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Company information:
Barry Hynes
Saudi Arabia

I booked and paid for two tickets with Emirates using their offices in Riyadh to fly to Beijing from Riyadh via Dubai. When we arrived at the airport we were told that the tickets had been 'cancelled' or 'the booking had not been 'confirmed' (My paper ticket clearly said 'confirmed' on all accounts) with no explanation (not overbooking with offer of compensation). This was to be a major holiday but we were only given anumber to phone. This was late at night with the following day being the Holy Day. When we tried, there was an out of office response saying they would not be open for two days (weekend). After a three hours fruitlessly seeking explanations or help or alternatives arrangements for the following day, from a particularly unhelpful Emirates supervisor, my wife broke down in tears. Only then did another employee make a call to another number and arrange for us to be on the flight the following day. We missed one day of our holiday and had, ourselves, to make emergency rearrangements.

On our return, naturally I went to the Emirates office in Riyadh but nobody in authority was there. The booking was checked on their computer and no problem could be found! I was given the e-mail of Emirates Customer Affairs and sent them all the details.

That was one month ago and all I have heard is that:

"Our investigation is ongoing. Please be rest assured that the points you have raised are receiving our full attention and we hope to be in a position to write to you shortly."

I do not understand the reason for the delay and, to be frank, reading other experiences of people dealing with Customer Affairs, I doubt whether I will hear again.

I find their attitude hard to believe since I will never fly with Emirates again, and I will certainly warn others what might happen to them when they get to the airport. In addition, I have posted this negative complaint and will also contact the groups who endow awards on them. I expected some form of compensation but an acknowledgement, explanation and apology would have sufficed.