sadiqhassan

I hope this is not an OMNI-destined thread, as I think the issue is quite relevant to Emirates and travel.

I had a lot of trouble (as some people may know from past threads) taking advtange of the summer F/J offer that Emirates was promoting. I finally gave up thinking that EK must have pulled the deal because it was simply impossible to book either with EK Karachi or with my TA.
However, today I talked to my dad's friend who is a TA. He says that EK simply doesn't process requests from Karachi. He has had 16 passengers requesting the hotel with no response from EK in over two months. According to him EK frequently has such promotions (including STPC) but these are almost impossible for Pakistani pax to get because EK just refuses to process the requests.

Also (I can't vouch for the authenticity of this) he said ex Pakistani pax are the first to be bumped/downgraded if onward flights to places such as London, Paris, New York, Zurich etc. are overbooked. I have been downgraded for my onward DXB-LHR sector two or three times from KHI but assumed it was just bad luck. IMHO it should be those who check in last.

I phoned EK in London who happily said that there was lots of availability in the hotel and confirmed that my ticket qualified. She was about to issue the voucher but as soon as she realized the ticket originated in KHI, she was forced to tell me to do it via EK in Karachi. My aunt confirmed her hotel within 24 hours via the London office (ticket issued in Dubai not London.)

I hope the issue is not racism or discrimintation but just some logicistical problems - but knowing the reputation of Emirates in the UAE (paying different salaries depending on your race) I am not optimistic. I am going to the Emirates office in Karachi today and will ask if this is indeed the case. If it is, I will have to stop flying Emirates - I can't support a carrier that treats my race as second class.

DYKWIA

I hope this isn't the case... please let us know the outcome.

I had a slightly different experience last year.

I was running a bit late for boarding, and they had called my name, along with a few other passengers. I got to the gate just behind a young lady who was of Far Eastern appearance. The gate agent shouted at her to hurry up as she was holding up the plane. I handed over my BP and got a "Welcome Mr. DYKWIA, enjoy your flight".

It may have been because I was in Business, whilst she was in Economy, but I did think at the time that it may have been because I was a westerner (and possibly because I was a male).

Cheers,
Rick

krazykat

I certainly hope that there's no discrimination involved as well.

I just took advantage of the offer (checked out from Jumeirah Emirates Towers today actually). I'm Asian too and I got my ticket from the EK office in Sudan. My stay was excellent & I was treated well, even got upgraded to the Chopard ladies floor

So far, I've never got upgraded on any flights but I do get approached by EK staff onboard to personally welcome me at my seat on many occasions. Twice while I was on economy class, they even brought me champagne (I had put it down as my choice of drink)

mecabq

I wouldn't be surprised, given the general cultural attitude toward Pakistanis in the UAE. A shame, though. Another reason to switch to Qatar Airways! Or Malaysia Airlines, which flies KHI-DXB.

I'll be flying this route next month; not sure which airline I will take yet, but I am looking forward to the trip.

Kiwi Flyer

Could it be due to the lower fares (I'm assuming) ex-Pakistan?

Basil B

Having actually worked, commissioning equipment and only for 2 days in Dubai Airport, I defiantly witnessed discrimination.
I was with a group of contractors and a top official of the airport, we were working by a door through which nobody was supposed to pass, When Arabs dressed in white passed this official virtually prostrated himself before them, when male Caucasian flight crew or workers passed he said nothing, when female cabin crew or workers came through they were told they should use another route next time, then their was this guy pushing another guy in a wheel chair (they appeared to be from the Asian Sub Continent, [Please I am trying to be politically correct here]).
This official set upon the guy pushing the chair, his behavior was outrageous, for nearly 10 minutes he verbally abused this guy, while this other guy who needed assistance had to sit there, what I also realized was that had the guy who need assistance been from another ethnic group he would have been taken around the airport on one of the airports electric vehicles.

