At the conclusion of the ceremony unveiling the new partnership between United Airlines and Emirates, I caught up with Sir Tim Clark, the President of Emirates, and asked him about the different service philosophies onboard Emirates and United. His answer was quite revealing.
What Does Emirates President Sir Tim Clark Think Of United Airlines’ Onboard Service?
As Clark was speaking to members of the press, I wriggled my way into the conversation and asked him whether there was any concern over the very different styles of United Airlines and Emirates, particularly in terms of onboard service levels, that could alienate loyal Emirates’ customers on future United interline or codeshare routes.
Clark acknowledged the difference in service levels but expressed “confidence” that United Airlines will continue to invest in its soft product, specifically mentioning that he has discussed this issue with United CEO Scott Kirby and has been provided “assurances” that United will continue to strengthen its onboard meal service offerings in all cabins, including economy class.
“I’m not worried. Emirates has been a great force in the industry for restoring service and we continue to see improvements from others. United is serious about its soft product and will continue to make strides.”
The premise of my question was that the two carriers bring very different strengths to the table, particularly when it comes to premium cabins. Emirates’ image as a premium carrier is rooted in its exotic flight attendants and its over-the-top onboard offerings including a spacious bar and showers onboard the upper deck of its flagship Airbus A380.
Meanwhile, United’s premium cabin soft onboard cuisine still lacks many pre-pandemic elements including appetizers, dessert carts, and mid-flight snacks beyond potato chips and apples. Passengers who book an Emirates codeshare from Dubai to Newark operated by United may be in for a big and negative surprise when it comes to the onboard food and beverage options. Economy class passengers may be in for a surprise when stepping onto a United transcontinental flight and finding out their only complimentary meal options are pretzels or cookies.
On the other hand, United Airlines offers a superior business class seat compared to Emirates’ 777 aircraft. Even on the 777 aircraft that Emirates has recently retrofitted, business class remains in an uncompetitive 2-3-2 layout, with middle seats and a lack of direct aisle access at 3/7 seats per row. Even worse, Emirates’ older 777s, of which close to 100 are in service, do not even offer fully lie-flat seats in business class. The Emirates’ A380 business class seat is arguably on-par with the United Polaris business class seat.
In this sense, United customers booking on Emirates might be in a for a very negative surprise when they find middle seats that do not even fully recline onboard the 777. United is in the process of retrofitting its long-haul fleet to install Polaris seating on all planes, but the 777 retrofits are completed. United has indicated it will operate its 777-200 aircraft on its new Newark (EWR) – Dubai (DXB) route.
Ultimately, Clark pivoted to the strength of the combined route network, adding that “passengers are most concerned with getting to their destination as smoothly as possible and our relationship will facilitate this.”
CONCLUSION
As United and Emirates cozy up, each brings different strengths. While there is no need to harmonize service offerings with the partnership set to be limited in nature, Clark is optimistic that United will continue to raise service levels onboard in the months ahead. Time will tell.
Wouldn’t it be great to hear this from the CEO of UAL rather than have to read the tea leaves from the CEO of EK?
Mr. Kirby needs to get in front of all this and not let others embarress him into action.
Kudos to Matt for asking – it matters
For what it’s worth, Kirby recently elevated one of his senior execs and put menu design on his core responsibility list
Usually, when partnerships between an airline with a great product and an airline with a not-so-great product happen, it goes in two ways. Either the better airline stoops down to the level of the not-so-great airline or the not-so-great airline improves.
One example is the trans-Pacific joint venture between Delta and Korean Air in 2018. After this was done, Delta revamped its soft product to be comparable with Korean Air’s and had catering from local Korean restaurants for flights from the US so that the Korean food could be as authentic as possible until the pandemic hit in 2020.
Hopefully, United decides to up their game this time with this opportunity. I haven’t flown with UA in a long time because my past experiences in longhaul business weren’t great even when they introduced their Polaris product.
This is always the case with codeshares. You could apply the same logic to UA’s partnership with LH. LH offers much better food and service, but worse seating – just like Emirates. I agree the differences are more pronounced with Emirates than Lufthansa, but the principal is the same.
This is quite the conundrum for EK. Emirates is to UA, as UA is to Spirit. We’re not just talking seats and food here. The entire concept of customer service is completely different between the two airlines. Emirates at least projects that they care about the passenger experience – at least in premium cabins – while UA sees passengers as a burden, especially in premium cabins.
Heck, look at how they even wear their uniforms: EK is standardized across the entire crew with inidications of position and their uniforms fit well. UA can’t even decide on a single uniform for everyone on the same flight on an A319 and that’s before you add optional garbage like ill-fitting sweaters, political pins, overly baggy dress slacks/pants that are worn like sweatpants, or their whole dress shoes vs. clogs vs. crocs debate that I’ve personally witnessed. This is going to be a giant step down for the passenger experience as I don’t see UA stepping up their game whatsoever. After all, they have a (terrible) reputation to uphold.
I’m pretty confident in saying that UA’s soft product will never match Emirates’, at least not in this decade. You need some pretty significant culture change there.
