago and booked with them for this service. She was flying alone with two small children and thought well I'll only rely on them for when I need to pee or something and they did nothing for her. She knew who they were. I think they make themselves known at the start of the flight or something. And she found both of them, both ways of her journey, would rush past her seat, avoiding eye contact. Said they seemed to just be an extra pair of hands for cabin crew, as they helped the crew at meal times etc. but never helped any parents on the flight anyway. May be better on other routes, but just warning, don't rely on them and book for that service alone!