Fly Emirates – Flight Delay (Re-timed)

I confirmed my return trip (to KL) to be on 22nd July and the ETD as usual was at 1730hours Accra-Dubai, Emirates advised me to check in between 12.00 pm and 1.00 pm, so I duly complied and I actually went to Kotoka Airport at 12.30 pm in order to avoid the ‘Emirates overbooked usual practice’. After taking the hassle of opening and overturning my luggage to facilitate the GIS (Ghana Immigration Service) ‘soul-searching’, I sat myself down waiting for the check-in counter to open. Minutes later came the airport staff asking for passengers that go to Abijan, Cote D’Ivorie. While I told him I was heading for Dubai, he was a bit surprised and asked if I have received any phone call from Emirates informing the passengers that the flight had actually been re-timed (now they don’t use delay or re-schedule, probably because of legitimate implications) to 4 o’clock the next morning. Yes, 4.00 am, I didn’t hear it wrong! I was advised to go home and wait till 2030 hours when they started to check-in passengers. I didn’t hear it wrong either, 10.30 pm check-in for a flight depart at 4.00 am the next day; that is hell a long wait of 6 hours at the airport. The delay was simply due to ‘technical problem’, that is to say the jet engine developed problem and they need to fix it before flying over with the same air craft!

So check-in time at 2030 hours, repeat the pain-staking process of open and over-turning luggage to satisfy the GIS soul-searching. The reason they check-in passengers at 2030 hours was to kill two birds with one stone, i.e. they check in passengers for both Accra-Abijan and Accra-Dubai, a very much Déjà vu of Air Asia’s ‘cost effective’ practice. Imagine the plane arrives at 12 midnight and leave for Abijan at 1.00 am and return from Abijan at 4.00 am to pick up passengers bound for Dubai at 4.50 am, what it is like to be idling around in an airport like Kotoka? Further to my horror, my Dubai-KL flight was 03:15 hours next day! I asked the ground staff of Emirates and he told me ‘everything has been taken care of’ with regards to my connecting flight in Dubai as waiting for 11 hours at Dubai Airport is really a pain-staking experience unless I am flying Business Class. And being a Silver Member for the Skyward, I am not qualified to visit the Lounge at the airport. What’s the point of granting me Sliver Membership?

So, to cut a story short, the flight took off at 5.00 am Accra time and after 7 & a half hours waiting and 8 & a half hours flight time, I finally touched down Dubai at 5.30pm local time. Since my waiting time was more than 8 hours, Emirates sent me to Millennium Hotel at the airport as compensation (mentally and physically). Since the ETD was 3:15 am, so wake-up call was scheduled to be at 12:30am and I had to check out at 1:00 am; another restless night for me in order to catch my flight!

I arrived KLIA at 5.30 pm on 24th July, a total of 33 hours journey I have taken, a record for a Accra-Dubai-KL flight in reality.