Emirates Airlines

I recently flew with Emirates for the first time in business class, travelling from Sydney to Dubai, Dubai to Paris, and then Nice to Dubai. While the service was professional and the attentive, the experience was disappointing overall. The food, especially the vegetarian dishes, was subpar, and as a Gluten-free traveller, I was only provided one… Read more

piece of bread, with no additional options on board. For a business class journey, I expected a far higher standard. Unfortunately, my first Emirates flight was not great, and will likely reconsider other carriers in the future.

Emirates is a total disaster from the leadership down to their ground staff. I heard it was a world class airline so I upgraded my flight to fly with them but after 1 flight with them, I conclude that they are truly worst than a budget carrier. Firstly, I received a horrendous customer service provided on-board flight by [Name Removed], a cabin… Read more

supervisor who was unable to manage a difficult passenger sitting on the other end of my row who was trying to take a nap at 5pm, so he came up to me to command me to close the window shades. I explained to him I was feeling unwell and wanted to leave it slightly open (1/4 open and 3/4 closed). He refused! He said that there’s another passenger across the aisle that is complaining and since that person is from my country, I should comply with his request. Only when I repeatedly ask him if I fainted on board, would he be responsible, did he say it was my right to leave the window shades open and he will handle it with that lady. Many people had their window shades opened and the rule of the thumb is anyone sitting beside a window decides if it gets to be open or close. Mine was three quarter 3/4 closed.

Does it make sense that instead of forcing me, he should have given her an eye mask instead? Why is a cabin supervisor passing his problem to me.

Secondly, Inefficiency of Customer Service Team with replies almost only once a month.

Upon arrival, I noticed damage made to my luggage. My flight landed in Singapore on 29 Dec 2025, I wrote in on 29 Dec 2025, received one reply on 29 Jan 2026 and the next reply on 23 Feb 2026 with only a partial reply on both emails.

I asked the customer service staff Najma a simple question 5 times but up till the end of March 2026, I am still unable to get my refund or an answer.

Don't know what all the hype is about A380 aircraft. Found Emirates flight Feb 25, 2026 Dubai to London to be a real dud. Tiny leg room like poverty aIrlines, no view from centre of plane as wings obstruct view. Wi fi useless, dropping out all the… Read more

time, touch screen functions not working properly for us and other passengers around us, seat base foam worn out so had sore butt. Complained to hostess and she agreed we paid enough for tickets without the inconvenience. Now have cancelled return flight from Dubai to Brisbane due to operations reasons. Worst part is am taking another Emirates trash A380 flight to Bali, then Brisbane on Jetstar for extra $2850. Run a mile from Emirates! Never again

What you see in Emirates’ commercial is fake for most of us, it’s only for First Class passengers. Their Economy, Premium and Business Classes are very mediocre. But I’m writing this review today because Emirates CEO, [Name Removed], is cheap and his airline policies are against regular people and especially people with disabilities.  After all,… Read more

they are still developing nation in the Middle East with poor human rights record. They don’t know how to deal with problems, because they suppress opposing opinions. I saw limitations in their growth. No wonder I heard only overly positive opinions about [Name Removed] in Dubai because people are so afraid to speak out. If they do, they get what we got. 

Emirates can’t even compensate a few hundred dollars for what the company did wrong to our disabled son. We were not asking much, only a refund of our upgraded seats but the service we did not receive. The incident was reported to the Captain in the middle of the flight and even a voucher was issued, still Emirates refused to accept their fault and refund our upgrade fees.

We exhausted our efforts to communicate with unresponsive customer service department as well as their headquarters in the UAE and offices in USA with pictures of water dangerously dripping on the electric component of my seat, not to mention on my clothes. I personally stood on my seat and put towels in the compartment to stop water leaks temporarily. Please see some of the same photos I sent to them. We were forced to stand during the flight for an extended time while the water kept dripping. A lead flight attendant forcefully took my phone away when I was recording the incidents and yelled out loud that it’s illegal and he would notify security.

The entire scene was displayed in front of our son and frightened him. We suggested the Emirates customer service to interview the passengers around us so they would learn exactly what happened. Instead, they only told us that an alternative seat was offered to us but we declined. Of course we declined because our autistic son who requires attention and medication couldn’t sit by himself if I moved to another seat, which was by the way not an upgraded seat we paid for and far from our son.

I just had a great experience with another airline that upgraded me from a Premium Economy to Business from Japan to San Francisco when they didn’t do anything wrong to me, they just overbooked the Premium Economy. Another airline refunded me within hours a seat upgrade I made because a flight was delayed and I had to settle for a less desirable seat, even though the delay was not their airline’s fault but a connecting flight by a different carrier. Airlines in Europe and North America have stricter rules and therefore they compensate for their mistakes.

