Emirates Bans First Class Passenger For Legitimate Credit Card Dispute

Emirates Bans First Class Passenger For Legitimate Credit Card Dispute

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If something goes wrong with an airline ticket, a credit card dispute is often your last line of defense, when airline customer service otherwise breaks down. So here’s an interesting example of that, where a passenger filed a credit card dispute with Emirates, only to later be banned from the airline, and told that he was on the hook for the amount disputed.

Emirates cancels flight, refuses to refund ticket

A new FlyerTalk member shares a situation that he’s currently dealing with involving Emirates. Last year, he was scheduled to fly Emirates first class roundtrip from Birmingham (BHX) to Dubai (DXB) to Tokyo (HND) and back, as part of a guided tour of Japan.

He took Emirates’ chauffeur service to Birmingham Airport and went to the check-in counter, only for the airline to announce at that point that the flight was canceled, and advise passengers to contact the airline to rebook. The airline even arranged a taxi for him to go back home.

It’s worth noting that this happened during Dubai’s major floods in April 2024, which destroyed Emirates operations for several days. However, he couldn’t get through to the airline by phone, web chat, etc., presumably due to the volume of people trying to rebook.

Without any rebooking options on Emirates, he decided to book an alternative one-way itinerary on Air France, in hopes that Emirates would refund him for the outbound journey. Eight days later, he was finally able to get in touch with Emirates, and the agent explained that they would reissue the return ticket so that it’s still valid, in light of circumstances. The agent advised him to fill out a refund request form after he returned home, to get a refund for the outbound portion.

Upon returning back home, he filled out the refund request form with Emirates. After a few days, he received a notice that his refund request had been rejected. Long story short, he sent multiple more emails to the airline, but had no luck, as the airline insisted he utilized all sectors of the ticket.

Eventually he wrote that he’d give the airline 21 days to solve this problem, and if he didn’t hear from them, he’d initiate a chargeback through his bank. So that’s what he did. During the dispute, the airline tried to challenge the chargeback, claiming the ticket was fully utilized, which obviously wasn’t the case. The card issuer sided with the traveler, so he got his appropriate refund of around £4,000 (based on the cost of the outbound portion of travel).

Fast forward nearly a year, and the traveler received an email demanding that he pay the amount disputed, or else he’s banned from the airline going forward:

In connection with your ticket XYZ, under booking reference XYZ, we have received a dispute through your bank and the same was also received through our acquirer World Pay. Having reviewed the ticket history, I noted that it was reissued and utilised.

You are required to settle the payment for your ticket in order to enable your travel with us in the future. In such cases, recovery is made only in cash. Please contact our contact centre or the nearest office in order to resolve the issue due to high order value and utilisation of service.

He responded, but heard back nothing. Obviously he’s concerned, not only about being banned from Emirates, but possibly being on some watch list if he enters the UAE, and being accused of fraud, or something.

Emirates canceled the traveler’s flight due to Dubai floods

This is a situation where airline customer service fails

This traveler did absolutely nothing wrong. Emirates canceled his flight due to a natural disaster, and it’s no surprise that he couldn’t get through to an Emirates representative for days. So he (smartly) booked a ticket on another airline. In these situations, airlines absolutely should be willing to refund a portion of the ticket, to reflect the part that wasn’t consumed.

I suspect what’s going on here is pretty straightforward oversight that no one is actually empowered to fix — the ticket was reissued, so when the refund department saw that both of the segments on the reissued ticket were used, they assumed that the ticket had been fully consumed, and this guy was trying to scam the airline, or something. After all, airlines get tons of refund requests, and a lot of them aren’t legitimate.

This is one of the situations where consumers lack the ability to get in touch with a human who is actually empowered to apply logic and fix a situation. Honestly, I don’t know what exactly I would do in this situation, because I don’t think any frontline employee will actually apply enough logic to actually fix this.

Maybe try to file a complaint with UK regulators, in hopes that it gets the attention of a more senior person at Emirates? Or start Googling email addresses of more senior Emirates executives, and send them an email with the subject line “first class passenger accidentally banned from Emirates,” or something? I hate recommending that last idea, since it just clutters up inboxes, but what are the alternatives?

This situation really shouldn’t be that complicated

Bottom line

Emirates has banned a first class passenger, after the airline canceled a flight during last April’s storms, with no ways to get in touch with a customer service representative for days. So he booked a separate outbound ticket, and the return was reissued, and he was told to fill out a form to get a refund.

However, the computer rejected the refund request, presumably due to how the ticket was reissued. Therefore he was left with no choice but to file a credit card dispute, which worked out in his favor. Well, at least that was the case initially, as now the airline is coming after him for the remaining ticket amount, and has banned him until he pays.

What do you make of Emirates banning this first class passenger?

Conversations (81)
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  1. Jens-Peter Eckervogt Guest

    What do I understand? Are you talking about Middle Ages verbs? I really don't understand why do you say always with "ban" or "banned"? You mean "forbid" or "forbidden". Does it mean fraudulent of tickets, correctly?

    Please stop annoying me about Middle Ages language! My head breaks off if I don't understand common English verb. Thank you and regarding from Germany.

  2. Altaf Hashwani Guest

    Here is what we went through with Emirates and post this incident I have Stopped flying with them.

    To whom it may concern

    I am writing to register a complaint of a very serious nature with reference to booking number ECPW66.

    My daughters aged 9 and 12 were scheduled to travel as unaccompanied minors from Karachi to Singapore via Dubai on July 14. When making arrangements for them to travel unaccompanied, I was assured...

    Here is what we went through with Emirates and post this incident I have Stopped flying with them.