And I know you dedicated 2 paragraphs to the bad EK 777 J, but let’s not assume that one bad hard product, matched with UA’s best in Polaris, somehow cancels out the soft product difference; EK 777 J is not representative of the entire Emirates fleet, in fact I would say it’s just a small part.
United is still working on the 2014 retrofit to Polaris seats? Between that and the rest of the positive changes Kirby reversed upon assumption of the throne I’m not sure that this should inspire much confidence.
Polaris was announced in 2016
I’m, Matthew, what are you implying? That UAL’s United States-based FAs )hired under fair labor laws as opposed to the horrendous ones that Emirates greedily indulges in) are less “exotic?”
Really?
Shame on you.
(And my God, hire a proofreader it seems every other article you spit out has embarrassing typos – we appreciate what you’re peddling here, but respect your readers enough to either proofread yourself, or hire an eagle eye to do so for you.)
Exotic merely in terms of diversity of citizenship. I’m amazed at how many languages and nationalities are represented by FAs on every Emirates flights I’ve ever been on.
(And I’d love to avoid spelling errors, but the blog is a hobby and I don’t have the resources to hire staff…)
Mr. Klint:
How do you know that there is a diversity of languages? Do they all have badges with every language on it? Or are you simply inferring than an “exotic” Indian obviously speaks Hindi or an “exotic” eastern European obviously speaks Polish or Czech? How about an “exotic” Asian who obviously speaks Japanese or Chinese. Many flight attendants as well as the public at large speak a variety of languages, even in the United States. I’m middle-aged, a bit pudgy and white (and American), so obviously you would think I only speak English and not the seven languages including Russian and Japanese that I actually speak. The big US airlines have more diversity with people who come from various backgrounds within the USA as well as around the world. Painting all airline employees with a wide brush is not just off-color but downright rude. Americans come in all shapes and sizes. Maybe other sectors, like doctors, food service workers and letter carriers should all be held to the same standard to which people hold airline staff. “I can’t believe he’s that old and still a doctor” or “I can’t believe a fat girl is allowed to cook my food.” Sounds stupid, right?
Anti-discrimination laws exist for a reason in the US, this allows people to be hired for their ability to do the job and not by their looks. Why doesn’t Emirates hire in their own country? Because they know they will have to pay more than US$2,768 per month and many people won’t put up with the way they treat their employees and the passengers treat them. This is the reason they focus their recruitment efforts in poorer countries and easily let go anyone whom they deem undesirable. Here is a list of upcoming events as proof of their hiring practices: https://www.emiratesgroupcareers.com/cabin-crew/
US-based airlines exist for the shareholders and the flights are packed as it is. What is the incentive to invest more money when people are obviously willing to pay for what already exists?
I follow you since I enjoy learning about the airline industry and you have posted a lot of good stuff in the past. I just find your comment here, as well as some of the other commenters, very petty and insulting.
You have to understand that I always prefer genuinely kind American FAs, no matter how they look, to robotic “exotic” FAs from the Far East or Eastern Europe. But please understand I meant exotic in the sense that every time I get on an Emirates flight, the pursers announce that FAs speak 20+, sometimes 30+ languages onboard. I think that’s so cool. But over and over again I’ve defended U.S. FAs. I am not a supporter of discrimination on the basis of age.
Gosh, last time I flew United I had a gloriously diverse (and fun!) crew. Looking at that video they sent us all, there’s absolutely nothing “diverse” about Emirates’ staff.
Nothing.
Not weight,
not height,
not hairstyle,
not age.
Why?!
Because of the gloriously legal discrimination they are allowed when they hire.
Nothing exotic about it.
I beg to differ still on your implied use of “exotic” and now with your “definition” of the same.
I’m not usually one to call out political incorrectness, but I’ll agree with the “exotic” issue. I’ve got a bunch of friends who are Asian, and I’ve heard it straight from more than one of them who are women, that when someone uses the word, they usually interpret it as “non-white.” Not faulting Matthew for it – maybe he just hadn’t had the perspective, and that’s okay. We all learn throughout our lives.
As far as the fight attendants as a “soft product,” I’ll gladly take a well-trained person over a “beauty” who’s always smiling, as long as I know they’ll perform well when it comes to safety. Of course, being rude is being rude, and there’s no excuse for that.
Chiming in here as well though would not see Matt’s use of the term “exotic” to describe the Emirates crew as a major issue but it felt off:
– 31% of all EK staff are assumed to be white/19% Asian/16% Latino/16% unknown (quick google so maybe percentages are off)
-“Exotic” to whom? For example the much touted “Singapore Girl” as per SQ’s website would likely not be considered “exotic” to many SQ customers from Asia but be more like “The Girl Next Door”. I as a middle aged white guy seemed to be quite “exotic” to many folks in Seoul when I wandered around there given the looks of curiosity I got !
-Is someone really booking airfares and determines routes based on the perceived “exotic or perceived good looks” of the staff? I don’t see a reference on EK website anywhere touting the unique aspect of their onboard crew (SQ has a section on the “Singapore Girl”).