Emirates is still second tier or lower. When they make mistakes they can’t make it right. I appreciate you all for reading and I sincerely hope you won’t have to go through what we went through. Please do not fly with Emirates. You deserve better.

One star as we can not select zero! Emirates Melbourne airport emirates baggage staff and Emirates customer service staff are aweful. Our suitcase and belongings were damaged in March. Airport staff assured us all items would be reimbursed and we filled in damage claim forms. Two days later we logged into the online form and filled everything… Read more

out again. We heard nothing back despite numerous attempts to contact and through Facebook chat. I then logged a complaint. They required all information to be supplied again. The also required the brand new suitcase to be taken in to be assessed during the week. This entailed a 5 hour round trip and a day off work. I refused on these grounds and provided the details of the suitcase to purchase new (Suitcase was brand new prior to this trip!) and information on the other items. It's now over six months since they damaged our belongings. We are unable to claim travel insurance as they have taken too long to process this. They will not respond to any communication we provide, they have lied to us, yelled at us on the phone and now completely ignore any contact we try and make. What absolute disgusting service from this airline. Our family will never use them again. Not even an apology.

I don't know why there is such a hype with Emirates, it was really mediocre for the price. Cathay airways is way better!! I had to take 4 x A380 planes, they are massive, 500-700 people get it there, and because of that everything is so slow: onboarding, exiting, getting luggage back...etc I was very disappointed with the food Emirates offered.… Read more

They had a gluten free option which is a good service to offer but it was entirely different dishes which tasted disgusting (inedible). As soon as there was a mere turbulence and I am talking of a slight tremor, they would force us to sit and lock all toilets. There was this one time where I had to really use the toilet during the turbulence, I waited 30min, and then waited by the toilet (didn't know they had purposely locked it), I started banging because no one was coming out. The stewardess came running and ordered me to sit down. Waited another 30min and really couldn't hold it any longer so I went to the stewardesses, and told them " I NEED TO usE THE TOILETS NOW!!! It's a basic human right!" One replied "ok, but it's at your own risk". I couldn't careless and told them so. They brought me to the very end of the plane and opened one toilet, another old lady came running and begged to use it too. What a way to treat people!! You can't lock toilets for an hour, that's insane!! And lastly, my luggage on arrival in Paris was completely cracked opened, the belt I had placed around the suitcase was gone. I didn't know you could declare luggage destruction at the airport (for some reason I thought you could do that online). Anyway I didn't have internet upon landing so I found out after.

The only positive points were the entertainment options: great choice of movies and the leg space was a bit better than some airline companies.

A silver member with over 10 years of flying Emirates. Emirates airlines quality are fast declining. New policies to evade liabilities for damaged luggage. New claims take months to be considered, rude on ground dnata operation staff, even called the border control police on me for insisting on filing a claim for damaged luggage. Food quality is… Read more

getting worse. They are relying on the general public ignorance to the Montreal convention regulations for airlines plus the cost to sue them in courts. They are being unethical.

I guess I didn’t fit the mould of a typical Emirates first class passenger, because despite presenting my boarding pass, I was directed to the first seat on my right and found myself in business class at seat 7A. There were a few red faces when I came back and said that’s not the seat on my boarding pass – 1A. I was quickly whisked away by the… Read more

Purser amid a hail of apologies and the promise they would make up for it, and they certainly did. When it comes to typical flight times for an Airbus A380, at around 3 hours, the trip from Christchurch to Sydney is just a blip.

Thanks to the great crew, despite it being so short – I had the opportunity to enjoy the full Emirates first class experience.

Dom Perignon was being poured within minutes of entering my suite and then I was presented with the first-class menu. You won’t see the typical airline single colour print on paper and cardboard menu’s here. Emirates has replaced those with a full colour magazine.

Before take-off I was given a set of PJ’s and fabric carry bag to take them home in. Then as the aircraft levelled out the meal service started with an enormous serving of caviar with the offer of more, This was followed by a melody of dishes that were to die for.

After dinner, I accepted the bed turndown service. In addition to the luxurious padded seat, they attach a super plush mattress along with a crisp white sheet set and added to that is a big fluffy pillow. Without ear plugs or a sleeping mask, I was asleep in less than 10 minutes and slept soundly for over an hour surrounded by the twinkling lights installed in the ceiling overhead as well as the floor.

Tempted as I was to accept the invitation to try out the onboard shower, I felt that might be just a little too decadent for a 3-hour flight.

Who would have thought - bathrooms with heated floors and a shower at 30,000 feet along with a dedicated bathroom attendant to keep them in pristine condition?