    To whom it may concern

    I am writing to register a complaint of a very serious nature with reference to booking number ECPW66.

    My daughters aged 9 and 12 were scheduled to travel as unaccompanied minors from Karachi to Singapore via Dubai on July 14. When making arrangements for them to travel unaccompanied, I was assured by Emirates staff at the Karachi ticketing office that a female staff member will be assigned to my daughters and will be with them from the time they arrive at the airport till they are taken through to the aircraft where the crew will take charge. Upon arrival at Karachi airport, we were informed by a gentleman (Iqbal) from DNATA/Gerry’s that no female staff is available to escort the girls. Coincidentally, as their maternal grandparents were also booked on the same flight, I did not hesitate to hand the children to his custody.

    Shortly after, I received a call from my 12-year-old daughter, Emaan Hashwani, saying that she is not being allowed to board and a PCR test is being requested. As per the rules of the Singapore government and Emirates travel guidelines, there is no testing, vaccination or quarantine requirements for children born in the year 2010 or after. It transpired that Emirates check-in staff took it upon themselves to ask for this additional requirement because they misinterpreted the vaccination rules – while Emaan by virtue of her age does not require vaccination to enter Singapore, she is recently vaccinated; she received her first dose of Pfizer shortly after her 12th birthday on June 13 and her second dose on July 13. Emirates ground staff insisted that a “new rule” had been issued on July 1, 2022 which is not visible on any traveler-facing site about a 14 day gap required post-vaccination before travel is allowed. They were asking for a negative PCR test as a “solution” to a rule that doesn’t exist and/or was being grossly misinterpreted. My younger daughter was free to board, but they were adamant that Emaan did not meet the criteria so at best they would send word to Dubai (Covid Compliance Centre) and Singapore. Distressingly, Emirates staff, a Mr Anthony DeGama on the ground at the time, did not have the decency to speak to me about any of this. He flatly refused to communicate with me. My father-in-law checking in himself at the counter attempted to argue the case with evidence from both the Singapore government and Emirates website. He was rudely dismissed and was told that he could also be offloaded. Emirates staff assumed that my father-in-law was the children’s guardian - I trust him implicitly but as the children’s unaccompanied travel was booked and paid for before their grandparents also booked on the same flight, there was no need to appoint my father-in-law as their guardian for the flight. On this basis, they refused to speak to me. This is unacceptable on so many levels. My children were entrusted to Emirates (not DNATA or for purposes of the flight to their grandparents), indeed we paid extra for them to travel as unaccompanied minors, and no one from Emirates felt it necessary to communicate with me. They treated my children and father-in-law disrespectfully, refusing to listen to reason and claiming to adhere to rules that do not exist.

    While we waited on word from Dubai, I called the Emirates call center in Dubai directly. I spoke to a very helpful representative, Shamim, who informed me that children under 13 do not need to be vaccinated and there is no PCR requirement. The DNATA agent brought my daughters out of the airport around this time. Apparently, Covid Compliance in Dubai had reverted with a decision that Emaan could not board the flight. Shamim was on the phone with me and I requested the DNATA agent to take my phone and children back in to the check-in counter so that Emirates staff could speak to each other directly to resolve this issue. The line was disconnected by the Karachi staff and once again, my children were brought out by the DNATA agent with the information that Emaan is still not permitted to board. I called the Dubai call center again and was connected to another agent named Jorge who also confirmed that the kids should have been allowed to board as there is no restriction on their travel from Karachi to Singapore. Once again I requested the DNATA agent (the only person in this entire ordeal who at least attempted to facilitate) to get someone from Emirates to talk to me or the agents in Dubai to resolve this issue. Again, I was dismissed by the Emirates airport staff who were too busy to speak to me till after departure of the flight. At this point, I made a third call to check for next available seats and was informed by the agent that while there is nothing available till August 5, there was no reason for the staff at the airport to prevent Emaan from boarding her scheduled flight. Finally after the flight has left without my children, a Mr Kamran Kaiser and his staff including Mr DeGama came outside to speak with me – I was informed that this was the manager and his staff (as it turns out, both were check-in staff and neither was the manager as per the information shared with me subsequently by the Karachi city office). They continued to argue their position and their misinterpretation of the rules, said that the final decision was made by Covid Compliance so the matter was out of their hands or else they would be fined. After a lengthy discussion, including one where Mr DeGama spoke to Emirates staff in Dubai on my phone, they still did not admit their mistake, told us that the Dubai call centre staff was issuing misinformation, but now said they would do us a “favour” by emailing Singapore for approval to override Covid Compliance. They offered to book the children on the next flight to Dubai and when I mentioned that no onward seats were available for the DXB – SIN sector, they said they will “manage something”. We came home after a 4 hour ordeal only to wait till 1:30 am for the same DNATA staff to call me with apologies that no response had been received from Singapore and the issue should be taken up at the city ticketing office the next day.

