Emirates A380 Faulty First Class Seat on long haul flight

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damiankov said:
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.
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Probably wouldn't happen, but could ask FC to jump on your VCAT claim as well... that's bound to draw media attention.
 
damiankov said:
Seems to have changed since I last read it, so it works out to be slightly more now
Emirates Skywards: Claiming, Purchasing or Transferring Miles | FAQs | Help | Emirates
40USD per 1,000 miles

They gave us 70,000 miles = $2,800 USD = $3k AUD
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Although it might cost USD2800 to buy these points, they're not worth USD2800 in terms of redemption value. The only reason you'd pay USD40 per 1000 miles is to make up a small difference to reach an award.

As an example of the redemption value of 70,000 points, a BNE-AKL return in business class will cost 72000 points and AUD154 approximately (this is for a business saver, so has to be return and has limited availability).

To buy the same fare outright will cost around AUD1640 - not on sale, and a lot less during one of their sales.

70000 points is spectacularly ungenerous.
 
First class travel is supposed to be about the experience, because the cheapest fare will get you the transport from A to B.

I don't think those points are fair value for the price you paid and the poor experience you received. I'd continue the process of compensation.
 
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Sounds like EK possibly thought..
Throw an 'apparent considerable" number of points in dollar terms at them in an attempt to silence the issue.

Paging... Judge Judy. ;)
 
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I don't get this with Emirates.
Ive made several bookings for my parents with them and flown on their metal a few times.

The actual service I found quite code from check in to collecting bags and parents have never complained.
However the one time I had an issue with their booking system the customer service by email was pointless.
Wasn't even Emirates staff and they refused to help/escalate.

Why if you are going to put so much effort into customer service during the travel part of the experience would you then handle customer service before or after the flight so horribly.
 
I would even argue its a safety issue not being to recline from lying down position to upright position, in case of emergency etc.
Good luck with VCAT, and i'll be watching this thread closely for the outcome.
 
Apologies for thread creep, but I had a seat back fail in Y on an SQ A380. SQ crew offered SIN$100 credit during the flight to make good. Are seats an A380 issue?
 
prozac said:
Apologies for thread creep, but I had a seat back fail in Y on an SQ A380. SQ crew offered SIN$100 credit during the flight to make good. Are seats an A380 issue?
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No it wouldn't be an A380 issue as they are made by different companies...
 
damiankov said:
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.
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i'm not surprised with how emirates have reacted. me and my family (four people) flew with them for the first time in Sept this year. we were in J and had all sorts of issues. Two of the four seats where broked. two of the four entertainment systems where not working. The food served was different to what was on the menu. In my opion Emirates are not a good airline. I won't be flying with them again.
 
cmon0005 said:
I would even argue its a safety issue not being to recline from lying down position to upright position, in case of emergency etc.
Good luck with VCAT, and i'll be watching this thread closely for the outcome.
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the safety element per se is not something that can be compensated for. If a passenger feels their safety is compromised during a flight they need to raise it at the time.

However - the follow on effects from the safety argument can be compensated for.

If the passenger felt the seat in recline mode posed a threat, and the cabin crew agreed, they should demand to be moved to an operable seat. The compensation would then be based on the change from one seat to another IF the other seat was in a different class (etc). If there was no other seat available, then compensation would be due for the inabilty to recline the seat due to safety concerns (provided the airline did not offer evidence to the contrary).

What is the exact nature of the compensation being requested? The seat purchased (and no, airfares are NOT solely based on a contract to transport from A->B, all sorts of other elements form part of that contract) was able to be used in the upright and reclined positions. There was some inconvenience in not being able to adjust the seat as required. The airline has offered 70K points for that inconvenience. Would a court or tribunal offer more? That's the question.

Or is it that you want the compensation in cash? That would seem to be a reasonable request (if that's what's being sought).
 
cmon0005 said:
I would even argue its a safety issue not being to recline from lying down position to upright position, in case of emergency etc.
Good luck with VCAT, and i'll be watching this thread closely for the outcome.
Click to expand...

I am also in the process of taking Emirates to VCAT for issues i have had with them. They have been given a deadline to come to the negotiating party. They havent been willing to negotiate at all. I can't say anything about it unfortunately due to the fact that it is highly likely it will go through the legal system. Once it is all settled i will update you all.
 
Requesting compensation for something unsafe likely won't get you anywhere. Safety is not about money and linking the two makes the complainant look silly.

Better to use comfort is compensation is what someone is after.
Matt
 
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