Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

Is it worth paying £200 more to fly to NZ with Emirates?

28 replies

Spingley · 03/08/2014 11:10

I'm about to book some long haul flights to New Zealand and I've been offered flights with Emirates. Only thing is, they're £200 more than flying with another airline (I'd tell you which one but it might bias your response!).

I was just wondering, since the flight is so long, whether it is worth paying extra to fly Emirates, or are they pretty much the same as any other carrier?

TIA

OP posts:
NightFallsFast · 03/08/2014 11:16

If it's compared to China Air or similar, then yest it's worth it. If it's compared to Singapore then no, they're comparable.

From what you've said about the alternative it sounds like it might be Malaysian. Personally I wouldn't have flown long haul even before the recent incidents because I've heard the food is terrible. Short haul that doesn't really matter, but it does when you're in the air for 24hrs.

Original poster
Spingley · 03/08/2014 11:18

Hi Night - how did you guess it was Malaysian? Grin.

Thanks for that info, don't want to be stuck with terrible food for that long. If it was short haul I'd be tempted to risk it.

OP posts:
ChangeIsNear · 03/08/2014 12:12

Yes definitely worth it for long haul flight.

Ememem84 · 03/08/2014 12:15

Yes. Worth it.

SavoyCabbage · 03/08/2014 12:15

They are better than some but much the same as singapore and Malaysia.

The food is good.

The last time I flew emirates the screens didn't work and the flight was 16 hours!

HappySunflower · 03/08/2014 12:20

To be perfectly honest, given recent events, the route taken would be more of an issue to me than the food!

Sleepytea · 03/08/2014 12:23

I would still fly Malaysian airlines over emirates. I have flown with emirates a few times and had terrible experiences. I have only ever heard good things about them. The latest incident was bad luck on the airlines part, several other airlines flew the same path and could have been hit. My only concern with Malaysian airlines is whether they would go out of business and I would end up with useless tickets.

Ememem84 · 03/08/2014 12:54

We've just booked a trip to nz and after much debate (and pouting from me) we didn't book emirates. But Cathay pacific. Have flown heathrow to Auckland loads with emirates so it is worth the extra money. But for us this time Cathay won because the flight times suited us better.

MABS · 03/08/2014 12:54

Emirates are nowhere near as good as they used to be sadly :(

GalaxyInMyPants · 03/08/2014 12:57

I'd fly with any airline which has individual TVs. Don't care about the food.

specialsubject · 03/08/2014 13:00

whichever airline (but especially Malaysian) make sure you have scheduled airline failure insurance. Costs a pound or so.

the only one I wouldn't fly is Air New Zealand; rude cabin crew, awful food and armrests that didn't fold away. Singapore are always the best.

main thing though is timing and schedule.

24balloons · 03/08/2014 13:01

Don't pay extra to fly with Emirtes. They are terrible. Customer service awful. We flew with them at Christmas and had the most appalling experience & their staff were totally uninterested. Not saying I would fly Malaysian but we paid £1k more to fly Emirates and it definitely wasn't worth it. Also there were people with babies toddlers on the flight & the staff didn't come near to help when the babies were screaming for the majority of the flight!

ihatethecold · 03/08/2014 13:11

Interesting to hear this, I always thought emirates were very good, never flown with them though.

SavoyCabbage · 03/08/2014 13:22

That's about the same time we flew 24. We had a horrible time.

No TV
I had to fight to let them take my dds food on board (she's anaphylactic)
We had to change at KL and a woman tried to steal my passport and the emirates staff just ignored me when I asked for help.

PowderMum · 03/08/2014 13:24

Not that you asked this but I've flown AirNZ to Auckland and also just from Los Angeles and thought they were very good. I've also flown Singapore Air a few times and would recommend them. Not flown with Emirates and despite being a seasoned long haul traveller with many air miles behind me there is no way you would get me on a Malaysian flight.