BB

sadiqhassan

I had considered that. However, fares are generally lower ex India (may not be true anymore with the new premium tax) Sri Lanka, Iran and some other places.

Cheers

dti-flyer

I am surprised that you had all this trouble getting the F/J special. I went to my TA in Karachi, who contacted Emirates and I was told to pick up my voucher (which was a stamped print out from some site??) the next day. I am flying back from JFK to DXB on the 12th, so hopefully I will not have any problems for that one night that I will be in DXB.
As far as the treatment of Pakistanis or Indians goes, I was born in Dubai and have experienced it first hand myself. As I have grown older and lived in the US for the past 23 years, I have noticed that if you come across as confident and independently minded to the "locals", they will hold back and respect you. At the end of the day these "locals" have a chip on their shoulder of being superior to us non-oil wealthy citizens of other nations. Well next time you have some ignorant "local" give you an attitude, just tell yourself that their oil is drying up and they better think of some thing more than just building more and more sky scrappers in order to survive in this global world of ours. Well I guess running Emirates is a start!! Oh sorry, I believe the actual person running the airline is a foreigner!

Gandhi

SH,

My experience...

My father recently made a trip from KHI-DXB-JFK-LON-DXB (stopover)-KHI on EK all on Biz class. Since his return dates were not confirmed he did not book the free hotel before departing. However I told him to contact the EK London office for booking the free hotel when he is ready to leave London. When he contacted the EK Lon office he was asked to contact the travel agent in Khi for the hotel.

I contacted the agent in Khi and he told be that the hotel is supposed to be booked 15 days in advance! This sounded ridiculuous. What if I am traveling within the next 3 days or so. Furthermore, the agent told me that all this offer thing is a hoax. He has tried booking the hotel for several pax and all he gets from EK is "Awaiting confirmation". Now this agent is no small player and one of the bogger TAs in Khi so I would assume he would know the reality.

In the end, my father ended up staying elsewhere and never got the free room.

So I feel there is definitely some discrimination around but whether that is due to race or fare is something not known. Whatever it is, EK should sort it out before it starts to lose pax from Pakistan (or maybe that is what they want!). For instance, I for one, think that with EY's new aircrafts and lower Biz Class fares (from GBP700 to Lon and GBP 1000 to NYC), I would not mind switching to EY.

Just my thoughts

Keep Flying!

sadiqhassan

That's amazing! Which TA was it if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks

sadiqhassan

That's the kind of response I was getting from my TA (AMEX Karachi) too. I can understand if EK is not processing requests (well I can't, but it isn't the TA's fault) but it is just plain annoying when they add more red tape by making up random excuses for why they can't do it.

dti-flyer

The TA was: Travelink International in Karachi (521-8904) or [email protected]

cricketdog

Sadly, I am not surprised by the comments in this thread. It's just one more reason not to fly Emirates again (besides our terrible customer service experience with the airline).

On a flight from Dubai, I chatted with a male flight attendant for over 30 minutes. He was Australian and had worked for Emirates for a couple of years. The stories he told me about how Emirates treats its non-Emirati employees were mind-boggling. I can only imagine how they feel about their customers too.

sadiqhassan

I talked to Emirates in Karachi and they insisted that although Karachi is low on the priority list of destinations it is not discriminated against. (I wonder if they are paid to say that?) They also offered to book my stopover in Dubai but said it would take three weeks and unfortunately I had to leave for Dubai immediately due to a death in the family.

The onboard experience with Emirates this summer was still excellent but they are slipping a bit IMO. After flying Y LHR-KHI and J KHI-LHR I can say that J pax are treated like true royalty especially in terms of priority on the ground.

Cheers

sadiqhassan

Sadly poor cabin-crew treatment is a norm in the Middle East. AFAIK, Emirates is one of the better airlines in terms of crew treatment whereas Qatar Airways is one of the worst.

I have heard stories about EK crew running away in NYC after entering on a crew visa, so EK has its fair share of problems when dealing with its staff.

Cheers