Well here’s an entertaining interaction between Emirates Airbus A380 pilots and air traffic controllers at New York Kennedy Airport (JFK). To be honest, I’ve heard JFK ATC be more unprofessional (admittedly that’s a high bar!), but still…
In this post:
JFK air traffic controllers & Emirates pilots argue
YouTube channel You can see ATC has air traffic control audio and a visualization of an interaction that happened at JFK on the early afternoon of December 9, 2025, as Emirates flight EK201 was taxiing to its gate after landing from Dubai (DXB). If you’re into this kind of stuff, I’d recommend watching the below video, though let me also summarize what makes this noteworthy.
The Emirates A380 was given several sets of instructions to taxi to the gate, and here’s the meat of the interaction:
- After being given initial taxi instructions, the Emirates pilot advised that their gate was occupied
- The tower controller advised the Emirates A380 to make the right turn on taxiway A, and hold short of taxiway D
- A short while later, while taxiing across an active runway, the tower controller advised the Emirates A380 to instead go straight ahead on taxiway A, and hold short of taxiway D
- The air traffic controller told the Emirates A380 not to stop due to traffic behind them, though it’s clear that the Emirates pilots were confused by the instructions, so slowed down
- The pilots were told to expedite their taxi, though since they were confused by the instructions, they sought clarification
- After taxiing for some time, the pilots seemingly forgot to switch to the ground frequency as was requested, so the tower controller told them to switch frequencies
- At this point, the Emirates pilot acknowledged the instructions, but said “by the way, sir, your instructions were not clear before, so just expediting was not a good idea, there is no need to be rude, just be more professional next time and more clear, thank you”
- The controller didn’t like being called out in this way, so tried to challenge the pilot on his claim, asking if the instructions were unclear, to which the Emirates pilot responded “yes, it was unclear, we are four pilots here, nobody understood you, and there is a native English speaker, so more professional and more clear, thank you very much”
- The air traffic controller wanted to keep arguing the point, and the Emirates pilot then simply responded by indicating they would switch frequencies
- Funny enough, clearly the tower controller told his ground controller buddy what was going on, so then the other air traffic controller wanted to continue arguing on frequency… oy
My take on this contentious JFK ATC interaction
Some (but not all) air traffic controllers at JFK are known for being among the least friendly and most unhelpful that you’ll find anywhere. Funny enough, I’d actually say that by JFK standards, the tower controller wasn’t that unprofessional, at least in terms of his tone. In particular, obviously the Emirates pilot spoke up due to cumulative frustration, rather than that final interaction, specifically.
For those who may not fully understand what’s going on here, what happened is that the air traffic controller wanted the A380 to taxi all the way around the airport. So initially the instruction was to turn right onto taxiway A, but presumably when the controller realized that the gate was occupied, he instead wanted the A380 to use taxiway A, but in the other direction, to keep the plane moving.
I can understand why the Emirates pilots might have been confused, since they weren’t necessarily expecting those instructions, and they assumed there was some other context they were missing. After all, it’s rare that you’re given continuous taxi instructions spanning such a distance.
But this is also where the problems originated:
- The pilots were clearly confused, so telling pilots to expedite their taxi when they clearly didn’t understand where they were supposed to go isn’t a great practice, especially since they were given these instructions while crossing a runway
- What I find most absurd is how combative both the tower and ground controller were with wanting to prove that they were right; they were like children, and didn’t want to let go of what happened until the pilots apologized, basically
- The issue with some air traffic controllers is that they have a plot of land that’s a few square miles that they spend half of their life controlling, and they fail to consider that maybe some pilots have never flown there, haven’t been there in months or years, etc.; they exclusively view things through the lens of whether it makes sense to them, rather than whether it might makes sense to someone who has never been to an airport before
So this just seems like a situation where a little clarification would’ve gone a long way. Like, “I’m going to taxi you all the way around the airport, so instead of turning right on taxiway A, proceed straight ahead…”
Bottom line
The pilots of an Emirates Airbus A380 and air traffic controllers at JFK got into it over instructions for taxiing. Clearly the Emirates pilots just didn’t understand the change in instructions, and the air traffic controller told them to hurry, despite their confusion.
The pilot asked the controller to be more professional, but that didn’t go over well, as he then didn’t want to drop that “feedback.” He was so obsessed with being proven right that he even had his buddy, the ground controller, continue the argument on his behalf, on another frequency.