    Meanwhile, my father-in-law on arrival in Dubai approached the Business class lounge counter where the staff shared the actual rules with him (not what Karachi staff was manufacturing) and commiserated about the fact that Emaan was offloaded for no valid reason. She encouraged him to lodge a complaint. My brother-in-law in Singapore went to the Emirates city office first thing on July 15; the staff there was extremely helpful and apologetic. She not only confirmed in the system, but also with Singapore Immigration that Emaan was eligible to travel and that she wrongly offloaded in Karachi. At the same time, I went to the Karachi office where no one was willing to take responsibility or accept fault – despite everything shared by Emirates Dubai and Singapore and in the face of all evidence from Singapore government and Emirates website itself, they still believed that they were correct. May I suggest very seriously at this stage with no intended disparagement of my countrymen that Emirates consider investing in English lessons for its staff? If they had just read the rules and understood them, this issue would not have arisen. I can only assume that this is either because they do not understand simple English or that they willfully offloaded my children to accommodate other passengers. If it is the latter, I am sure you will wish to look into such unethical practices. Instead of being facilitated to now resolve the issue, I was told by the Karachi city office staff that there are no seats available and that I would have to pay cancellation charges for the flight from which my children were offloaded. When I shared the commitment made by the Emirates airport staff to communicate with Singapore and book flights, I was informed flippantly that in that case I could ask the airport staff directly to do what they can. For the next hour or so, Karachi office went about trying to find the email address for the Singapore office. Allow me to make another suggestion here - the Karachi Emirates staff needs lessons on how to contact other Emirates staff. I am sure there is a phone and email directory, but city office cannot call the airport office and expects the passenger to do so, the airport staff do not have the ability or common sense to speak to Dubai staff and everyone is clueless about how to get in touch with their colleagues in Singapore or Dubai on email. Of note, the Singapore office never received any email that was promised by Mr Kamran – either he doesn’t know how to send emails or he lied to a passenger – I don’t know which is worse. While no one in Karachi made any attempt to help resolve the situation, the fantastic Singapore office staff went out of her way to make arrangements and contact those required. She managed to rebook the children on the next flight. In fact, the Karachi office was shocked to see communication coming in from Singapore. In addition to not knowing how emails work, Karachi Emirates staff don’t know the travel guidelines, how to book flights or facilitate passengers. What purpose do they serve? If it helps with your operations, they do know to never accept responsibility and instead find someone else to blame, including their own colleagues in other cities. The matter did not end here. Once seats were booked, the Karachi office still did not want to take responsibility and insisted that my brother-in-law go back to the office in Singapore to request them to put into the system that the children are OK to board and that no vaccine or PCR test is required for passengers under 13. Again, Karachi office’s work was done by someone else. The manager in the Karachi city office was not available due to illness through all this, but he did have the decency to call me later and admitted that the entire episode was mismanaged.

    Please consider this an official complaint to which I expect a prompt response. My wife and I have been a loyal Emirates Skywards passenger for decades. We returned just last week along with our daughters on Emirates from Africa. We are scheduled to travel to France on Emirates in August, and to Rome next year. In light of what has happened, we will now be turning with immediate effect to Qatar and other airlines with better customer service. At this point, I would also like to share that I literally spent hours on hold on the phone while in Africa to speak to an Emirates representative for a matter related to another flight for one of our household staff. The level that Emirates has fallen to, Covid notwithstanding because all airlines have been impacted by that, is very disappointing.

    Not only am I am filing this official complaint, but I have every intention to share this episode with all my friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances. Most are Emirates customers and many have had other bad experiences with Emirates. These are the straws that break the camel’s back and you can be rest assured that we are now all turning to other carriers. There are other options. I will be posting this episode on social media and reserve the right to take legal action against Emirates particularly for the fact that in a case involving unaccompanied girls entrusted to Emirates for a night flight, no female escort was available and no airline staff saw fit to speak directly to their legal guardian. The incompetence of the Karachi Emirates staff has caused my entire family mental torture, anguish, disappointment and the cost of umpteen calls to Dubai and trips to the Singapore office.

    I look forward to your immediate investigation and subsequent response.

    Thank you

  3. Kim Colefax Guest

    Obviously absurd nonsense by Emirates. Burocracy can be so frustrating. Good luck to the brave customer.

  4. Sonny Pornasdoro Guest

    Customer is not always right... But in this case, emirates is absolutely wrong.

  5. Rob Guest

    I had a similar incident I was told to fill out a refund then being told to fill yet another one then being told to fill it out again.
    I was fortunate I got a person who could see exactly what had happened I had a refund in a week but this took about 1 month the amount was 3000 aud
    I went to use them again to be told I don't have an account but wait I still get notices of my milage points. Great product but so bad with customer services.

  6. David Hamilton Guest

    I had a,problem 1st class with Emirates too .
    The,chauffeur packed the luggage he missed 1 hand luggage which was crucial as money and passport inside. End result at Heathrow l could not take the flight. It was entirely the chauffeur fault l had full cctv evidence. I had to pay £400 to change the flight which l after a lot hassle got refunded. However Emirates refused to give me a chauffeur back home...

    I had a,problem 1st class with Emirates too .
    The,chauffeur packed the luggage he missed 1 hand luggage which was crucial as money and passport inside. End result at Heathrow l could not take the flight. It was entirely the chauffeur fault l had full cctv evidence. I had to pay £400 to change the flight which l after a lot hassle got refunded. However Emirates refused to give me a chauffeur back home stating l should pay it myself l refused to give their affiliated chauffeur company Addison Lee a cash job as a,reward for causing me to miss my flight.
    I took a private taxi.Addison Lee refused to refund the money as did Emirates for the taxi fare. Only £130 .This was a £5000 ticket.
    I think it's totally disgraceful way to treat a 1st class passenger.lt seems like they would prefer to have the negative publicity rather than admit they at fault over a very small amount.
    Very disappointed as Emirates are usually perfect in everyway.
    As far Addison Lee their attitude customer service and follow up was pathetic.

    1. Michael Joyce-Gibbons Guest

      I too was affected by cancelled flight in April 2024 due to flooding in Dubai. It took me nearly a day to get through to Emirates by telephone to rebook a flight back to UK, which couldn't be until a week later.

  7. Dan Guest

    If he really wants to travel with them he could probably just renew his passport early and register a new account with them.

    Doubt they could match him to the previous one with a new passport number.

