V-Flyer

After a lovely time at the Dar Al Masyaf it was all too soon to return back to DXB airport terminal 2 . After getting up at 5:00 for some last minute unpacking and and a really good breakfast at the arboretum it was time to leave. Luckily there was little traffic and I had my final glimpse at Dubai . Terminal 2 was empty, but the size of the check in is very confusing and there are lots of changing signs saying which zone to go into and its very confusing when it keeps changing into arabic . Before scanning my bags I noticed I had several bottles of pepsi so I ran to the visa collection desk and just gave the bemused man them and ran back, I hope he didn't find a stranger thrusting four bottles of pepsi at him at all suspicious . After having our bags checked for the first time we went over to the check in. The queue for PE again was really long with only one person operating the check in and there wasn't a seperate queue for bag drop, but whilst checking in the man looked grumpy and it took a long time for him to check in the wheelchair, but finally we got the label for it and left After passing through lots of other empty check in kiosks with some airlines even I hadn't heard of! we went throught customs and had our bags scanned agains :/ then another endless walk and push to the duty free which was packed and seems to get smaller each time . One thing really annoys me about DXB terminal two. Despite all of emirates flights now going from terminal three, they announce it in terminal two despite having signs everywhere saying they do not announce many flights to prevent noisiness. Even though the announced flights don't fly from that terminal! Anyway enough of my ranting We went to gate 113 (my unlucky number) to see Lady Luck but there were no papers in the gate or onboard, but I'm sure PE customers are meant to get a free newspaper We boarded the plane to find PE was literally full of young children eating sweets. Oh dear. The cabin crew came around with the usual sparkling wine and OJ but no apple juice and we sat and sat waiting to leave. Unfortunately the children were extremely loud and mum was getting a migraine so when we took off she had a little word with the cabin crew and was given the response of 'They are being quiet now' :/ They passed around the headphones and mine were a broken a pair and I pressed the button and waited and waited at last the stewardess came and gave me another pair of headphones which were broken again. I went to the gallery this time and got another pair which were fine Then spent the rest of the time watching the excellent V-PORT, which was full of good programming. For the first time I can remember, the plane food was actually really nice . The options were: Chicken in a lemon sauce, Beef and Mushroom stew or Pasta Arrabiata. I had the chicken and it was lovely and so was the little cake . The cabin crew did not make many drinks rounds and when they did their trolleys weren't equipped correctly so they had to keep passing things over our heads The afternoon tea was also excellent with a great smoked salmon roll and a cake with something in it which was orange but had no taste . We landed at LHR really early and then there was the madness to get off and we were told to go through the connecting tube to wait for mum's wheelchair, where we waited and waited, but it didn't seem to show. The cabin crew all walked passed us, but one nice Japanese customer service woman helped us located the wheelchair which arrived after a long time of waiting
The flight was really good, but I really think their special assistance could be better, because the cabin crew not knowing where special assistance equipment is, is quite concerning especially if the customer is unable to walk at all. It would have also been better if they didn't walk away at the end!
Despite that, it was a good flight and I certinatly understand that if you've flown PE you never want to go Y again!

Thanks for thr TR Stephen, fully agree with your last comment about never wanting to go back to Y and even more once you go to the next level(Upper)

Jurgen

Thanks for the TR.

What did you mean about the cabin crew not knowing where special assistance equipment was?
And when did they walk away - did they leave you on the plane?

Thanks for the TR, shame about the special assistance at LHR.

They didn't know where the wheelchair was, despite them saying at the beginning of the flight it would be ready at the front of the plane so we waited in the connecting tube and the cabin crew just walked away

You were actually in T1, if you think that's bad you should actually see T2! T1 and T3 is basically one long tube which accounts for the announcements throughout them all.

The baggage pre-scan and VS being at the end zone, them using the awful business class lounge really make for a raw deal using VS. They make up for it LHR-DXB though.

Thank you for the great TR.

StephenP wrote:Despite that, it was a good flight and I certinatly understand that if you've flown PE you never want to go Y again!

Try going back to Y from UC, now that's a shock to the system.

Do you mean the on-board wheel-chair to get you down the aisles? Or the one that the company BAA employ for special assistance passengers who take you through the airport?
If you are still on the aircraft the crew have to wait with you, but if you have disembarked onto the airbridge and are waiting there or at the top of the airbridge on the seats then responsibility has passed to the groundstaff and they should be ensuring that the wheelchair company are on their way to assist you.
Once all the passengers are off crew are required to disembark all together so that cleaners can get on and then we have to proceed directly to the immigration hall together (particularly at LHR where there are some areas where we have to cross sections of departing passengers and doors have to be opened for us by BAA security staff. We're not allowed to wait around once off the a/c). However if you were still on board then crew should have waited with you. It's common practice for the wheelchair passengers to wait at the top of the jetty for the ride on buggy while crew disembark and head to immigration.
Sorry you had a bad experience, special assistance at LHR are not the best.