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Emirates Reviews
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Emirates Skywards loyalty program is designed to be both non-customer-friendly and anti-customer loyalty. Their award miles expire within 3 years if not redeemed even if you have subsequent flying activity as a loyal customer. That itself is surprising since most major world-class airlines have now adopted flexible policies and do not force expiry of previously accumulated reward miles if there is continuing activity by the customer. This misguided policy does not promote loyalty at all since it's one-sided as it's clear that Emirates has no loyalty to its customers but expects its customers to continuously use its services.
Furthermore, Emirates is insisting on forced expiry of its loyalty program miles by counting the entire period when they were closed and had no flights, towards the 3 year validity period to use reward miles. Although they had no flights/a very high cancellation rate during 2020-2022, initially due to Covid related airport shutdowns and then a prolonged (approx. 6 months) service disruption through late 2021 and early 2022 due to multiple cancellations and a very poor punctuality record. How is it fair to insist their customers should have used their Skywards reward miles during a period when they offered no service for 50% of the time?? They also don't seem to care about our health concerns (lack of vaccination boosters, age etc.) by suggesting we should have travelled when recent Covid outbreaks during the 2021 and 2022 winter season were rampant around the world.
My wife and I flew no less than First class in Jan 2020 immediately after which the airline and the entire industry was shut down and disrupted for 18 months first with COVID and then with Omicron. We requested at least 24 months more to use those miles and to be able to accumulate more rewards miles but instead they don't care about our loyalty at all. The Skywards miles we accumulated from that Jan 2020 trip alone were insufficient to make it worthwhile to use towards a reward trip but neither could we accumulate more miles as Emirates had no services. We are now approaching the end of a 3 year period since we earned those miles and even though we flew as loyal customers via long-haul business class flights on Emirates in Nov 2022 they are insisting we should have used our miles earned in Jan 2020 during the past 3 years, which makes no sense and shows how poorly they treat their loyal customers.
They are now threatening us with forced expiry of the 2020 reward miles claiming that the airline has been operating normally since mid-2022, it's been sufficient time to use the miles and also ignoring that we flew Emirates Business class in Nov 2022 as loyal customers returning after the pandemic, when it was safe to fly again.
I would like to say that the staff working for this airlines is disgusting. They do not assist with real issues. They also do not help you when you are stuck in other countries. I visited India with them and they would not allow me and my family member to board the flight. My sister had an issue with her visa and it was resolved, they still did not allow her on the plane even though the plane did not leave. The manager was called and he had a nasty attitude and refused to help me. All they told me was I should book another ticket. When I called the number they gave me, it was not even a working number. Then when I found the number on the internet, a flight for the same day was $3200 USD. The plane is not even luxurious to charge that amount of money for a flight. This is very unprofessional. It makes me not even want to visit India ever again. Emirates is also out of the book for an airline for me.
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Absolutely atrocious service of the ground staff and call center staff. I was denied boarding by their check-in staff, because I had some minor marks on my passport (I had been to over 15 countries on that passport in the condition it was in, but I won't dwell on this point). The staff kept listing out the 'rules' and 'terms and conditions', and even when I asked for some solutions it was back to the rules; literally, no insights. When I asked about re-booking it's 'we can't help, you need to contact your travel agent'. The staff showed no compassion and provided no useful advice.
I had a return flight; my outgoing flight was from London to India, then my return flight was Bahrain to London. They listed me as a 'no-show' on their 'system' - which means they also canceled my Bahrain - London flight, which I can easily make (I will get a new passport in 2 days' time) and then fly to India to continue my trip as planned (minus a few days). To get on that flight from Bahrain to London I have to pay a 200GBP 'change fee' and the difference in fare - for a flight that I have already paid for, and that I would have made. I have never experienced such terrible service. I once missed a flight by a day with Air France, and they just put me on the next flight. Even budget airlines do not cancel your whole trip if you miss you outbound flight (from my experience of missing outgoing budget flights).
Emirates Airlines is a fraud! Adverstises to be a magical airline and had the worst experience of 10 lifetimes! Even worst: THEY SCAM people with their UPGRADES on the plane! You get an e-mail saying you can upgrade for $1800 from economy to business. Then "server" DOESN'T WORK. You go to the counter and it becomes $2000. Then the counter person says she couldn't do it, try on the plane for a "bit more". Well, I was charged $3600 per passenger to upgrade in the plane! Old, dirty, broken business seat with bad food and ok service! CHOOSE ANOTHER AIRLINE! They canceled my return flight after I complained!!!! Contacted top management Tim **, Consumer Affairs, in airport, forget it! They give you the run around only! DISGUSTING!!! ORLANDO TO DUBAI JAN 25, 2023. RETURN FEB 3, 2023.
Incredibly poor experience for such an incredibly expensive flight. We flew from Milan to Atlanta with a connection in New York. We were held on the tarmac for almost an hour and a half with no explanation. Not surprisingly, we missed our flight. I went to the counter to get rebooked to a new one. It took 2 hours for the (extremely rude) customer service representative to offer me a flight 24 hours later and a motel (1/5 star review on Google). They insisted nothing else was available even though we were seeing tons of availability on our own. Furthermore, they told us we would get reimbursed for Ubers and food during the 24 hours. I contacted Emirates several times and have had no such luck in getting reimbursed. They completely ignore you. Will never fly Emirates again despite the name brand. Give me my money for the Ubers and meals!
