I am a spoiled brat when it comes to airlines. My family, in 99.9% cases, travels Emirates. It's not snobbery. It's not about ego. It's about knowing which airline matches our expectations of a good flight experience. Pessimists might say that the job of an airline is to get its passengers from point A to point B safely. Of course. But that doesn't mean we sit in a 10 hour flight squashed like rotten tomatoes in a mouldy crate, does it?
My first foray out of Emirates came in 2009 when I travelled Qatar Airways, which I felt was quite brilliant (technically, it was when I was about 3 and they booked Air India but we do not speak of that time. Ever).
This year, for my return trip from Dubai to UK, my father, having left the booking process for the last minute, found that British Airways had an affordable price. So there I was, booked for Dubai-Heathrow-Manchester.
When I reached Dubai International Airport, I had already checked in online so I went to the fast bag drop line. Not so much luck. Apparently my LHR-MAN flight had been cancelled. So the woman behind the desk sent me to another counter to re-book me on another flight. Okay. I went to the counter she indicated and the man behind that counter took quite some time to find me on the flights I was originally booked for. Then it turned out I was sent to the wrong counter! So after about 15-20 minutes, I was moved to another counter, which took another 10-15 minutes. So much for checking online. Anyway, the end result of that mind-numbing time I spent in front of the airline check-in counters was that from Heathrow to Manchester I was booked on British Midlands.
Also, when weighing in my check-in luggage, the weight came to 26kgs. Now, I was booked on World Traveller Plus, which meant my baggage allowance was 2 bags of 23 kgs each and I was carrying just one check-in luggage. The person behind the counter said that even though the total allowance for me, in effect, was 46kgs, because I had one bag of 26kgs, ie, overweight by 3kgs, they'd charge me 30 pounds. I spluttered and said that was ridiculous and that I was quite willing to pay excess baggage if I really had it, but obviously in this case I don't! Anyway, she said I'd have to pay at Manchester or Heathrow (she wasn't very clear) and that was that. Fine, I thought, I'd argue with them there.
But...YAY...they upgraded me to Club World (Business Class). Which was a heaven-sent opportunity as from the time I checked in till the time I reached the boarding gate...I'd had THREE full-body scans. Yes, THREE. Why? Goodness knows; I kept beeping under each security gate, even after removing my belt, watch and whatever else I could think of. Beep, beep, went all the scanners. By the time I reached the boarding gate, I was SO exhausted, what with the 40 minutes+ I spent at check-in and more time wasted on the body scans, I was just thankful to be in Business class.
I did try to watch a movie or two, but the seats going down all the way was just too much to resist and I slept, waking up only for food.
We landed at Heathrow amidst thick clouds and therefore mild turbulence (people who have flown with me know that I am very uncomfortable when that starts). Anyway, after completing security checks and checking in with the other airline, I made my way towards the gate. That flight was delayed by over an hour. So waiting...waiting...and more waiting. Finally we got on the plane. It was a short flight of about half an hour... but again because of the thick cloud cover, quite a bit of turbulence and THIS time I was by the window seat so it was a bit...freaky to see nothing outside but thick white stuff swirling all the time. But when we crossed that and were flying above the white, it looked beautiful (sorry no pictures; I've, for goodness knows what reason, considerably lessened my picture taking).
Okay landed at Manchester. Picked up baggage. SNOOOOW!!! Didn't have to pay any extra luggage fee...and left.
And that's it for now!