  8. Reddy Guest

    Emirates is notorious for denying the service. I had very bad experience with this airline and I never travelled on Emirates after my first and last travel in 2021. I flew from Dubai to JFK without any food and they didn’t even offer me apology for that. What a pathetic airline

  9. Dubai_Red Guest

    As a long-time Emirates frequent flyer, it’s sad to see service quality descending while profits keep ascending. With record-breaking earnings and zero accountability, there’s little incentive to improve—or even admit there’s a problem. But with a global recession looming, they might soon remember who actually fills those seats. We’ll be here… waiting (and not in the lounge, obviously).

  10. Ramesh Guest

    I have been flying to London and back on Business class at least once in two years. I have used them few times in the last five years. Fortunately I have had no issues. I make sure the cancellation terms are flexi (at a very nominal cost of $ 50). Also, I have always been able to talk to a human whether the person is in Dubai or London or my place of residence. Yes...

    I have been flying to London and back on Business class at least once in two years. I have used them few times in the last five years. Fortunately I have had no issues. I make sure the cancellation terms are flexi (at a very nominal cost of $ 50). Also, I have always been able to talk to a human whether the person is in Dubai or London or my place of residence. Yes it may take sometime before you can get them on the phone. Recently I had to cancel my flight tickets with them for various reasons and the full refund less the $ 50 was done in 6 days, though their cancellation and refund period is 15 working days. Of course - on no occasion Emirates cancelled any flights, it was the other way round. However, I wish the dispute is settled amicably and Emirates will be happy to fly again the aggrieved passenger.

  11. Linda Guest

    I don’t agree with emirate airlines
    Same situation happened to me with Qatar airways they cancelled my flight back on 2024 asking me proof of actual
    Covid 19 card didn’t accept the photo,
    I had to book with other airlines continue my journey,same situation they asked me to Seattle in cash ,
    They pulled me out of the gate in other country on completely different airlines
    I filled extortion case...

    I don’t agree with emirate airlines
    Same situation happened to me with Qatar airways they cancelled my flight back on 2024 asking me proof of actual
    Covid 19 card didn’t accept the photo,
    I had to book with other airlines continue my journey,same situation they asked me to Seattle in cash ,
    They pulled me out of the gate in other country on completely different airlines
    I filled extortion case against Qatar airways
    My message to this traveler,if emirate stopped you from continuing your trip asking clear balance / you have the right to lawsuit airline for extortion

  12. Jamna persaud Guest

    A similar situation happened to me with Ethiad, I paid for an upgrade but was still given the original seat and was told to apply for a refund. After numerous emails and calls I finally give up and will not fly with them again.

    1. Nick Guest

      Not restricted just to airlines but general. We all are reduced to "Don Quixote.

  13. A Thomson Guest

    I previously had a return flight booked a few months in advance from LHR to BKK via DXB but about 2 weeks before departure departure covid struck so all flights were cancelled and a rebooking was offered up to a year ahead at no extra cost or a refund but it would take up to 6 months for the refund
    So I called emirates offices in London and spoke to someone there and said...

    I previously had a return flight booked a few months in advance from LHR to BKK via DXB but about 2 weeks before departure departure covid struck so all flights were cancelled and a rebooking was offered up to a year ahead at no extra cost or a refund but it would take up to 6 months for the refund
    So I called emirates offices in London and spoke to someone there and said it was a lot of money to me to wait on and there and then on the phone they not only cancelled my flights but also deposited my money back in my bank in 24 hours
    I personally cannot fault anything at all the service I got from them

  14. Taurean King Guest

    "I suspect what’s going on here is pretty straightforward oversight that no one is actually empowered to fix — the ticket was reissued, so when the refund department saw that both of the segments on the reissued ticket were used, they assumed that the ticket had been fully consumed,"

    Not clear how that is possible when the coupon status on the reissued ticket would be OPEN?

  15. Jerry Guest

    All Airlines including Emirates have the feeling that they are above all because of the high flow of passengers travelling , most are abusing of the situation by bypassing all rules of caring for passengers, there is also a sad truth that many are facing the consequences of being left without any means to complain to Airlines which most of the time have no e.mail or telephone contact and in case of chat it’s a auto response one saying nonsense!

  16. Matthew Guest

    Ben
    Why does your headline say the passenger was banned.
    He has not been banned at this point..

    Click bait??
    Expect better from you my friend
    ...

    1. Ben Schlappig OMAAT

      @ Matthew -- He *is* banned, unless he pays an amount that he shouldn't owe. What am I missing?

  17. jsm Guest

    A great solution would be for the flyer's payment card issuer - Visa/MC/Amex - to refuse to transact business with Emirates, and for the others (not in a concerted action of course) to follow suit. If using the issuer's service to challenge the action of a airline leads to the passenger being banned, these issuers need to take common action to protect their business model

  18. Matthew Guest

    You keep saying first class passenger.
    How about the lowly coach passenger who had same situation....
    I remember the days bill gates used to make everyone fly coach..
    Who is to judge how someone spends their money...

    1. Xander Guest

      I picked up on that too.
      What does it matter what class they were booked in. Class is not relevant in this case.

  19. Joe Guest

    He bettter bit step foot in uae or he may end up in Cecot El Salvador

  20. Robbo Guest

    Middle east recalcitrant airlines. never wrong, never admit error. I don't know why we in the west even allow them to do business with us. They have no consumer protection laws whatsoever, they treat passengers and staff like sheep. Emirates and their cohorts Fly Dubai are the worst. I had a similar thingb happen with Fly fucking Dubai last year, I could not get past Rajah or Mahatma oin the Indian call-cantre. Eventually I went...

