Damson

So there we were at Dubai airport at midnight for an Emirates 2.30am flight to Melbourne. The woman at checkin then said that the flight was full but that there was another flight at 9am which she could try to get us on. Basically, we had been bumped. She reminded us that it is always best to check in online (yeh, thanks love). Hang on a minute I said. I booked this flight in February and had picked our seats back in June and even had an email from their customer services confirming the seat allocation numbers. I decided not to scream and shout and eventually she managed to get us on the plane and luckily for us, a couple swapped seats with hubby and eldest so that we could all sit together. What a nightmare and what a bloody cheek.

We had checked in online in Birmingham for the first leg of the journey but unfortunately we didn't have internet access so couldn't do it when we were in Dubai. We also had 4 legs so had to checkin 4 times (what a pain).
So one thing I would say to everyone is make sure you check in on line when it opens 24 hours before flying and don't just assume that turning up 2-3 hours before your flight will be enough.

PS, We later did it via our mobile phone which we hadn't realised we could do (don't know whether everyone does it or whether it's only Emirates?).

sassie

Easier said than done if you are having a stopover in Dubai. We spent 6 days there, and do you think we could find anywhere we could use the internet. We gave up in the end.

cookiestar

Were you not able to check in straight through for all the other flights at the desk in the first airport? (or maybe not if you were stopping over?)

Jim Smith

Don't know where you were looking!

Many internet cafe's/shops and hotspots everywhere.

Zenshin

Hi Lorrielou

Thanks for the tip about internet check-in.
Apart from that, how was it flying with Emirates?
We are considering flying with them over to Perth since they have the 30kg allowance as opposed to the 20kg most other airlines have and are around the same price.

We normally always fly Singapore Airlines and know they are fab but they won't increase our allowance to more than the standard 20kg. (BTW I have asked about allowances for migrating but since we have Australian passports and are simply returning home after a long stint in the UK they won't budge - some much for customer loyalty etc)

Have you flown with Singapore Airlines and if so how does Emirates compare?

Thanks

IndieG

You should have - my oh was ranting and raving and I was hysterical.....we were accommodated in a nearby hotel, then sent business class the following morning PLUS we got return tickets to Melbourne thrown in for free

Damson

Bloody hell, if I'd known that.....! I'm not normally shy about letting my feelings known when I have bad service usually.

I was not impressed with Emirates at all. I've bored people on here with my experience of booking online with them (look away now if you don't want to be bored again). I mistakenly pressed a return date of 30 August instead of 30 July and rang them quickly when I realised what I had done. I was hit twice for my sloppy keyboard skills in that I was charged £300 to change the booking (even though it was 5 months before we were flying) and because it was for an August flight, and therefore more expensive, I clogged out. It cost about £1000. I'm a daft tart I know, but there you have it. What really hacked me off though was the complete couldn't care less attitude about it all.

On three of four of the legs we didn't get the seats we had reserved in the "Manage my Booking" bit online which was a real pain. On two of the legs the cabin crew really couldn't give a damn and absolutely everything was too much trouble. On the last leg, the headphone socket on my 4 year old's armrest was gone. I complained and was told that they were sorry. When I said that this didn't quite cut it and that I wasn't about to embark on a 7 hour journey with a bored child she said that she would try and find a seat in a different part of the plane for him!!! I refused this kind offer and they promised they would get an engineer to sort it out before we took off. This never transpired. However, the Purser arrived with a pen and managed to prise the armrest open and retrieve the socket thing. We then had to use sellotape that we had (luckily) packed in our hand luggage to keep it together. Really poor show.

I am aware that many people travel with them and are very impressed, but certainly not us. We will definately try Singapore next time.

PS I asked about forward checking and was told that we had to do it as we went along which was a complete pain (although it could be we were misinformed!). Being able to do it from our mobile however was much better.

cookiestar

So you couldn't check your baggage straight through either? This sounds mad. Every other airline I've flown with (a lot of different ones) have checked me and my bags through to final destination. How strange.

hollykimalan

We are Just about to book Emirates Glasgow to Brisbane.
Don't like the idea of not getting checked right through.
Espcially as we have young kids.
HKA

newjersey

Families, esp. traveling with kids, do get better treatment, first off, you have no chance to get bumped from an oversold flight. I used Emirates several times, if you have a toddler you can basically skip the queue at the check in, get to be the first one to board, etc - just ask the attendant and you will have it. I found them to be very accommodating.

NJ

Damson

Just to clarify, I was meaning checking in as opposed to checking luggage through. We put our baggage on at Singapore and changed flights at Dubai for final leg to Birmingham and we didn't need to do anything with them, ie, it was taken care of and we didn't see them until we got to Brum.

I was meaning checking yourself in for flights, which you would normally do a couple of hours before flying.

It would be worth contacting Emirates direct to find a conclusive answer about whether you can check in all legs of any journey. The bird I spoke to said that the idea was that you are giving a confirmation 24 hours before you fly that you are actually going to turn up (presumably to give them an indication of whether they can flog your seat!) and that to check in for a flight in 3 weeks time for example wouldn't be feasible. Checking in from our mobile was actually quite easy, so can recommend that if you can't get internet access.

Damson

We were travelling with kids (age 4 and 8) but this made no difference to them. It was nice to be first on (which BA does too - hopefully other airlines do also?). There are so many people on here who have had nothing but praise for Emirates - just not us unfortunately.

cookiestar

But the bags are checked in at the desk and they check you in at the desk too unless you've done it online previously. I'm confused now.

newjersey

Dunno about "checking in" three weeks ahead of time, I can only relate that to Singapore Airlines (I singed up for loyalty program just because of that, too) - you can pre-book your seats, then 48 hours ahead of your flight you can check in properly on-line, or just come to the airport to confirm, that you do want the seats you booked - makes the line at the check-in a little easier to bear with.

newjersey

It may not be available at all airports, but I can swear I saw the "bag drop only" desks in Singapore airport - I was only in transit there twice and both time a bit hung over . Otherwise, you just stand in the same line to drop off your luggage, you just confirm to the ground staff that you are already checked in and want to have the seats you picked online, get your claim tickets as per usual.