One wonders, when these JFK controllers have a day off and hang out together, do they just go to a bar and discuss how stupid they think everyone in the world is, except for them?
What do you make of this Emirates A380 & JFK ATC interaction?
"Request change of controller " was always my back up plan at JFK. Apparently they cannot refuse. Worst ground contollers in the world.
You’re right, traffic control acted like children, worse, they were complete jerks. The pilot was nothing but decent, polite.
Fire them & do it now. F their NY attitudes
Okay, I know that the author is an enthusiast and finds this stuff interesting, but it’s always irked me a bit that a points and miles guy always feels like he has to get his “take” in on this stuff, so let me try to add a little perspective as a pilot actually based at JFK.
Weird fight to pick for the Emirates crew here. While it’s true that it’s a long way around...
Okay, I know that the author is an enthusiast and finds this stuff interesting, but it’s always irked me a bit that a points and miles guy always feels like he has to get his “take” in on this stuff, so let me try to add a little perspective as a pilot actually based at JFK.
Weird fight to pick for the Emirates crew here. While it’s true that it’s a long way around on A to get to D, “Straight ahead on A, hold short of D” is not an ambiguous instruction. It can only mean one thing. When the controller amended his instructions he even emphasized his intentions by starting with “correction” and repeating “straight ahead”. Now, Emirates was pretty clearly confused about where they were supposed to hold short, so I don’t want to fault them too much for slowing down when they were unsure of the instructions. But, having been told both to expedite across the runway and also about the traffic waiting to cross behind them, I think it should have been pretty easy to infer that the controller is primarily concerned with getting airplanes clear of 22R, which was likely the departure runway in this situation. I’d hate to be the BA flight unable to clear an active runway because Emirates is confused. I’ll actually give credit to the controller here for recognizing the conflict developing at one of the most critical areas he’s responsible for and issuing prompt instructions to resolve it, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable at all for him to express a little urgency while he does so. All in all a little clunkier than it usually goes, but everything was fine once everyone was safely on their way, save Emirates never switching to ground.
I really don’t understand why the Emirates crew feels like they needed to start this fight when the tower controller reminded them to switch to ground. I’ve been corrected and admonished far more harshly than that, and not just in the States, either. Oh, and the ground controller was downright polite when he was trying to clear up the confusion with the crew at the end. Anyways, huge props to the JFK controllers, who largely do an excellent job day in and day out moving a huge volume of traffic safely. Personally I think they’re a pleasure to work with!
Is that how all New Yorkers think? The pilot wasn’t starting a fight, just asked for a little consideration…
Meh sounds like overly sensitive pilots. I don’t know this jargon but it was clear change , they don’t need to ask anything about being polite because the traffic controller was not rude. He gave instructions in the same tone and the pilot slowed down instead of clarifying. This could’ve cost a huge accident with the 777 behind them. The pilot also repeated the instructions after they were given. So what was not clear?
I like that New Yorkers are direct. We're not back-stabbers. We're front-stabbers. No surprises. Save the passive-aggressive 'oh, bless your heart' for Atlanta, folks.
De-escalation is success to life.
Emirates Pilot was clearly unhappy and wanted to make a point to the ATC. That's mistake #1. No one likes to be scolded especially if they are not your superior. This was CLEARLY an escalation.
ATC was childish, but at the end of the day aircraft on the ground absolutely need to follow what ATC is saying... even if the communcation is not clear or confusing.
DO...
De-escalation is success to life.
Emirates Pilot was clearly unhappy and wanted to make a point to the ATC. That's mistake #1. No one likes to be scolded especially if they are not your superior. This was CLEARLY an escalation.
ATC was childish, but at the end of the day aircraft on the ground absolutely need to follow what ATC is saying... even if the communcation is not clear or confusing.
DO not take moral high ground on these hills to die on. It's not worth it. The pilots will know better next time they come to JFK. Either put up with the shit there or choose not to fly there.
agree. this should not be an ego-game or claims to the moral high ground.
Everything was made a tad more complicated because the gate was unavailable and this was a giant A380 that was presumably restricted in movement flexibility.
Ultimately I don't see this as being a big story or even a major escalation.
JFK controllers are JFK controllers. They operate some of the most complex airspace in the world and they are always so nice. To the pilots making a solid six figure flying widebodies man up and let it roll off.
Obsolete humans.
How many more accidents and casualties we have to endure before we remove the leading cause of accidents.
Your gramophone needle is stuck in that same old, same old groove Esk, yes?