    Middle east recalcitrant airlines. never wrong, never admit error. I don't know why we in the west even allow them to do business with us. They have no consumer protection laws whatsoever, they treat passengers and staff like sheep. Emirates and their cohorts Fly Dubai are the worst. I had a similar thingb happen with Fly fucking Dubai last year, I could not get past Rajah or Mahatma oin the Indian call-cantre. Eventually I went to linked in, gathered email afeter email after email of the tip "executives". I literally drove them wild until they caved in. See these people are nothing more than gutlee=ss wonders when it is all said and done.

  21. Saml Guest

    Sadly, most airlines these days don't employ competent customer service staff, and by competent I mean anyone capable of thinking about what they're doing. It's just following the script and doing what the computer says. The peak of their problem solving skills seems to be making up inexistent policies when what the computer says doesn't match what it should say.

  22. Ron Johnson Guest

    Been trying to get a refund from Iberia since February, even though, after complaining, IAG sent me an email saying that my tickets could be rebooked or refunded. They keep telling me that they have to determine if they received the funds for the tickets (they did) and will not honor their email stating that it can be refunded. I now live in Spain so I hope this does not cause me future problems. However,...

    Been trying to get a refund from Iberia since February, even though, after complaining, IAG sent me an email saying that my tickets could be rebooked or refunded. They keep telling me that they have to determine if they received the funds for the tickets (they did) and will not honor their email stating that it can be refunded. I now live in Spain so I hope this does not cause me future problems. However, I have all the documentation and will likely carry it with me if I decide to fly anywhere

  23. Timo Diamond

    The world of customer service is full of many people with little to no deductive reasoning. Im an accountant so I spend my days tracing, unwinding, reconciling and explaining what happened with a certain transaction. It's tedious and actually requires uninterrupted quiet time even for basic things. So imagine a low paid agent who ain't gonna spend any mental effort. It's shocking. But if you "prove your work" then it's hard for them to ignore...

    The world of customer service is full of many people with little to no deductive reasoning. Im an accountant so I spend my days tracing, unwinding, reconciling and explaining what happened with a certain transaction. It's tedious and actually requires uninterrupted quiet time even for basic things. So imagine a low paid agent who ain't gonna spend any mental effort. It's shocking. But if you "prove your work" then it's hard for them to ignore or argue. I often times have to literally meet with clients in person and walk thru an issue by holding their hand... that's when I realize that some people are even overwhelmed by logginto their bank account. Sigh...

  24. Khabz Guest

    Asked to pay in cash only, as per the email. I find that a little odd and suspicious, with doubt on authenticity of the mail.

  25. Dogmatick Guest

    Had a similar problem with Emirates during the pandemic, refused boarding despite all the staff saying I could fly but team leader wasn't aware of the rules even after reading them on their own website
    Complained, got a ticket and email saying will refund after se ding banke details
    Despite sending them over and again and opening new cases I never heard back and was out the £1000 rebooking fee

  26. KinkyKuwaiti Guest

    This sounds like a typical Emirates customer service interaction. Remember, you're dealing with the 'most best' Gopi in the call centre who follows the step-by-step instruction without any concept of common sense. Sad to see that Emirates hasn't improved their customer service overall and instead chooses to focus on only enhancing their First Class soft product. At least their executives will be well taken care of an happy!

  27. Jay ruby Guest

    This same thing happened with me with eva air!! They don't have any concept of customer service. I flew to shanghai and on the return trip we had an issue with the flight home and some no customer service available on site and no one answering their phones. It was chinese labor week when most people are on vacation we had to book a new flight with a different airline to get home. When we...

    This same thing happened with me with eva air!! They don't have any concept of customer service. I flew to shanghai and on the return trip we had an issue with the flight home and some no customer service available on site and no one answering their phones. It was chinese labor week when most people are on vacation we had to book a new flight with a different airline to get home. When we got back we had to file a refund request and they denied it saying cause we took the arrival flight to China or ticket is considered used. They would not home the refund we were promised at the delaying city. Coat me over 10k USD

  28. omarsidd Gold

    Emirates staff being lazy or incompetent? If all details are true, they should be able to determine what was booked originally, what was reissued, and what was later flown.

    This anecdote does not make for trusting them...

  29. elitetraveller Guest

    The passenger needs to settle the case in UAE court maybe this will get him out of the trouble and the airline will review the case!

  30. Foggy Ethan Guest

    This traveler should never travel to the UAE or a close ally for fear that there might be an arrest warrant.

    1. Derek H Guest

      Lol and the moon is made of cheese. Stop being such a conspiracy nut. UAE is a beacon of safety and civility. The government is one of the most upright and honest of all governments in the world.

    2. Dogmatick Guest

      You plainly aren't familiar with reality there. If a Govt organisation, such as Emirates is, says you owe them money and have been disreputable in paying them
      Your life can and will be debtors prison hell
      Written in Dubai

    3. TheArabianPeninsulaChopsUpJournalists Guest

      Hahaha

      You are naive bro.

  31. Retired Gambler Guest

    People keep suggesting charge backs and that is certainly your right but understand that many airlines, hotel companies and car rental agencies will put you on their "do not travel" list as a result (and some will close your frequent flyer/stayer account and take back the miles/points since they don't actually belong to you). Whether or not you feel this is right or fair they are not obligated by law to do business with you...

    People keep suggesting charge backs and that is certainly your right but understand that many airlines, hotel companies and car rental agencies will put you on their "do not travel" list as a result (and some will close your frequent flyer/stayer account and take back the miles/points since they don't actually belong to you). Whether or not you feel this is right or fair they are not obligated by law to do business with you and if they feel there is a financial risk (since you initiated a charge back once you could do it again) they are fully within their discretion to ban you.

