Oh! Emirates

Bereft of hype and PR campaigns, the true test of a company’s, or brand’s, claims and genuine caliber is only tested during times of adversity and its response to it. The rains in Dubai was one such opportunity to test the claims of Emirates as the world’s no. 1 airline….and it failed miserably on most counts.

This is not meant to be a comment on Dubai in its moment of crisis. I am sure it is doing a lot to mitigate the impact of this unforeseen event. It is a comment on Emirates (the airline) in particular, and its inability to be transparent, responsive and sensitive to its customers in this moment of crisis. These are such core values which, if compromised, all claims of customer first amount to just corporate snobbery at best, and pure hypocrisy at worst.

A young, close relative was stuck in this mayhem and, since I followed the developments as it happened real time, it is simply shocking how things unfolded. Being a hub, my relative was coming back to Delhi from San Francisco via Dubai. Despite knowing fully well that the state on the ground was serious, the connecting flight was shown to be on time. Quite obviously the incoming flight could not land on time, and finally was allowed to land after 1.5 hours. Anxious passengers rushed to the gate only to find “on time” notification but with no one on the Emirates desk! After an hour they were informed, by mail, that the flight was cancelled and to proceed to the connection desk.

What was to unfold simply epitomizes the complete lack of sensitivity by Emirates. Passengers were made to stand for six and a half hours (from 2230 hrs to 0600 hrs) – standing in a crowd of hundreds – throughout the night (with many senior citizens, pregnant women, kids and with many having done an arduous 16-hour flight from US/Canada)! There was no one at the desk and no information. I wonder how difficult would it have been to keep customers informed that boarding passes would be given later, and for them to check their mail periodically to know the specifics! This would have allowed them to have water, food and relax in the lounge for those with access. And reduce the anxiety manifold apart from simply the pleasure of sitting down somewhere. The photo says it all.

When the connection desk finally obliged by giving the coveted boarding pass at 6 AM with the flight to Delhi being confirmed at 1000 Hrs, passengers finally made their way to the lounges for a quick nap, breakfast and rest after the harrowing standing experience throughout the night. Having checked the terminals to confirm that the flight was on time, they exited the lounge at 0930 hours only to find the usual sight – flight on time but with no Emirates staff at the counter. At 1000 hours came the dreaded, but expected message, that the flight is delayed by an hour. This well-oiled process was reiterated four times and finally the flight departed at 1500 hrs! Again, not even one person was available in this interim, terminals showed “on time” status and messages were sent post the departure time announcing the delay. Once again why did Emirates not find it feasible to announce upfront rather than use the established airline practice of periodic drip feeding hourly? Passengers could have at least rested and subjected to less stress! But that clearly was not the priority.

Once the flight landed in Delhi the inevitable happened – no baggage. This is despite a message sent in Dubai that the baggage was uploaded on the flight! Is there any veracity to anything which is said? The saga is not over yet. The entire flight of distraught passengers were asked to fill in some forms for which no PIR was given with the promise that the PIR would be given in 24 hours through which it would be possible to track the baggage in Emirates’ famed baggage recovery system. A number and email was given for contact too. All well?

Well no! It has been 4 four days and the PIR has not been sent, the emails do not work and the phone number is not responded too! So as of the date of writing the passenger has no way of knowing the status of the lost baggage, no Emirates representative available to at least give any definitive information about the status of baggage despite a highly computerized system! This is despite flights being normal now with four flights arriving from Dubai to Delhi every day for the last three days! It is obvious that Emirates top management has written off this lot of agitated passengers as the cost of doing business, and is now focusing on “full customer satisfaction” to the passengers on its now normal flights!

The core questions I raise through this episode is about corporate behavior which a large corporate encourages down the line (obviously with its tacit approval) to the hapless, full fare paying customer? What is the meaning of oft touted values of transparency, responsiveness, fairplay and customer satisfaction of the world’s best airline? What is the role of our regulatory and licensing body – the ministry of civil aviation? All messages to the Hon’ble Minister Jyotiarditya Scindia and his PS have been met with stony silence.

I guess in the world we live in customer satisfaction is, and will continue to be, an illusion till we have a strong regulatory environment with defined SLAs, penalties built in and, above all, accountability.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.com