Emirates deceivengly took 261 USD from me

Item: Emirates
Rating: 1
Author: clemente C

This is to report a very unpleasant experience occurred to me during my latest trip from Cape Town to Rome on flight EK 773 (Monday October 10th 2016 Cape town – Dubai) EK 095 (Tuesday October 11th Dubai - Rome) booking reference PMVEQ6. On Monday October 10th I headed to the airport in Cape Town to board on my flight and I approached the Emirates check in desk with a large suitcase (to be checked in) and a small wheeled “pilot case” – that is my hand luggage. As I lifted my suitcase on the scale, the weight shown on the display was about 26 kg – exceeding the 23 kg allowance by 3 kg. The Emirate assistant at the desk suggested that I transferred 3kg into my small pilot case which weighed approximately 8.5 -9 kg. I refused, as I had no extra space in my pilot case, and decided to board a second luggage. I asked my partner to bring a second bag to check in (which luckily we had in our car) and transferred some of my personal effects in the second suitcase – therefore boarding two suitcases weighing 21 and 8 kg respectively. I then took with me on the plane (as a hand luggage) my wheeled pilot case weighing approximately 8.5kg. As I got to Dubai, I exited the airport, spent the night at a hotel and came back the day after Tuesday October 11th to board my second flight EK 095 to Rome Fiumicino. As I approached the passport control section at Dubai Terminal 3 building B I was asked to weight my wheeled pilot case, and this would again weigh approximately 8.5-9.0 kg – just like the previous day at Cape Town airport. The Emirates employee told me that my hadn luggage was in excess of the allowed weight of 7 kg and sent me to the Emirates desk to check in my trolley. I informed the Emirates employee that the Emirates check-in counter in Cape Town told me that my hand luggage was ok – in fact I could have added 3 more kg if I wanted to – but the emirates employee in Dubai ignored me and reiterated his demand to go to the check-in counter. At the counter, I was asked to check in my small trolley at a cost of 261 USD. I was shocked – if I had known of the 7kg limitation when I boarded in Cape Town the day before, I could have simply transferred the excess weight into my second suitcase – almost empty. I kindly invited the assistant at the check-in counter in Dubai to consider how I was being treated and she remarked that in Dubai they cannot take responsibility for oversights or mistakes taking place in Cape Town. I also let the assistant know that my hand luggage included valuable goods and I had no way of carrying them as I had no other bag, and yet she told me there was nothing she could do to assist me. I therefore removed some (very valuable) personal effects from my hand luggage, shoved them in an improvised bag and proceeded to pay 261$ to the “overweight baggage” counter. I have flown with emirates many times and I was never stopped or informed of a 7kg limitation on my hand luggage – I looked anywhere on my booking confirmation and the Terms and Conditions attached to the confirmation email (see attached) and I found NOWHERE – NOWHERE! That a 7kg limitation on my hand luggage applies! I had to walk half airport to my boarding gate with a small handbag with valuable items and I had to fly without some of the items that I needed for my trip (comfortable shoes, an extra jumper, headache tablets and personal hygiene items). One of the important items in my hand luggage was a COMPEX electro-stimulator which I needed to use on the plane to help blood circulation through my legs. 4 months ago I had a knee surgery and my knee gets swollen as I stand still for longer than necessary. It’s a delicate electronic device and I had no choice but to leave it in the trolley with a high risk of this being damaged or worse ******. This is to say that Emirates has caused me an extreme discomfort, which could have been avoided if I had been put in a position to plan properly – instead Emirates was sneaky and deliberately and deceivingly left me with no alternative other than pay 261USD and travel in a situation of stress and physical discomfort. On top of all this, as I got to Rome, I found out that my hand luggage had been damaged – it’s a small (and expensive) trolley, not supposed to be transported in plane hold. I let the Lost baggage desk know and they contacted the Emirates representative, who told me that the damage was too insignificant to qualify for any claim, and yet a new suitcase is now worn and torn. I ask to be immediately refunded of the 261 USD that have been *****ently taken from me by Emirates and I ask to be compensated for the discomfort received, as well as the damage to my trolley.

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