    Sorry and, again, you may not think that is fair but you really have no recourse. Think about that when you consider doing a charge back (which I have NEVER done in 50 years of having credit cards except in the cash of outright fraudulent charges which I report as such and the card company reverses them then issues me a new card)

  32. Luke Guest

    He better not ever even transit/connect in a uae airport and otherwise face arbitrary arrest

    1. Derek H Guest

      Baffles my mind the low level thinking of people. The UAE is not vindictive nor would they do anything against the law or seek to do that to anyone.

      Get a grip and stop smelling markers

    2. Dogmatick Guest

      You've no concept on which you write, the OP is correct

      Written in Dubai

    3. Xander Guest

      Don’t be ridiculous. I feel safer in the UAE than anywhere in the USA.

  33. KP Guest

    Sue in small claims equivalent for the 4k gbp - that would force someone from their legal team to look at the situation. Either the situation will get resolved, or he will win (which he can then pay the demand with)

    1. WY Leong Guest

      I agree with your point to get through via another channel. But I would think this passenger’s patience would have been exhausted

  34. Troy Guest

    Did the passenger receive the tier miles for the full journey or only return portion? That would be my starting point.

  35. Ali Guest

    I would advise the passenger not to travel to UAE, these people are screwed in the head and would arrest him.

  36. Dan Guest

    He'd have better luck finding the office address of the appropriate executive and sending a FedEx with signature required, ideally overnight as it's more "dramatic".

    It's almost guaranteed someone will open it and read it. The downside is having to pay for the mailing but I have personally used this to great affect when there is a legitimate issue that is not being addressed properly.

    1. BradStPete Diamond

      I have as well and it's not only inexpensive but it does get a response !

  37. Gray Guest

    I am only guessing, but there's probably some weirdness with the pricing on a one-way vs a return at issue as well. Not that the airline should be able to claim that since they canceled the outbound...

    I'd go with contacting regulators. Frankly, Emirates /should/ be told "You are going to resolve this with the passenger or you can drop LHR from your network"...

    ...but this isn't the first time Emirates should have been told...

    I am only guessing, but there's probably some weirdness with the pricing on a one-way vs a return at issue as well. Not that the airline should be able to claim that since they canceled the outbound...

    I'd go with contacting regulators. Frankly, Emirates /should/ be told "You are going to resolve this with the passenger or you can drop LHR from your network"...

    ...but this isn't the first time Emirates should have been told that (and I've wanted the UAE arresting pax for having alcohol in their system - which has happened a few times - to be met with "Well, then I guess your London routes are all dry flights now").

  38. DistincTravel New Member

    Technically, I think this is what happened:

    The original ticket hat 4 unused coupons when the passenger finally got through over the phone in the middle of his journey. And indeed, trying to use only the third and fourth coupon of that ticket would mean trouble when trying to check in. So it was adisable and correct to reissue that ticket into a new one containing only the return flights.

    Yet, apparently a so-called even...

    Technically, I think this is what happened:

    The original ticket hat 4 unused coupons when the passenger finally got through over the phone in the middle of his journey. And indeed, trying to use only the third and fourth coupon of that ticket would mean trouble when trying to check in. So it was adisable and correct to reissue that ticket into a new one containing only the return flights.

    Yet, apparently a so-called even exchange was processed, which is pretty easy and works automatically in most cases, especially when an airline reissues their own flights on their own ticket stock.

    It would have been correct (and important), though, to also issue an EMD for the residual value of the unused first and second coupons. This EMD would then have to be refunded. If that was not done, even a partial chargeback would trigger a fraud warning. From this point on, it takes quite some effort from a human to sort things out, which obviously never happened.

    What I don't understand is how the passenger could get a partial refund through his bank. How would they process it? Just reclaim 50 % of the original charge? Sounds strange to me.

    1. Andrew Guest

      My bank has issues a partial if you show them the breakdown of the ticket. They did this when I had fraud on my Southwest account. Southwest refunded only part of the charge due to the scammer asking for a refund and utilizing it before I saw it. In my communications with Southwest they admitted it was fraud but said they were not responsible for the refund of the remaining amount. Sent this to Amex and they refunded the partial amount after like 3 weeks.

  39. Santastico Diamond

    "This is one of the situations where consumers lack the ability to get in touch with a human who is actually empowered to apply logic and fix a situation." "Start Googling email addresses of more senior Emirates executives, and send them an email with the subject line “first class passenger accidentally banned from Emirates,” or something?"

    Exactly the main problem of most businesses nowadays. Last year I flew KLM from Rome to Amsterdam and they...

    "This is one of the situations where consumers lack the ability to get in touch with a human who is actually empowered to apply logic and fix a situation." "Start Googling email addresses of more senior Emirates executives, and send them an email with the subject line “first class passenger accidentally banned from Emirates,” or something?"

    Exactly the main problem of most businesses nowadays. Last year I flew KLM from Rome to Amsterdam and they left all my checked bags behind. They never loaded them on the plane although they told me they were in AMS. Well, I had AirTags on all my bags and could see them in Rome. I filled a missing baggage complain with KLM. Next day I boarded my flight back to the US still with no bags. Fast forward 15 days of me trying to get someone to help me without any responses I contacted a top executive at Delta (a KLM partner) that I know and this person sent a note to a top KLM executive on my behalf. Guess what? Within 12 hours I had an email on my Inbox that my bags had been found (well, I knew where they were) and placed on the first flight to be delivered to my home. Unfortunately, not everyone has the ability to contact a top executive to solve issues that should be easily solved by normal employees.

