I have just flown Emirates from Mumbai to San Francisco via Dubai. Everyone told me it was "a five star airline" and the "best airline in the world" right now. It couldn’t have been further from the truth I had the worst experience I have ever had flying them and do NOT recommend them on the India-USA route. They were as bad as or worse than Air India. Firstly, the aircraft was nothing special, seemed oldish.The leg room was bad and the seating cramped.
Do not think you will travel with an ’elite’ crowd. There were babies, families, untidy people all over the place.The flight attendants were badly manicured and presented. They were unsophisticated and acted like college students. I had no faith in them at all. They often ignored me when I requested something, rarely smiled and acted like they couldn’t cope. (Oh and by the way at Dubai if you are a woman you get molested by their security before you board, when going to the US. They also confiscated my toothpaste and deodorant even though I had happily carried them in my handbag from Mumbai.)So, just as we were about to take off a passenger "fell sick" apparently ( we were half way down the runway.) So the plane came to a halt and we were all confined in our seats for THREE hours stuck on the airport ground while the "passenger" decided what to do. Finally "they" got off but Emirates then had to find their luggage in the hold, and that took an amazing three hours to find!! (Do not know why.
Should have been able to locate it more quickly.)Anyway this wasn’t their fault, but what was their fault was what happened next. Throughout the flight, I told the flight attendants that I had a connecting flight in SF and only had a three hour layover and could they contact the ground crew in SF to tell them. They told me it wasn’t their problem and anyway they only took charge of the plane and it was the ground staff who would be responsible for me. So then they said the ground staff would have "sorted it for me" as they knew the flight was late.After a mediocre flight with mediocre tasteless food, poor entertainment (bad choice of films, all old) and dirty toilets, we landed at SFO THREE HOURS LATE.
There was not ONE member of ground staff from Emirates to greet us, to tell us what to do. So without any option I had to go to Immigration and baggage collection alone. Still no Emirates staff before I knew it I was in the arrivals hall. I went to the domestic terminal to be told of course I had missed my connecting flight on US Airways. There was no Emirates office at the airport and no staff at check-in. No one at the Information Desk knew what to do. I was basically stranded at SFO without ant hotel or food. I tried to get a flight onward with US Airways to my destination and was told they were booked out for four days but they could get me on one for 150 US$. They also said it wasn’t their problem and Emirates should help me.
Finally, I got through to an Emirates woman somewhere in SFO by phone who said this was not their responsibility, and she couldn’t get me a replacement flight.