Emirates A380 Faulty First Class Seat on long haul flight

[damiankov]

Hi there,

I am new to these forums, but after my nightmare experience with Emirates I felt I really had to share my story and get some advice.

My mother has serious back problems and has major issues sitting down, so this year for her birthday I decided to surprise her and buy her a first class Emirates A380 ticket to Europe to visit her frail mother who she hadn't seen in years.

To my horror, her seat on the 14hr flight from MEL to DUBAI did not work. Two stewards made her stand there while it took both of them almost an hour to manually keep resetting the seat about 5 times, when they finally give up and had to force it manually to lie down. For the rest of the flight the seat did not work and could not be used unless the whole manual process was repeated. Certainly not a first class experience worth $10,000 AUD. And certainly not a purchase that would have been made if we knew the seat would not work.

Call me naive, but here I was thinking ok fine, our whole family has flown Emirates for 10+ years, I myself fly business/first frequently and they would sort this issue out for us. So I wrote to them and asked them to resolve the issue and upgrade my parents to first class on their return trip (they had business tix booked). To my dismay they gave some free points worth about $2k, and told my parents they would have to use all their hard earned skywards points to request an upgrade and this upgrade could not be guaranteed. They didn't consider the faulty seat 'exceptional circumstances' to be able to upgrade the flight for us. So I guess it is common for them to sell faulty seats to passengers?

So to recap,

a)we paid for a first class seat with Emirates worth $10k, which did not work
b)asked for an upgrade on return flight to resolve our issue
c)told no upgrade will be given - gave skywards points worth $2k
d)told to use all earned points and maybe get an upgrade to first class

At this point I felt really ripped off and not to mention, disheartened that they would treat customers this way. So I took my complaint to the Customer Affairs Manager.
Guess what? Their response was even worse. They will not upgrade my parents to first class, and the points is all they are willing to do. And to make things even worse, the Manager's closing statement was - If you are not happy with this, you can fly with another airline next time.

Not sure what experiences others have had, but I am now considering VCAT action and have requested a full refund. Needless to say none of my family will ever fly with Emirates again.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mannej]

Just so it's clear, was it a mixed class ticket (i.e F one way, J back)?

 

[Cynicor]

Maybe do a chargeback so they have to come to the table. I would argue you did not receive the good you paid for, although some may argue you paid for transport from X-Europe only...

 

[mannej]

Maybe do a chargeback so they have to come to the table. I would argue you did not receive the good you paid for, although some may argue you paid for transport from X-Europe only...

I would suspect a chargeback would be declined and the OP told to sort it out with the airline.

 

[ftm]

Interesting responses, and can't say they were what I would expect from such a scenario.

An upgrade would feel appropriate. Maybe EK are focussing on something we aren't.

 

[Cynicor]

I would suspect a chargeback would be declined and the OP told to sort it out with the airline.

My few chargebacks have been done without question, so I have no idea. Amex and GE, only one with each. Amex barely let my sentence finish before giving the money back...

 

[The Rok]

Didn't this exact scenario pop up on AFF a few years ago, also on EK?

 

[harvyk]

Maybe do a chargeback so they have to come to the table. I would argue you did not receive the good you paid for, although some may argue you paid for transport from X-Europe only...

I am normally the first to argue that technically you've only paid for transport, but IMHO it's a different story when you've paid for a specific class and you didn't receive service of a standard for that class.
I would write a letter (rather than argue over the phone) and explain that you have paid for F but did not receive what you feel is an F product. Explain that what you would like in compensation is the F product on your return. Explain that you feel an issuing of points is not sufficient compensation.

Also put in a deadline which you would like the matter resolved otherwise you will escalate to Office of Fair Trading.

Keep emotion out of the letter, state just the facts, don't even put in stuff about your mother been frail or how you've been an EK customer for years, that is irrelevant. I would suggest writing it as a letter. Also put down that should the F cabin be full on the return flight, you would like to discuss with EK appropriate alternate compensation.

Good luck.

 

[markis10]

I am normally the first to argue that technically you've only paid for transport, but IMHO it's a different story when you've paid for a specific class and you didn't receive service of a standard for that class.
I would write a letter (rather than argue over the phone) and explain that you have paid for F but did not receive what you feel is an F product. Explain that what you would like in compensation is the F product on your return. Explain that you feel an issuing of points is not sufficient compensation.