CanLah · 03/08/2014 14:37

We flew malaysia air from Singapore to London (via KL) on 12 July and back on 29 July. The tickets were significantly cheaper than our usual preferred choice (singapore airlines) and we booked the tickets after mh370.
The flights were completely full; on the return (shortly after the Ukraine tragedy) the flight was overbooked and they were calling for passengers to take another flight. We were surprised, having wondered if we might have lots of space.
The service was amazing, we had individual TVs, the planes were new. I liked the food too.
MH seems to be a cheap option for NZ/Aus these days. I think I would still take singapore, though, if we could justify the extra cost, over any other airline.

Original poster
Spingley · 03/08/2014 14:43

Thanks for sharing all your experiences - although they seem to be a very mixed bag!

I'm not too worried about recent events re Malaysian Air, but as Sleepy said, I was concerned about them going out of business. Now I'm more concerned about not having a TV on a long haul flight! I didn't even realise that would be a possibility. I have a stop over so I suppose if I did get a dud seat I'd be able to change.

Any other advice is much appreciated. What exactly is the difference with Emirates supposed to be? Better legroom or better service or what? I'm a bit of a novice with all of this.

OP posts:
Original poster
Spingley · 03/08/2014 14:43

Thanks Can, that's reassuring if I do decide to fly with them.

OP posts:
Original poster
Spingley · 03/08/2014 19:36

Just a quick bump for the evening crowd.

OP posts:
TheDietStartsTomorrow · 03/08/2014 19:50

My parents flew to NZ on Malaysian airlines a few months ago and rated it the same as other airlines in quality of service.

It depends on how much money you have to spare would never pay £200 extra for slightly better service. I couldn't justify it as all our holidays are taken after some scrimping and saving. If I felt the food would not be to my tastes I'd take a couple of packed lunches and a snack on board and I always carry some books and my laptop so if the screen were not working, I still had something to do.

SavoyCabbage · 03/08/2014 22:18

I did have other things to do Diet, but 16 hours is quite a long time!
16 hours!

And I was by myself with two children with another 10 hour flight after that.

Also, emirates won't let you take a packed lunch. Like I said, one of my dds has anaphylaxis and they weren't doing to let me take her food (sandwiches, packet of biscuits, fruit) and it was only the fact that I had already spoken to customer services and had it added to her booking that they let me. They put a special label on the bag and I still had to talk about it all again at the passport control bit.

OneLittleToddleTerror · 04/08/2014 02:33

Is the emeritus flight a 1 stop to NZ? I didn't think it's possible to go direct from Dubai (or anywhere in the Middle East), to Auckland. Don't they all stop over in Sydney?

For that alone I wouldn't pay extra. I would take Malaysian airline to have one stop in KL.

ShanghaiDiva · 04/08/2014 02:38

IMO Cathay and Singapore are the best.
Agree with previous posters, not too worried about the food, but personal tv is a must on long haul.

MadonnaKebab · 04/08/2014 02:58

Timing is the most important issue to me
Total time from home to destination can vary by 10 hrs or more, which is a much bigger deal than food etc, and is the reason I fly Emirates to Aus, don't know about NZ
Singapore are very good, have not flown Malaysia for years
Air New Zealand premium economy is excellent and I have heard good things about their skycouches

Boleh · 04/08/2014 03:01

I travel quite a lot with Malaysian, my experience has been of pretty good food on their longer flights (although their 'snacks' on shorter non-mealtime flights are dire in my opinion - soggy tuna croissants!) and it's really excellent in business Smile

Their customer service on the flight and at the airport is generally excellent, their call centre is a nightmare!

I am also not too concerned about them going out of business, they are the Malaysian national carrier and it would be a huge loss of face for the government if they were to go bust, more likely to be bailed out (AFAIK their shorter domestic routes are already subsidised).

Never flown with Emarites, the one I avoid like the plague for poor food and rude staff is KLM!