Emirates v Air France - opinions please

Ems!

Hi

I'm currently pricing up holidays to Mauritius. I wanted to go with Emirates initially as I'd heard they were good, and also because the journey is more split up by stopping in dubai rather than paris. However, I'm getting a price difference of around £800 on a total holiday cost of £4400 (v £5200 if we fly Emirates). It is for 2 people. has anyone flown on both ( or even either one as I have never flown on either airline and would be grateful for opionions).

Thanks!

M4RKM

i've flown air france and the service was "average" at best...

Emirates always gets rave reviews for customer service, but £800 is a hefty price to pay...

londonlad35

I would recommend you check out www.airlinequality.com lots of feedback on both airlines. I have recently returned from a trip with Air France, my luggage arrived a couple of weeks later than me (though I was much later than I should have been!) and the service was appalling. I know who I would choose - Emirates.

budgetflyer

I dont think Emirates justify the £800 differential. Leg room is roughly the same also, give or take 1/2 an inch.
Its down to "service" really.
Emirates service is good, £100 per head would be pushing it IMO, for £400 PP Id do Air France or KLM

It really depends what sites you search.
For some reason , BA dont show up for a lot of destinations on the ebooker, expedia sites etc.
Their prices to Mauritius are similar to KLM/ Air France.
Their World Traveler Plus service is a bit more than Emirates economy but has 7" extra leg room to justify the price.
Ive done Emirates a few times, the service is good mind you but 32 inches is 32 inches whoever you fly with. The rest is all fluff

Ems!

budgetflyer wrote: »

I dont think Emirates justify the £800 differential. Leg room is roughly the same also, give or take 1/2 an inch.
Its down to "service" really.
Emirates service is good, £100 per head would be pushing it IMO, for £400 PP Id do Air France or KLM

It really depends what sites you search.
For some reason , BA dont show up for a lot of destinations on the ebooker, expedia sites etc.
Their prices to Mauritius are similar to KLM/ Air France.
Their World Traveler Plus service is a bit more than Emirates economy but has 7" extra leg room to justify the price.
Ive done Emirates a few times, the service is good mind you but 32 inches is 32 inches whoever you fly with. The rest is all fluff

Thanks, I'll have a look at ba, i think they go direct from heathrow. I think the main reason price is so much more is that I can only find the hotel I want at a reasonable price via Thomson, and this is packaged with an airfrance flight and then a £1000 "discount" for booking online. So, booking the hotel only via thomson holidays ( with a smaller discount) then the seperate emirates flight bumps up the cost so it may also be more for ba done this way. But thanks, i'll check

Ems!

londonlad35 wrote: »

I would recommend you check out www.airlinequality.com lots of feedback on both airlines. I have recently returned from a trip with Air France, my luggage arrived a couple of weeks later than me (though I was much later than I should have been!) and the service was appalling. I know who I would choose - Emirates.

Thanks for that website. Both airlines seem to get equally bad reviews! I'm thinking maybe emirates isn't worth paying £800 for!

dolby21

Hi. I noticed on MSE the other week a thread where you post your holiday requirements and the best price you have had for it. travel agents then do all the hard work to beat the price. Dont know if it is any good to you but worth a shot. Will have a search for the tread. Best of luck

Ems!

dolby21 wrote: »

Hi. I noticed on MSE the other week a thread where you post your holiday requirements and the best price you have had for it. travel agents then do all the hard work to beat the price. Dont know if it is any good to you but worth a shot. Will have a search for the tread. Best of luck

Thanks dolby,i know the thread you mean, I do plan on posting on it when I have got the best price I can find ( i love looking for hols anyway!!), and when I am ready to book.

nico26

Make sure if you decide on Air France it is Air France you flying with. Lots of routes are operated by KLM . KLM is the pits on some routes. I flew KLM to Kuala Lumpur. 18 hr delay because they could not fix the plane.Ok that can happen on any flight,but the next day it was a tatty old plane ,aisle tv screens. Cabin staff were not very helpful and downright cheeky to some people who had not a clue what was going to happen to onward flights once they reached KL. Was even giving people into bother for walking in the Ailses streteching there legs.People are sleeping they kept telling them.I mean its a 12 hr flight for gods sake.People need to stretch there legs.Unless I really had to would never fly them again.My hubbys work paid £600 for the one way flight. It was a disgrace. Had better Ryanair flights than that.

Emirates on the other hand are really good. My first choice for travel here.Flown loads from Glasgow into Dubai and Singapore. I admit though they are a bit more expensive than AF,KLM but were cheaper than Singapore airlines and Malaysian Airlines.
Ive been trying to book flight back to UK at the end of the month.and Emirates were £200 more expensive.But I persevered and the other day the price dropped £250 So I was on like a shot and booked them. Good food Good service Comfy seats with own TV. Im looking forward to going back now instead of dreading it.

dmg24

I would echo nico26's comments about Emirates, and also about KLM!

Do you have to go on a package deal? It may be cheaper to build up the trip yourself, which should give you more choice of airlines?

PolishBigSpender

It's worth noting that Air France is KLM, and KLM is Air France. The company that owns them is even called Air France-KLM.

But basically, avoid AF-KLM like the plague. They're a good European carrier, but an absolutely dreadful long haul carrier - except strangely, on flights to Canada.

Pay the extra for Emirates - you really won't regret it.