debsy

We have been offered a good deal by emirates for our validation trip - anyone been with them before. On our last trip we flew with Singapore who were very good with the kids.

Thanks
Debs

Pollyana

Lots of people say they are excellent. Personally I wouldn't fly with them again if you paid me!
Just be prepared for a very Arabic attitude (and this isn't meant to be racist, they just have a different way of life) - I flew with them as a white woman, on my own - and thus got the worst treatment of anyone on board I reckon! I won't go into the boring details - I think they are on here somewhere already if you search under Emirates! You may get better treatment if travelling with a man, but for choice I'd go with a far eastern airline like Singapore or Malaysian.

jopaulss

We flew maylasia first time very good and emirates this time , came in from birmingham , no problems with either of them
Joanne

karawara88

Flew Emirates from Manchester business class, couldn't fault them.

Have flown Malaysian and they were really bad, Cathay Pacific were good and Singapore excellent but would definatly use Emirates again. Only have experience of Business and First no idea about economy.

See http://www.airlinequality.com/ for customer comments on every airline.

debsy

Thanks for the comments. Poor you Pollyana! Emirates seem very cheap though.

Thanks
Debs

arlene

i see ug ug men still exist then


arlene

tinaj

We flew with Enirates to Sydney with 3 children. They were great, couldn't fault the service on board but check in was a joke.

They wanted people to move to another flight, we volunteered and were told we would get free flights in exchange- yippee! Off we went to the other queue. When we finally got to the front they expected us to go on a later flight with BA in a different terminal with no free flights at all. Get real we said and had to join the other queue again!


They give a skypack for the kids and the Movies were ok. Lots of legroom- the biggest about 34" it didn't feel like economy class and comfy large seats.

Another downside is the schedule 7 hrs to Dubai 7 hrs Singapore 7 to Sydney. Makes it a bit chop and change. However Dubai airport has a great indoor playground for the kids. You pay a small fee and can leave them there for 1 - 2 hours. We made use of this there and back and went round Duty free completely stress free!!

debsy

Thanks Tina. Thats was really useful. We will be flying from Istanbul so it is only a 4 hour flight to Dubai. The only thing is on the return we have to wait at Dubai from 06.00 until 14.00 - yuk! I cannot get prices here from Singapore or Malaysia yet as they have not yet released their winter programme.

thanks
Debs

karawara88

Blag yourself a lounge pass, just ask at check in, say somthing like travel agent told you to pick one up because they messed up booking and said it would be at desk. Always worth a go. Emirates lounge is quite nice, free internet, food etc. For those going to Perth its direct flight from Dubai about 10 hours.

dracupg

Flown out with Emirates a few times, and they have been great. Dubai is a great place for a stopover as well, especially if you have kids. Probably the most least likely airline in the world to be the subject of a hijacking, or is that a terrible thing to be thinking?

debsy

I know what you mean Gordon! I was thinking the same!

thanks
Debs

crabtree

I flew to Perth with Emirates in January.
Very friendly, the stewards and stewardess were of all nationalities (not just Arab but French, English, German, Malaysian)
Food excellent, nothing left on my tray.
Plenty of leg room, but I only have little legs anyway.
Entertainment screens were enough to keep me occupied as I did not sleep.
and last but not least they were the cheapest.
I would not hesitate to fly Emirates again.

Tony C

PS My wife & daughter flew with Malaysian last year, and spoke very highly of their service too.

tennisoz

Debs

We have flown Emirates about 5 times (economy) and they have been brilliant every time. Our first experience was by accident, we were flying Singapore Airlines and our flight was late due to air traffic control problems at Manchester and we missed our connection for Melbourne in Singapore but we got transferred onto Emirates. What a difference for the much better from Singapore - much more room, fresher cabin air (a very important consideration), better food and service (but the stewardesses didn't look as good as the Singapore 'cuties').

Since then we have flown Emirates every time. Once my wife and me were travelling out at separate times and she had absolutely no problems as a white women travelling alone (the smile you send out returns to you?)

Personally we find the 7 hours to Dubai, 7 hours to Singapore and 7 hours to Melbourne brilliant. You get to checkout the best 2 airports in the world. Regarding your long wait at Dubai, I know in Singapore they give a free (airconditioned) tour for transit passengers with more than 5 hours to wait - do they provide the same in Dubai?

Good luck

P.S. In order of preference for all the airlines we've travelled to Oz it is 1 Emirates 2 Lauda 3 Cathay Pacific 4 Singapore ....... equal 99th BA and Qantas

lynnj

Am i being thick here but what makes emirates the least likely airline in the world to be hijacked?

Lynn

Pollyana

Interesting to read about Emirates - people have either found them brilliant or appalling!
I think Dubai airport has changed a lot, so they may have a transit lounge now. When I was there (2000) they just left us to wander a very crowded terminal, with no news of what was happening. In the end some guys off my flight managed to find out which gate we would leave from and about 50 of us just moved into it! Guards all round us with guns, but by thenwe'd had enough and just didn't care! Don't know how we got away with it, but we couldn't speak Arabic and they had no English, so waving guns and gesturing that we should leave the gate area didn't have a lot of effect! Quite amusing looking back, but not at the time.
I tried the "smile and they smile back" game, usually works doesn't it, but the only person it worked on then was an unpleasant looking Arab who wanted to lead me away!!

Ah well, part of life's rich pageant I guess! Going Cathay Pacific this time, I'll let you know how they rate.

My order of preference at present would be 1) Lauda 2) Malaysian 3) Qantas 99) BA Unclassified(!) Emirates