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I am not really a complainer, but on this occasion, I cannot help myself, as I cannot believe in this day and age airlines can still treat customers SO badly.  Firstly the flight was ok.  I’m a little upset over the horrendous excess luggage charge, but I am enormously upset at their response.  I was treated badly at check-in, and now their “Customer Affairs” person - Desmond Mall.

Here is my initial complaint:

To:        ekuk@emirates.com
Date:        5 December 2009 22:40
Subject:    Excess Luggage Rip Off Complaint - £175 for 5 kilos!!??

RE: Flight 1 December 2009. LGW – DXB – BNE

I checked in ONLINE on November 30, and received a confirmation, at 18.22 that day to my email, including a PDF copy of my e-boarding pass.

Once “dropping off” my luggage at the drop-off desk, I learned I was 5kgs over the 30kg limit, which I expected I was a couple of kilos over. I was then SHOCKED to learn the excess luggage charge was £35 (thirty-five pounds) per kilo. £35 x 5 = £175 (one hundred and seventy-five pounds).

It is the most excessive and rip-off excess baggage fee I have EVER encountered on my travels in my life!

And I was marched like a criminal to the payment desk, and even worse, the staff kept acting “happy” about it and smiling, like they were receiving a tip. When I told them it was ridiculous, they told me “I had to get treated like everyone else”. Wow – amazing customer service (sarcasm intended).

However my main complaint is this:

Why wasn’t I informed of such a rip off and excessive excess luggage fee when I checked-in online? Online they didn’t even ask how many bags I had. If they had told me, I would’ve weighed my bags and not gone the 5kgs over.

My secondary complaint is this:

£35 per kilo is a rip off….

After this horrible and very expensive experience, I will now go out of my way, to never fly with Emirates again.

Sincerely,

Fiona Bosticky

And here is there TERRIBLE response:

Our Ref: LON/X/DM/071209/6677915 (please quote in all correspondence)
23 December 2009
Ms Fiona Bosticky

Dear Ms Bosticky

Thank you for your recent email.

Naturally, I was sorry to learn of your disappointment on your recent Emirates trip and the problems you experienced with respect to the check-in of your excess baggage.

As you are aware, the free baggage allowance as indicated on your ticket was 30 kilograms.  Our records show that upon check-in for flight EK12 on 01 December, you presented yourself with two pieces of luggage weighing a total of 35 kilograms.  As Emirates has recently increased the standard baggage allowance for its Economy Class passengers from 20 to 30 kilograms, we are unable to exercise discretion in this area and I must clarify that our staff were acting within our guidelines when they requested you to make payment for your additional weight.

Whilst I can appreciate your dissatisfaction concerning the application of excess baggage rates on international flights, I must clarify that the applicable rate is based on a percentage of the published fare for the route in question and this is the formula applied by most international airlines.  I would also like to add that our website contains a section on baggage allowances and excess baggage rates and for your reference, I have included the relevant information below.

Nevertheless, I was concerned to learn of your dissatisfaction with the way in which the above was communicated to you.  Please rest assured that we take a serious view of any incident affecting our service delivery and as a matter of routine, your comments in this respect have been conveyed to the appropriate management team for an internal review.  Customer feedback is also invaluable in helping us identify areas of our operation where we need to improve and I would like to thank you for taking the time to share your comments with us.

Ms Bosticky, although I realise my response may not meet with your total satisfaction, I do hope that upon reflection, you can appreciate our position in this matter.  I further hope that despite any disappointment felt, we may have another opportunity to welcome you on board again, as we would be delighted for the chance to regain your confidence and support.

Yours sincerely

Desmond Mall
Customer Affairs UK & Ireland

IN SUMMARY:

Not only does this person - Desmond Mall - get to insult people travelling from the UK, they get the bonus of insulting people from Ireland as well.

Here is my response I sent today:

That is a disgusting response.  Never in my 17 years working in Customer Service, have I ever seen or heard of such a response…  I am more insulted by this response than by your excessive excess baggage charges.

I feel compelled now to tell as many people as I can never to fly Emirates.  And I have flown more than 20 airlines..

Your attitude matches the “attitude” I received at check-in.  Seems this “attitude” is part of Emirates Human Resources hiring policy.

How can you insult me, then say you’ll make it up to me?  But what can I expect from a department called “Customer Affairs” rather than “Customer Service”.

Sincerely
Fiona Bosticky

If Emirates care SO MUCH about weight on flights, then the guy sitting in front of me should have paid double, as he was double the size and double the weight of me

To my dear blog fans, please feel free to SHARE this, and spread the word about Emirates, so that nobody else gets caught out.

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