This tribal mentality of handing off an argument from the tower to ground control will lead to nothing good.
Had the ground controller been professional, they would have tried to recover from the tower's previous issues (whose fault it was doesn't even matter at that point) with politeness and professionalism.
When there's a devastating incursion at JFK, the first place I would look would be at JFK ATC, to see if they were too...
This tribal mentality of handing off an argument from the tower to ground control will lead to nothing good.
Had the ground controller been professional, they would have tried to recover from the tower's previous issues (whose fault it was doesn't even matter at that point) with politeness and professionalism.
When there's a devastating incursion at JFK, the first place I would look would be at JFK ATC, to see if they were too busy chest-thumping and fighting to do their actual jobs. What a bunch of unprofessional holes.
And before anyone says it, being overworked is no excuse or reason to be utterly hostile to pilots.
Both parties are partly to blame. EK pilots could have asked for clarification earlier rather than just taxiing very slow and then giving unsolicited constructive criticism later to the ATC. If that gate was actually free then we wouldn't have hard all this nonsense.
DEI hires under Biden
The quantity of evidence you have that these controllers were hired under Biden equals the level of consideration to which any rational person ought to give your comment.
No dude. It was DEI hires enabled by Obama changes to ATC test to favor african American candidates:
From the lawsuit against the FAA filed by the Mountain States Legal Foundation:
…a candidate could be awarded 15 points, the highest possible for any question, if they indicated that their lowest grades in high school were in science…. In contrast, an applicant was awarded only 2 points if they had a pilot’s certificate and no points...
No dude. It was DEI hires enabled by Obama changes to ATC test to favor african American candidates:
From the lawsuit against the FAA filed by the Mountain States Legal Foundation:
…a candidate could be awarded 15 points, the highest possible for any question, if they indicated that their lowest grades in high school were in science…. In contrast, an applicant was awarded only 2 points if they had a pilot’s certificate and no points were awarded for having a Control Tower Operator rating or having Instrument Flight Rules experience…. In addition, one question on the Biographical Questionnaire awarded an applicant 10 points, the most available for that question, if the applicant answered s/he had not been employed in the prior three years. Another question awarded 4 or 8 points if the applicant had been unemployed five or more months in the prior three years. Statistics from the Department of Labor indicate that African Americans had the highest unemployment rate in 2010–2014.
Hey, umm, who was president during 2017-2021... and, right now?
DEI isn't the issue, but if it were, maybe stop blaming predecessors, and take responsibility.
Trump, March 13, 2020: "I don't take responsibility at all." *facepalm*
People want specifics then decry facts with whataboutthebadorangeman
So much of today's discourse is people pretending not to understand things, preventing discourse
I know controllers have a tough job, and I'm sure 99% of them are great people. But kudos to the Emirates crew for calling them out. We need so much more of this in aviation (like with FLIGHT ATTENDANTS) but it doesn't happen because people are afraid of the consequences. Well, the only way that behavior gets corrected is by calling it out. That should be normalized.
Ok, Andy, sure, speak out, but, also, if you speak out and say dumb things, you can expect folks to respond, too. More speech is fine, maybe not 'too much' within this context, because ultimately ATC should control the day at airports (and they then have to take responsibility if things go wrong under their watch), not rogue pilots who think they know better.
I agree for sure, but in this case, it doesn't seem there was something to "call out". It was more about unclearly perceived instructions.
Also, aircraft are noisy environments and radio signals aren't always pristine, so I would imagine there is a lot of ways communication clarity could be compromised.
These tense exchanges with JFK ATC seem to happen often enough to raise concerns about that location's ATC leadership.
Nah. JFK's doing just fine. They're handling way more than most places. I pity the fool who thinks they're gonna pull a fast one on them.
Cross words are common in life, but it's a sign of a stressed environment when it is recurrent. ATC is understaffed all over, yet it seems JFK is too often the site of these adverse interactions. Is it that their staffing is even lower than the average, is it inefficiencies in their local operational procuderes, is it a bad individual or the culture, etc. You can shrug it off, but you may be missing an...
Cross words are common in life, but it's a sign of a stressed environment when it is recurrent. ATC is understaffed all over, yet it seems JFK is too often the site of these adverse interactions. Is it that their staffing is even lower than the average, is it inefficiencies in their local operational procuderes, is it a bad individual or the culture, etc. You can shrug it off, but you may be missing an opportunity to prevent an accident. Management by gravestone isn't the best approach.