  40. Sk Guest

    Sounds like this is a similar situation: https://www.reddit.com/r/emirates/comments/1efyh4l/denied_compensation_emirates_dubai_floods/

    So that outbound flight was actually cancelled by Emirates? Or was it like the passenger was told it might be cancelled but in the end the flight in fact was not cancelled, therefore in the eye of the airlines it could be seen as the passenger did not show up for the flight?

    1. Dogmatick Guest

      He was at the airport and they turned him around, is very clear in the article. They even paid for a cab home

    2. Sk Guest

      Thanks. I read that part and get that.

      My question is, regardless of what was communicated by the ground staff, that flight was officially cancelled by the airline or did it actually take off with a significant delay?

    3. Sk Guest

      I don’t know if I get a response here but most likely -

      1) the airline ground staff told the passenger something like the flight will be cancelled and the passenger took the taxi back home from airport.
      2) the flight was in fact was not cancelled but flew with a significant delay.
      3) the earlier communication between the the ground staff and passenger was all verbal amid the chaos at the...

      I don’t know if I get a response here but most likely -

      1) the airline ground staff told the passenger something like the flight will be cancelled and the passenger took the taxi back home from airport.
      2) the flight was in fact was not cancelled but flew with a significant delay.
      3) the earlier communication between the the ground staff and passenger was all verbal amid the chaos at the airport. Nothing was recorded.
      4) the airlines considered the passenger did not check in voluntarily, not knowing what was communicated by the ground staff.

  41. Peter Guest

    when the bank processed the chargeback, was it for full amount paid or half the amount? My bank would certainly process only the full amount as on the statement, not partial. In which case of full refund, if the inbound was flown, the passenger would owe the airline for the one day flight.

    1. DistincTravel New Member

      That's exactly what I was thinking when reading the story. Never heard of such a thing as a partial chargeback. How would a credit card issuer be able to calculate the correct amount? They sure can't, and I doubt they'd just process a chargeback for 50 % of the original amount.

    2. Andrew Guest

      Amex can 100% refund a partial amount. I had this happen on a Southwest fraud case. Southwest refunded only the amount they were able to recover from the fraud. Even though they admitted it was fraud, they said they're weren't liable for the remaining amount. Sent it over to Amex and they refunded the remaining like $260 from the $500 initial charge since Southwest. You just need to have good documentation, and the fact Southwest...

      Amex can 100% refund a partial amount. I had this happen on a Southwest fraud case. Southwest refunded only the amount they were able to recover from the fraud. Even though they admitted it was fraud, they said they're weren't liable for the remaining amount. Sent it over to Amex and they refunded the remaining like $260 from the $500 initial charge since Southwest. You just need to have good documentation, and the fact Southwest admitted the entire charge was fraud, it was an easy win.

    3. Gray Guest

      I've had this done. Like, if you order two boxes of chocolate and only get one, you can file for a partial on the one. Same thing with a pricing error, etc.

      Sometimes, however, the CC just sends through a chargeback for the one. I had this happen with a mess with a movie theater a few years back. I wanted to file a chargeback for the value of a set of bonus gift cards...

      I've had this done. Like, if you order two boxes of chocolate and only get one, you can file for a partial on the one. Same thing with a pricing error, etc.

      Sometimes, however, the CC just sends through a chargeback for the one. I had this happen with a mess with a movie theater a few years back. I wanted to file a chargeback for the value of a set of bonus gift cards they rendered as unusable via T&C that weren't indicated at the time of the transaction, but they just refunded the whole thing.

    4. Imadogg Guest

      I've done a partial chargeback before

    5. justin dev Guest

      If you tell your bank that you are chargingback an amount different than the full amount paid, your bank will issue a partial chargeback.
      Depending on the bank, part of the chargeback process is to enquire on the amount the cardholder intends to chargeback.

  42. Dusty Guest

    Assuming the passenger is a UK resident with citizenship/permanent residency, I'd just simply not worry about flying Emirates ever again. There's plenty of other airlines that can get you from the UK to just about anywhere else in the world on a one-stop.

    It sucks that Emirates is banning him over essentially a refund for a flight they never operated, but the silver lining is that he got his money for that back and still...

    Assuming the passenger is a UK resident with citizenship/permanent residency, I'd just simply not worry about flying Emirates ever again. There's plenty of other airlines that can get you from the UK to just about anywhere else in the world on a one-stop.

    It sucks that Emirates is banning him over essentially a refund for a flight they never operated, but the silver lining is that he got his money for that back and still got to take the return as originally ticketed. I don't feel like that's a common outcome when airlines cancel on you.

  43. Justin Dev Guest

    Ben you wrote: "...I suspect what’s going on here is pretty straightforward oversight that no one is actually empowered to fix — the ticket was reissued, so when the refund department saw that both of the segments on the reissued ticket were used, they assumed that the ticket had been fully consumed..."

    That is not how airline revenue accounting systems work. At least they didn't, when I managed both that department and the refunds department...

    Ben you wrote: "...I suspect what’s going on here is pretty straightforward oversight that no one is actually empowered to fix — the ticket was reissued, so when the refund department saw that both of the segments on the reissued ticket were used, they assumed that the ticket had been fully consumed..."

    That is not how airline revenue accounting systems work. At least they didn't, when I managed both that department and the refunds department of an airline many moons ago. The cpn would show reissued, but it would not show used, unless it was uplifted and used. And the refund staff working the claim, can see this and could also validate if the pax flew, by looking at the PNR and flight details which would show the checked in flight info and passport scanned information etc, to confirm that the pax did not or did fly the segment.

  44. Nb Guest

    Lol bs bs.