When I returned after changing from PJ’s back to my travel clothes - the bed had returned to being a chair and my jacket and shoes were neatly arranged.

If that wasn’t enough, we landed into Sydney 20min ahead of schedule and on a Friday night. Must be Emirates magic.

Pretty disappointing. We booked a 24h international flight with our 11 month old baby & I checked with emirates beforehand to see if we had bassinet seats, which they confirmed we had. On the second connecting flight, myself and our baby had been… Read more

put in the middle row (with 3 empty seats next to us) and my husband was placed in the window row. We asked the flight attendants if he could sit next to me on one of the empty seats to help with the baby, and they told us it's an 'extra legroom seat that is reserved for people who travel with babies' (which is us?!) and that we had to pay over 400UAD if we wanted to use this seat. On our other flights this had been no issue and we had been placed next to each other on the same seat row. Pretty disappointing to see that emirates deliberately splits up young families, to then charge extra if they want to sit together.. For those of you who have been on long haul flights with a young baby, you understand how stressful and difficult it is, even when sitting next to each other. Well, safe to say that Emirates made it even more stressful, more expensive, and we've been left very disappointed with this airline. FYI on their website they claim they give some baby food and a baby bassinet during the flight, however on this flight the bassinet for the baby was never offered, and no baby food was offered either.

I’ve used Emirates quite a few times over the years. I live in Melbourne.. my family in Glasgow. For the most part, the journey has been ok. I went to Glasgow recently Dec 2-23rd .. My flight from Melbourne to Dubai was frustrating… I booked Premium economy.. I was told that there is no premium available MEL to Glasgow.. so I was in Economy for… Read more

the 8 hours.. There were Vacant seats with more leg room on the flight. I asked to be moved to one of those seats… I was told NO! Those seats lay unoccupied for the whole flight! I don’t understand why! Then I went into premium for the next flight… I found the Recliner quite uncomfortable to be frank! The footrest didn’t elevate as much as I was expecting… I found my legs dangled and left me with leg pain … it’s a 14 hour flight. I was disappointed as I thought that I’d treat myself to Premium.. but just not what I expected The food was very nice. Some of the staff were friendly… others, not so much! Like I said.. I’ve used Emirates a lot.. usually happy ish with them… but this time… not so much! Oh and the Entertainment wasn’t that great either… not much choice !

Extremely disappointing experience on Emirates EK416 (Dubai to Sydney, 06 Feb — 13h 50m flight). Despite booking my family under a single booking reference, Emirates split us across different rows, seating my wife and one child separately from me and my other child. Another passenger was placed in our original aisle seats, forcing our family… Read more

apart on a nearly 14-hour long-haul flight.

It looks like Emirates is deliberately separating families to push passengers into paying extra for seat reservations. This is unethical, customer-unfriendly, and unacceptable, especially when traveling with children.

Family seating should be a basic right, not a paid privilege. This experience has seriously damaged my trust in Emirates.

Once upon a time Emirates Airline was famous for the customer services, now they are one of the sh...st in the market! I seriously do not know why they are charging so much and what is the difference between them and checp sh. airlines! They torn apart my laugage which I immediately reported at the airport in May 2025. We are at the end of Sep… Read more

2025 and it has been remained unsolved even after 7 times back and forth call. Now they claim the replacement has been sent and received! but they do not provide any evidence or proof and everytime sometime try to come up with a new excuse! This is robbery Emirates! shame on you!

Terrible airline. They left me stranded in Tanzania as they had not informed me my flight had been cancelled. There was no one on the ground to help me. I had connections to Kenya-Dubai-Sydney so I had to buy another ticket with a different airline so I could get to Kenya and make it for my connections. Emirates is refusing to take any… Read more

responsibility as the flight out of Tanzania was with one of their partners, even though I had booked and paid Emirates for it. Terrible customer service that shows no care for their customers while they are stranded and take no responsibility afterwards for the partners they work with. Be very careful. I travelled a lot overseas, nearly every month, and this has been the worst experience/customer service in the last 20 years.

What a Horrible Flight experience on Flight EK730, B777 - 300 on 28.05.2025 #Emirates I love Emirates because of the comfort it promotes and the reputation. But as a first timer I don't think I can board it again if there is more Crew members (TIRED, LOOKING STRESED, IRRITATED) like [Name Removed]. Today as we closed off our 5 years… Read more

anniversary celebration with my partner, heading back to Dubai excited to take off and proceed on usual business with my partner. Checked in well, and then proceeded to board B777 - 300 where I found a Tired, Stressed or rather irritated crew member "[Name Removed]" my partner and i were seated on 47A/47B which she was shocked with that came with a loud question "are you staff?" My partner looking at me in wonder and bothered. We responded No we are NOT. she then demanded our boarding pass which indicated our seat numbers. She still looked puzzled like we were seated in a wrong place or on a wrong flight as she returned the passes to us. All our smiles and warmth were shuttered by [Name Removed] hardly taking off. We then git worried of if she will be the one attending to us and it turned out we were right to worry.

