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Published: February 27th 2008
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The Plane Boss
Emirates airlines On route to Oz on Emirates EK424 - 26/02/2008
The flight with Emirates from Dubai was half full and we managed to get a little shut eye on the way, albeit intermittent whilst the stewardesses persisted on bringing out plastic inedible food every 10 minutes. So we were constantly awoken to the clanking and banging of trolleys bludgeoning there way through the narrow aisles of the aircraft.
Didn’t even try to get an upgrade to Business class at check-in as we were already, disheveled from the one hour heated discussion with Ali Baba when trying to get the baggage checked in earlier.
The problem was……..that we had been living in hotels for the last month or so, and had quite a bit of luggage, including documentation, clothes, some HIFI bits, and more of Ang's shoes……..
This totaled a significant 128 kilos (about 2 x trolleys full), which Emirates at Manchester were more than happy to let us take through on the basis that we were emigrating and they were slightly more understanding in our needs.
But nasty Mr Ali Baba in Dubai, was having none of it!!!
“You kin only take 20 kilos pir pirson, sir!” he persisted,
Wait in line
Not long now in half broken English.
“It is policy, you see sir!” he continued “You will nid to liv some articles behind, kind sir”.
Mmhhh now let me think 128 minus 40 means leaves us with 68 kilos of belongings, that we would have to leave n Dubai - So I kindly declined his offer and asked to speak to Ali Baba SENIOR.
Eventually a sorry looking, red blaser’ed, stick like Gandhi drags his boney little skeletal torso into the frame. He actually spoke English very well, as long as it ended in either “sorry” or “started with “I am afraid” and inclined anything negative regarding the mountain of carefully packed 6x bulging bags/suitcases in front of him, which had now been removed from the scales more than 5 times, in trying to see it the figure changed at all, he was still smugly smiling and full of self importance.
He eventually conceded at 30 kilos each, which still left 68 kilos due for distribution amongst his friends and family.
Not wanting to appear totally over the moon at the move forward, we now requested the presence of a senior official, perhaps Sheik Mohamed himself - Crown Prince and Ruler of Dubai.
Not much luggage really
Only 20 kilos - I reckon Suddenly there seemed to be glint in Gandhi’s eye, and he picked up the phone to his superior, thinking that at last he could pass the problem onto someone else.
Unfortunately though we were palmed off with some bespectacled, over weight, sorry looking Jabba the Hutt look-alike with a SUPERVISOR badge, and even less inclination to deal with anything before lunch. ((At least that’s what we could imagine him being like, as he was still large and obnoxious from 50 feet away, due to not wanting to get his fat Harris off up off his chair and come over to speak with us.)).
He babbled on for a bit in either Urdu of something to Gandhi, who then told us that they would allow another 23 kilos as the flight was fairly empty anyhow and would have to pay for 43 kilos as Excess baggage.
We thought that this was fair and I am sure you would agree we had achieved some gain after now an hour of trying to carry on our journey from Dubai.
But…. when you suddenly find out that you have to pay £450 for the remaining weight, you could almost see the re-enactment of Zulu
Emirates staff
Also known as Gandi Dawn all over again. Bearing in mind that we still had no boarding cards and the departure time was looming ever closer.
We decided to pay the Ransom and cursed the rest of the way through Duty Free and all the way to the gate.
Once on board we slumped into our seats, glad to see the back of Dubai if truth be told, as it once was a great country with undeniably the best customer service we had ever encountered, but as it has developed it has got greedy.
As we looked around at all the empty seats before they closed the doors in readiness for take-off, the captain announced, there was a slight delay, as the aircraft was fairly empty and capable of carrying additional freight, so we were waiting for so some to turn up.
Ang and I just looked at each other and decided to sleep it off rather than taking lives…..
What I do know is that Emirates are rated as one of the better if not the best airlines for service. But like the country, is it past its peak, and now becoming an industry that hides behind its past and
Jabba the Hut
The one and only uses policy as its disguise.
What I will confidently state, is that I wont be contributing to them in the future.
Anyway, as mentioned above, the flight was…… well it just was………….
So on descending into Perth, we were all too happy to buckle up and prepare for landing.
We were anticipating at least 3 hours in immigration and customs at the airport, but managed to scoot through in less than 20 mins, with smiling officials welcoming us at every turn.
Unbelievable really, as the previous landing in Oz last August, lasted so long, and they opened every item of baggage we brought in, and even started to lube up the latex at one point. - Just for declaring some vinegar we brought over for a good friend..
Finally we stepped out into the cool 2am clear air to have a well needed fag before being collected by CJ.
Bear in mind that it is early o’clock, pitch black and the last time we came out the very same door it was windy and only 10 degrees….. and not too warm at all. But this felt like we had been dropped off in a totally
different place. As a matter of fact it was the sort of heat you get when the oven door opens and you loose yer breath.
Not that it was that hot really, but a mere 23 degrees, but as humid as a pair of Ang’s shoes after a 10 mile jog.
So we took off our coats and my bobble hat then waited for a short while for our short hop into Perth city center.
Looking forward to some uninterrupted sleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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erictjie
non-member comment
good service?
I have been travelling around the world with most major AIRLINES WITH MY SCUBADIVING GEARS AND PhOTO EQUIPMENTs, believe me you got a good deal from emirate, qantas won't give a damn at all , you will pay 78kg .the other better airline is SQ ,but you have to be gold member to be treated well with over 50kg per person.