The lying airline from hell that can't be bothered to reply

Item: Emirates
Rating: 1

I don't actually know where to start so here is one of my many attempts at contacting Emirates through their "correct channels" Please note, this all happened on the 30 December 2016 and I am yet to so much as have an apology. To Whom it May Concern It has now been two weeks since the last communication from you regarding this matter and I fear you aren't taking my complaint seriously. It's also been 27 days since the incident occurred and it is shocking to me that you still haven't dealt with this issue. So, in case I wasn't clear in my initial complaint as you limited the characters available to me, here is exactly what happened. We booked our flights from Cape Town to New York - it was your airline that worked out the layover in Dubai. We were two hours late in leaving the Cape Town airport. Your ground staff wouldn't talk to us and let us know what was happening and the reason for the delay - even when we tried to speak to them about it, we were ignored. A little bit of communication would have gone a very long way. Once on the plane (which at this point I will add was still dirty from the person in the seat before me) we asked a flight attendant if our delay would cause an issue with our next flight and we were assured it would not be a problem. Fast forward one long flight and we arrive in Dubai only to be put into a holding pattern for an hour because of the fog. Now, I completely understand that the weather is not under your control but it is the events that followed that are simply not acceptable. Again, we asked a flight attendant about our connecting flight and again we were assured that they would be waiting for us because we were already checked in and (here I quote) "If we can't land, they can't take off". Finally we land and make a mad dash for the first ground staff we can find. It is at this point that your staff start the lying to us. We were told that the plane was being held for us but that we needed to run to the gate...which we did...only to be told that the gate was closed and we had to go to some desk. Once at that desk, we were told we were in the wrong place...this happened two or three times until by sheer luck, we found where we actually needed to be. Here is where this story really starts to make me angry. We spent FOUR hours in a queue trying to get onto another flight while your staff let every Tom, **** and Harry push in and jump the line. There was no information offered, there was no queue control, and it was only when my friend and I started shouting at the queue jumpers and causing such a scene that your staff actually started turn the jumpers away and serve the people that had been waiting in line for hours! Finally after FOUR hours in line, we get to the front to be re-booked on another flight... here's a kicker for you, I had been tracking our original flight to New York the whole time on your very handy app and it was only at this point, FOUR HOURS LATER that our flight STARTED to taxi to the runway. It had been sitting at the boarding gate for FOUR hours so please tell me why we weren't allowed onto OUR flight that we were already checking in for...I'll tell you why...because you had already given our seats away before we even landed. So, this fog happens at that time of year every year in Dubai, so, I would really like to know, firstly, why you even offer an hour twenty five minute layover and secondly, why you don't have better procedures in place to deal with this situation when it happens? No, no, I'm not done yet...I'm only just getting to the part of this whole story that really ****es me off. Finally, we are booked onto anther flight but it only leaves MORE than 24 HOURS later. (I'm not even going to start on the stuff up that the seats were. All I will say on that topic is that your social media manager was the only helpful person I came across during this nightmare) At this point we are told that they can't print our hotel voucher out at this disk, we have to go downstairs to have it printed. We finally find our way to the correct desk because, once again we were sent on a wild goose chase, where we are told that we can't be issued with a room yet as it's still early and nobody had checked out yet but that we should come back in an hour and then we would be given our room and issued with visas at the airlines cost but that we couldn't get visas yet because they can't be issued without a hotel voucher... Fast forward an hour...back to the desk where another woman tells us that the chances of us getting a room are very slim but we should check again in half an hour. Which we do, only to be told that the chances are even slimmer than before. It's at this point that I start to get upset and finally after asking repeatedly, the manager comes out. Her words to us were, "I'm going to have an honest conversation with you". She told us in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS THAT WE WOULD CATEGORICALLY NOT GET A ROOM. According to her, there was absolutely NO WAY we would get a room. She also told us that the airline would not open a lounge to us but that we could pay for four hours in one... She said "there are no rooms available in Dubai because it is new years eve" at which point my friend had looked online and found countless rooms available in Dubai. When we showed her the rooms, she sheepishly said "well the airline won't pay for those"... Go on, go and read your terms and conditions...I dare you. We were delayed for MORE than 24 hours. You are required to provide us with a bleeding room. Lets not even mention the fact that your staff **** directly to our faces more than once. So, after confirming with this manager that a) There was no hope in hell of us getting a room b) There was also no chance of us getting into a lounge - even just to take a shower - unless we paid for 4 hours...please yes, rob us of more of our money and then we would only have oh say another 20 or so hours to ****... c) We would also not be given visas to leave the airport because you wouldn't give us a hotel voucher. So, completely abandoned by Emirates, again I mention, we were CATEGORICALLY told we were not getting a room or anything thing else including help actually. Please, go and read your terms and conditions because we were entitled to assistance and we got absolutely none. My friend and I are not unreasonable people but this whole story was actually disgusting and a terrible experience and I am disgusted and disappointed by the manner in which we were treated.

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