A Monifieth couple has slammed Emirates after being offered a ‘disgraceful’ amount in compensation for cancelled flights and lost luggage.
Margaret McArthur, 74, and her husband Derek, 76, claim they were forced to fork out more than £1,000 after a holiday of a lifetime was impacted by severe flooding in Dubai in April.
Hundreds of flights at the world’s second-busiest airport were disrupted, with Margaret claiming their trip almost descended into a “riot” as thousands of passengers waited for up to 30 hours in the terminal in “inhumane” conditions.
Margaret and Derek were en route to Tokyo for a cruise when their connecting flight from the UAE was cancelled, leaving them stranded in the airport.
They managed to catch another flight almost 24 hours later – but to another airport in Tokyo, without their luggage.
Despite promises from Emirates, it failed to arrive at their hotel the following day – meaning they had to board their 10-day cruise without it.
The pair were eventually reunited with their luggage around two weeks later, by which time they say they had spent more than £1,000 on new clothes, luggage and travel arrangements.
They were hoping to be fully recompensed by the airline, which is headquartered in Dubai.
However, six months on from their ordeal they claim to have been offered $300 – roughly £230.
The couple also received an apology, but say the ordeal has left them feeling “frustrated and irritated”.
‘I don’t think I’d like to fly Emirates again’
Margaret told The Courier: “It turned out about 60 other passengers on the cruise had the same problem.
“When we got home, we got in touch with Emirates who asked us to submit our receipts, which we scanned and spent a lot of time doing because they were in Japanese.
“We also had to make sure we didn’t include anything that wasn’t to do with the delay – I was very honest.
“After we put in the claim, they got back to us saying they accept $300 which we don’t think is nearly enough.
“We’ve been in touch with others and it seems to be the same for them too.
“Some have been offered airmiles – I’m not interested in that as I don’t think I’d like to fly Emirates again.”
Emirates compensation offer branded ‘disgraceful’
Derek added: “I’m going to keep following them up.
“We will keep contacting them and they might suggest airmiles, but that’s only useful if we want to fly with them again.
“But I don’t think we’ll get offered any more than the $300.
“We ended up with 15kg extra weight and they tried to charge us excess baggage – we had to remind them of the flooding.
“The flights themselves were good, but the communication when they hit trouble is very very poor.
“If they had bothered to read our claim, they should’ve realised the $300 was a disgraceful offer.”
Emirates did not respond to repeated requests for comment about Margaret and Derek’s experience.
At the time of the floods, the airline’s president Sir Tim Clark admitted “our response has been far from perfect”.
In an open letter, he said: “We acknowledge and understand the frustration of our customers due to the congestion, lack of information, and confusion in the terminals.
“We acknowledge that the long queues and wait times have been unacceptable.”
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