In the mood to do a short write-up on Christmas Eve here from down under 😉
Merry Christmas everybody!
Just a tip for those who are flying home next time for Christmas.
Do your online check-in once you can.
Apparently Emirates has the right to be overbooked, and this was what happened to us on Thursday morning, when we arrived 3 hours before our flight was due to leave for home.
Stupidly enough, knowing that it was the busiest time of the year, we had not checked-in online and instead got to DXB early in hope to secure a spot on the emergency seats. I know, I know, what were we thinking!
The attendant gently relayed the message to us that the flight had been overbooked, not by one but by 9. So G supposedly had his seat, but not his wife. The attendant looked at G and asked “Would you like to take this flight home first?” 😉
Now before you start throwing tantrums and causing a scene, take a step back.
Apparently, if you are overbooked and they can not in any way get you on that specific flight, Emirates will compensate you with a return ticket valid for a year. This is on top of the next flight that they will put you on, which was what happened to us.
We got onto the flight the next day, and we’re both back here now. But much thanks to Emirates, eventhough we did waste many hours in the airport, a lot of stress and lack of sleep, we will have a return ticket Dubai-Home to use for 2015.
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Special mention to the guy who took care of us, Ahmed. I feel for those who work behind the ‘Overbooked’ counters ay. It must be like a drama school every single day, dealing with people from different cultures, each with their own stories of why they need to go home on this specific flight.
So… moral of the story is, if you need to get onto that specific flight for a wedding or a specific occasion, make sure you do online check-in to guarantee your seat! Prior to that day, I did not even know that airlines had the right to be overbooked….I’m thankful that Emirates takes care of its customers.
Interesting post – Emirates have recently changed policy on their overbookings. Used to be, flights there were often overbooked (subcontinent, UK etc) were a good source of discretionary upgrades for Skywards. Now they will overlook frequent flyers and offer upgrades as priority to those higher fare codes (eg Flex rather than saver). So even a Platinum that flies with them a lot is second best to a once a year passenger that pays full fare 🙁
Really? I didn’t know that! That’s a little unfair though. What’s the point of building up to a Platinum then. Now I don’t feel so bad for losing my Silver (so hard to build up to that already, what more Gold/Platinum!). I remember the days of secretly hoping for an upgrade to Business when I was checking-in 🙂
Lots of the airlines are reshuffling their loyalty programs, focussing purely on the money/revenue per ticket/seat rather than frequency sadly. Personally, I don’t rate Skywards as a loyalty program – there’s far better value ones with much better flexibility. For Dubai, without a doubt the best thing to do is use SPG (hotel loyalty program) especially with a cobranded credit card on spend, then transfer those points into your airline of choice 🙂 If you’re set on a Gulf carrier, look at Qatar or Etihad (in that order)