Also put in a deadline which you would like the matter resolved otherwise you will escalate to Office of Fair Trading.

Keep emotion out of the letter, state just the facts, don't even put in stuff about your mother been frail or how you've been an EK customer for years, that is irrelevant. I would suggest writing it as a letter. Also put down that should the F cabin be full on the return flight, you would like to discuss with EK appropriate alternate compensation.

Good luck.

The OP has already written to them and received $2000 worth of points, not sure what would be achieved by going over old ground.

 

[damiankov]

Hi all, wow thank you all for so many responses - if only Emirates hired staff as diligent as you guys..

To answer some points
a) yes they were mixed tickets. 2x First Class Mel>Europe + 2x Business Class Europe>Mel
b) chargeback: I can't do this as I paid via direct deposit to Flight Centre
c) harvyk : this is exactly what we did, we told them we don't want any points and just want an upgrade on the return flight (which is today). they refused and it got escalated all the way up to the Customer Affairs Manager, whose end response was - too bad, points is all you will get and if you don't like it fly with someone else next time. so unfortunately, they have chosen to ignore our requests so our only option now is to get our money back for that ticket.

It really doesn't look like they will do the right thing by their customers, unless forced to somehow. And if there was an exact same scenario a few years back it doesn't surprise me as the same Customer Affairs Manager has been in that position for 15 years. So it wouldn't surprise if it was the same person's doing. I wonder how many thousands of dollars Emirates have lost from treating their customers like this.

VCAT is definitely looking like the only option at this point

 

[markis10]

VCAT is definitely looking like the only option at this point

It may not be an option depending on how the transaction was done!

 

[jetlagger]

This doesn't seem too good an outcome.
I was replaying the scenario that several passengers encountered on a recent AA flight LAX/MIA.
The middle row of J seat was locking up when using the seat controls, the FAs did happen to manually correct the seat, though the passengers did not appear very comfortable, in addition to the IFE not working either.
Suffice to say the passengers appeared to be quite understanding & didn't make such a fuss, though the FA mentioned it happens quite often on the 773.
In the case of the EK experience in F, paying 10K+, I surely would expect at the very least for the seat to perform as per expected requirements, especially for such a long flight duration.

 

[lovestotravel]

VCAT is your best option, or at least the threat of it

That process helped me with Qantas coming to the party a few years ago and funnily enough since then I am pretty much 100% loyal to QF

 

[Melburnian1]

It shows how little individual sway most individual passengers have.

I agree that VCAT is an excellent option, as EK may well give you an improved offer 'at the steps of the court.'

No airline welcomes media publicity about such incidents, particularly if 'The Australian' with its aviation section or the 'AFR' decided to follow such a story.

 

[Hvr]

<snip>
b) chargeback: I can't do this as I paid via direct deposit to Flight Centre

<snip>

Have you involved Flight Centre? They should be your first point of contact and act for you. No real expectations of them doing anything but they should have appropriate contacts with the airline to escalate the matter.

 

[damiankov]

Hvr: yes Flight Centre have been great, but unfortunately Emirates refuse to discuss anything with them. Basically Emirates have told them they will only talk to the customer directly and to stay out of it. So yes that was our first point of call, but unfortunately a dead end. All we got out of it was an email to contact, and granted it did get us in front of the Emirates Customer Affairs manager - just a shame they decided not to do the right thing by their customers. Just talked to consumer affairs and they too have recommended to go to VCAT.

 

[Hvr]

Thanks for that, good to know that avenue has been tried, albeit unsuccessfully.

 

[BAM1748]

It seems to be either Emirates are great or a problem. I won't fly them for the simple reason I don't like their service.

Perhaps direct them to this thread plus the one you just started on Flyer Talk.

M

 

[maninblack]

Sorry but tough-luck for flying with Emirates. Vote with your feet and take your business elsewhere in the future. It's the only way to deal with appalling business practices such as you have experienced.

Also, write a letter of demand asking for your money back, just for the fun of it. "Get it on file", as they say.

 

[lovestotravel]

I assume there were no spare seats on the flight ?

VCAT will get Emirates to listen

Anything else is a waste of time, and that applies to most airlines