    Airlines have historical data from DCS systems to check.
    Even if the outbound was transformed into F when inbound was reissued, the original flight did not operate it’s a mismatch.
    So then I’d just ask EK ‘when did I fly with you? Date and flight number.
    Here EK will simply not find any check-in record with passenger PNR/name/ticket number.

    So strange story hard to believe…

  45. echino Diamond

    Similarly, Marriott bans people from Bonvoy, forfeits all points and cancels all reservations for any charge backs, including legitimate ones.

  46. JL Guest

    In my experience, Emirates also has terrible, rude, and defensive phone agents, so something is definitely wrong in the EK customer service department. An agent screamed at me when refusing a refund for a within-24 hour cancellation to me under U.S. DOT 24-hour cancellation protection, which I only was able to secure after complaining to the DOT. These agents are not well-trained, follow a bad script, and are not empowered to make decisions.

  47. Klaus_S Gold

    Not sure of UK is any different that EU:
    Correct approach (in the legal sense) for a flight departing from the EU would’ve been:

    The passenger should have first sent Emirates a rebooking request in writing with a reasonable deadline.
    After the deadline had expired, the passenger would have booked a new flight. The departure and arrival airports must be identical to the original ticket booked.

    The passenger would then have had to...

    Not sure of UK is any different that EU:
    Correct approach (in the legal sense) for a flight departing from the EU would’ve been:

    The passenger should have first sent Emirates a rebooking request in writing with a reasonable deadline.
    After the deadline had expired, the passenger would have booked a new flight. The departure and arrival airports must be identical to the original ticket booked.

    The passenger would then have had to claim the costs of the new flight from Emirates in writing.

  48. George Romey Guest

    1. Hire a lawyer 2. Welcome to the world of the future where customer service are bots that often can't handle your request. I listen to all these "tech gurus" talk about a "more human AI for good" and it's laughable.

  49. G. C. Guest

    Most likely they reissued the ticket including and “capturing” the outbound, when the customer flew the inbound, the ticket showed “F” on both portions. I think inexperienced customer service agent was unable to read the history of electronic ticket, hence they stated that ticket was used in full. When irregularities occur, sometimes ticket agents are overlooking the final ticket status. I am not familiar with EK procedures, but I’m pretty positive this is what happened....

    Most likely they reissued the ticket including and “capturing” the outbound, when the customer flew the inbound, the ticket showed “F” on both portions. I think inexperienced customer service agent was unable to read the history of electronic ticket, hence they stated that ticket was used in full. When irregularities occur, sometimes ticket agents are overlooking the final ticket status. I am not familiar with EK procedures, but I’m pretty positive this is what happened. Hence, the passenger was right.

  50. Super Diamond

    I'm confused - there's no point in the story where the ticket is reissued? Just said he was turned away in Birmingham and then booked Air France one way (which I don't understand why one way? You can't use a return portion of a RT ticket if you don't fly the segments getting you there...)

    1. Ben Schlappig OMAAT

      @ Super -- The ticket was reissued, as I explained in the post:
      "Eight days later, he was finally able to get in touch with Emirates, and the agent explained that they would reissue the return ticket so that it’s still valid, in light of circumstances. The agent advised him to fill out a refund request form after he returned home, to get a refund for the outbound portion."

  51. Andy Guest

    I loath airline customer service and wish regulators would be more empowering.

    KLM stole $750 from me a few years ago that I will never see again, from double charging me for an itinerary and refusing to admit they had done so. I charged back the "duplicate" charge but by the time i went to take the original flight, they'd cancelled it because of the charge back and it was too late for me...

    I loath airline customer service and wish regulators would be more empowering.

    KLM stole $750 from me a few years ago that I will never see again, from double charging me for an itinerary and refusing to admit they had done so. I charged back the "duplicate" charge but by the time i went to take the original flight, they'd cancelled it because of the charge back and it was too late for me to file another claim on the original ticket. Absolutely helpless. DOT claim did nothing.

  52. Art Vandy Guest

    Lot of articles these days about aggrieved passengers...

    1. hbilbao Diamond

      Yeah, and being denied boarding is now a 'human rights violation' apparently... with so many armed conflicts around the world, genocides, and annexation threats, some people seem to take a very liberal approach to what human rights entail.

    2. TravelinWilly Diamond

      "Lot of articles these days about aggrieved passengers..."

      I know, right?! And there are still morons out there who think shoving lights up their asses and drinking bleach will cure their Covid, so they don't bother with the scary vaccines...

    3. Tim Done Guest

      "shoving lights up their asses and drinking bleach "

      What an idea!

    4. Art Vandy Guest

      You forget your meds today?

    5. Yes, Art Guest

      Perhaps it’s because airlines are doing lots of things that result in aggrieved passengers…

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

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Dan Guest

He'd have better luck finding the office address of the appropriate executive and sending a FedEx with signature required, ideally overnight as it's more "dramatic". It's almost guaranteed someone will open it and read it. The downside is having to pay for the mailing but I have personally used this to great affect when there is a legitimate issue that is not being addressed properly.

3
hbilbao Diamond

Yeah, and being denied boarding is now a 'human rights violation' apparently... with so many armed conflicts around the world, genocides, and annexation threats, some people seem to take a very liberal approach to what human rights entail.

3
G. C. Guest

Most likely they reissued the ticket including and “capturing” the outbound, when the customer flew the inbound, the ticket showed “F” on both portions. I think inexperienced customer service agent was unable to read the history of electronic ticket, hence they stated that ticket was used in full. When irregularities occur, sometimes ticket agents are overlooking the final ticket status. I am not familiar with EK procedures, but I’m pretty positive this is what happened. Hence, the passenger was right.

3
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