Terrible experience with Emirates. We spent 15K on first class return London to Dubai. It said 2 seats left, we booked and then it transpired they were not together. We were not told this on the website before booking (even cheap airlines show you this). Same for the return. We called to cancel (within an hour) and they charged us 400 pounds and said it would be 14-21 days for the refund. Shameful and backwards customer experience.
Our luggage was damaged and became useless on our trip from NYC to Milan Italy. The agent at the airport took pictures completed the report and directed me to purchase another replacement one. The item was under my disabled partner Alejandro **. I sent an email to the email provided upon returning. They took long to respond. They requested the receipt of my new item. They refused to refund stating that they only replace or repair the damaged luggage. The item has no chance of repair as confirmed by Emirates agent at Malpensa. How do you replace it if not refunding me for the new one?
I have traveled with Emirates (booking reference: **) and had a horrible experience in August and September 2022. I made a complaint to them with the following reference number: ** regarding my experience on the trip and described the issues I experienced in great detail. The airline was not empathetic towards the poor experience, overall service, and discomfort they had caused to me as a passenger. They merely apologized and brushed me off. I am very disappointed and I was hoping after making a complaint, they would be more understanding and compassionate for the discomfort I experienced which was caused by them. Unfortunately, they do not care and do not do anything to make things better. I will be strongly considering using other airlines after this experience.
31st July, I logged in to my Emirates account and tried to book my flights online. Upon doing so, there was no pricing or points information available for each options (Saver, Premium or Business, also differences in each for each flight time) and so I called the Emirates booking line. The representative (Angelo) confirmed that there is a website glitch and proceeded to assist in my booking over the phone. I made it abundantly clear to the representative that I am looking to secure business class flights in the most cost effective way (i.e. upgrade) and that I am happy to utilise all of my Emirates SkyMiles in securing my flights.
Also mentioned SEVERAL times that this trip is part of my Wedding and Honeymoon, I will also have a long Wedding Dress that will be onboard and needs to be hung in a closet (Can't be in overhead lockers). I asked the representative on how I could achieve a cost effective upgrade to business class and was simply advised to try my chances upon check in at the airport. He also suggested that by paying for my flights with cash and miles that I will save monies on the flight. Then proceeded to confirm that he made an internal request for upgrade and while that couldn't guarantee me an upgrade, will help my chances.
Few days later, I was looking at the Emirates website (still not working for return flights) but then playing with the settings on a one way flight basis. It was in this way that I identified that if I had actually paid for my economy flights using just cash, that I had enough points to upgrade both myself and partner to Business Class flights for the full return from Rome to Melbourne.
I called the Emirates booking line again, and after long wait times and being on the phone for over 1 hour 15 minutes, the representative (Diago **) said that I would have to pay $1,000 to cancel the flights if I wanted to rebook and use the miles for my Business Class upgrade! I asked to speak to the manager given these special circumstances and not being offered this option upon booking, but was denied the courtesy to speak with the manager. I asked countless times for simply to talk to the manager, and Diago consistently refused without understanding my situation and often talked over me.
I'm submitting this complaint as I should have been advised this option to utilise my points for Business Class upgrades when looking to book my flights - As the website was down (still down/doesn't show options) and I had no other way to tell and even asked multiple times the representative "How can I get my upgrade? What can I do to increase my chances? Is there anything else I can do?" and not ONCE was this mentioned. Should I have known this on booking day, that I can pay my flights with cash and use my points for upgrade that's exactly what I would have done! As such, I am requesting that my flights be updated to reflect as such that I wanted on Day 1.
After such back and forth, a supervisor called me back the next day. The supervisor also agreed and acknowledged that the representative did not provide all the options at the time of booking and without a viable working Emirates website, how am I to know the options to make an informed decision? I could only act on the information provided - which the supervisor did advise lacked all the options. The supervisor also agreed and acknowledged that I mentioned the website was not working at the time I called in to book. Supervisor told me to email him all my screenshots of the Emirates glitch and issue - which I did that day & got no reply. Supervisor also told me to lodge a formal complaint via Emirates - which I also did that day and also got no reply.
Simply wanting to refund my flights in full, simply so that I can REBOOK both of my legs to be flexi fares and have my points returned - I am being asked for the $1,000 cancellation fee. A fee that I am being incurred because an Emirates representative was not able to provide all of the information upfront? A fee that is your internal fee, and I am rebooking with you on the same call. A fee that I am told could have been waived in the first 48 hours but because I called on the 3rd day, is it no longer viable? BY THE WAY, I only found out after 2 weeks of chasing that it could have been refundable prior - the second representative also did not advise of this. This is how they reward loyalty. EMIRATES DON'T CARE.
Emirates has not paid me my refund for more than 7 months now. They keep giving me the runaround. Their Customer Service does not even bother to check any history of correspondence and keeps giving me the same stupid excuses. If this is the way Emirates reports record profits, by frustrating us so that we stop following up for the refund, then kudos to them. Excellent game plan. Their customer service is the worst. No one bothers to respond for days together, and when they do eventually respond, their response is absolutely useless.
Emirates Company Information
- Company Name:
- Emirates Airlines
- Website:
- www.emirates.com
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