As if that wasn't enough, time for our long waited meal came and guess who the crew to serve was "[Name Removed]" it was. She tells us she only has Chicken for main like there was no Menu that was issued prior to our meal my partner doesn't eat chicken, mushrooms but not allergic and I don't fancy them either. We politely told her we want 2 beef. And she was like only chicken available. I repeated we want 2 beef as we don't eat chicken and her response was for an "am tired am stressed and irritated with my Job" she said since you don't want to eat chicken I can only give you the plate with a starter and Desert without the Main. As I got shocked with how much I paid for our ticket with no discount or promotion. But we are being served like we are being done a FAVOUR. Because of Hunger, my partner had to to eat the chicken with Mushrooms that she had taken years Years of not eating with the mushrooms she has never eaten. I bless God for No ALLERGY yet.

I will never forget "[Name Removed]" perhaps to avoid her is to look for another Airline for My travels to avoid embarrassment and disappointment on a world class Airline like Emirates.

A huge thanks to her colleague [Name Removed] who was so lively, sweet and professional. I guess she noticed how un happy we were.

I must say as well we weren't the only ones [Name Removed] treating wity the i dont care attitude but her colleagues as well who were coming to her for assistance.

Ps. I booked my tickets 3 months in advance, paid full amount but to wait for a Horrible Flight Experience as a First timer. Untill now I still can See [Name Removed] un smily face with lack of professionalism in my mind

Survey Response to Emirates Travel SYD – DXB Business Class DXB – JNB 1st Class 25th February 2025 Membership Tier: Gold Travelling with my partner. Lost Baggage JNBA2****** A******* Input: Johannesburg @ 19:15 26th February 2025. We have been loyal Emirates Travelers for years as stopped flying Qantas in 1998 due to unacceptable service. … Read more

First of all, I spoke to an Indian lady today NOT Malcom. This was verified by E***** the Supervisor who called me within an hour of my first call to Emirates he also advised that he would escalate this enquiry and apologized numerous times that this was unacceptable service. She was a good listener I asked if she could finalise this today but was unable to, she stated that she contacted the office in Johannesburg and they would contact me. So, I then asked if I could speak to her direct supervisor she came back and advised the supervisor would call me back sometime today. Emirates Fly Better (I don’t think so). This call took 25 minutes. Our 3.5 week holiday was ruined and is now over we have been home for 3 weeks. This enquiry has been ongoing for (31) Working Days as of today 10th April 2025. Emirates offers Interim Relief (IR) compensation to all customers who have travelled to and from the US who have reported a missing piece of baggage. Interim Relief: IR is also offered to passengers who have travelled on other routes when no baggage is received (excluding residents). We went to your Johannesburg Office with necessary documents but did not receive any compensation. My partner had Diabetic Test kit and medication also a CPAP machine with accessories needed on a daily basis. How does Emirates find delayed baggage? When baggage is delayed, our team does everything possible to locate it. During the first seven days we undertake ‘primary tracing’ – where we liaise with all the stations involved on the journey, conduct physical checks, investigate with our Security and Lost and Found teams, and check the ramp and store areas, in order to have items back with passengers as soon as possible. If the baggage hasn't been located within seven days, we conduct intensive 'secondary tracing'. During this stage, we carry out thorough checks within all airports and with all airlines. We begin this process as soon as the customer completes the Baggage Inventory form and provides us with all required documents. We gave C****** B**** from Emirates Sales Support Johannesburg a PDF document with Baggage Inventory that she stated would be sufficient and would input into the system that was on 5th March 2025 same day and person we had requested compensation (IR) from. Then on the 15th March 2025 @ 8:27pm 10 days later was advised by her that the PDF cannot be accepted and that we were required to input the details, we were travelling to my 3-day Emirates Experience Stopover in Dubai so we completed this on the 20th March 2025 once home advising C****** the same. This final check will be completed within (10) ten working days. Well, it is now 10th April 2025 (15) working days after being accepted by Emirates. We undertake extensive tracking to reunite passengers with their bags. In the unfortunate incident that baggage is declared as lost, we will contact you in order to provide compensation.

Please advise when this enquiry will be finalised. I know this will NOT be done as previously have never received any feedback. I will place this response on https://www.productreview.com.au/.

Will update once receive response from Emirates.

Food & In Flight Service is another story that will be input soon.