-SQ cabin crew to me seemed always professional no matter what the looks or sex (the poor male SQ flight attendants don’t seem to get much PR coverage)
“Shame on you” is standard operating procedure at this blog, it seems like.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
This will be a long (-ish) story…
Firstly Matthew, the comments about the spelling and grammatical shortcomings in some of your posts are essentially correct. You can either do better yourself, or use a proofreader. It’s a matter of perception… if you can’t produce posts that are error free in terms of spelling and grammar, then your credibility suffers, and whatever point you happen to be making loses impact and believability. Would you be more inclined to believe an op-ed piece from a respected journalist who spells perfectly and uses the language for optimum impact, or a poorly spelled post from somebody who doesn’t bother to proofread the message they’re trying to get across?
Second, do you want to be fed perfect food by a flight attendant who is hired for her great legs and is only going to work for the airline for a few years before the lousy employment conditions and living in a country that has little respect for women drives her away to a better job?
I once sat next to an Asian businessman in first class on United back when UA had first class. He spent the first half hour of our trip explaining to me that he hated flying United because too many of the flight attendants were middle aged and didn’t have the same figures, fawning service culture, or twenty-something looks as the ladies who he was so happy to fly with on a couple of the best-known Asian airlines.
I could only put up with his attitude for so long before I reminded him that just a year or so before, one of his favourite Asian airlines with the hot flight attendants had an horrific takeoff accident on departure that resulted in the Boeing 747 being spread across an airfield as burning wreckage. There was a very high death toll, many of the passengers dying inside the aircraft wreckage because (as noted in a subsequent accident report briefing) instead of managing to evacuate passengers as trained, a significant percentage of the young, relatively inexperienced flight attendants became disorientated and either ran away, or failed to perform their primary duty effectively.
I went on to note that the middle-aged ladies and men serving him in our cabin would have been through annual recurrent training at least 20+ times and knew their primary job so well that they could do it in the dark, upside down, with a broken arm, and in a cabin full of smoke. And the record showed that they had done just that in the past (think United Airlines flights 232 and 811, as well as Delta 191 to name just three).
So… be careful when you gripe about soft product, or compare trivia about hot nuts versus petit fours and caviar, because it’s nothing compared to a good night’s sleep while extremely competent pilots and flight attendants get you safely and comfortably to your destination.
Full disclosure: I’m a retired United Airlines captain and pilot trainer and checker, and have also worked with Qantas and Air Vanuatu… and I’m an honours English graduate.
So you really think that a middle-aged (or generally older) overweight FA on one of the US3 is going to be more able to evacuate a plane in an emergency? You’re either willfully ignorant or your age is causing bias. The weight and age of many US3 FAs will absolutely cause them to be a casualty/liability in a disaster and require them to be rescued as opposed to helping people despite all the “we’re here for your safety” rhetoric. In fact, I’d wager that nearly all the international flights I’ve been on recently you would have to expect PASSENGERS to help the FAs out of a burning fuselage, not the other way around. So GTFO with this “annual recurrent training” garbage; if 68 year old Karen or Steve are 5’6” and 190 pounds, they are absolutely in the wrong business.
Continuity is important and relevant; reference the Emirates blogs posted on Live and Let’s Fly addressing flight attendant weight, near disasters, massive fuel surcharges and other entertaining Emirates coverage. Very rich….
https://liveandletsfly.com/category/emirates/
But I still want edible food in business class. I don’t think it is too much to ask for that as well as not crashing the plane.
I would be happy if United restored catering to when Polaris was first launched. That should be the baseline. Then improve from there.
What a partnership of un-equals.
Hopefully Emirates will share some of its state subsidies with United in order to help make their products similar
I was also having these thoughts, but what airline would have been better for Emirates. Many of United’s hubs overlap with Emirates’ destinations. While Delta does have a better customer service culture, it only helps EK at JFK, BOS, LAX, and SEA, where there is a significant O&D demand. American is close to Qatar. While jetblue’s standards are better than United, UA offers more connectivity for EK, which is why Emirates is ending their partnership. And most passengers connecting onto EK flights from the US will likely not be flying UA transcontinental, since they have hubs in each region of the US where EK flights depart from (LAX, SFO, ORD, IAH, EWR), so they will likely be flying 3 hours max on UA. The main problem I can think of is EK customers expecting Emirates’ service when they book the UA flight from Newark.
I have the same problem with AA to Doha. It seems Qatar now has all connecting itineraries through JFK on AA’s flight to DOH rather than it’s own metal (at least that’s what it showed up for me as the cheapest option when I was looking at tickets from the U.S. to South Asia).
I hope United will elevate service on it’s flight to Dubai that is competitive with Emirates in Economy (with upgraded catering, service, and amenities). In Business, the catering and service elements are the most crucial. Perhaps have specifically trained crews that work in Business on the DXB flight. On American’s flight to Doha, I find that their Business Class goes out mostly unsold and consists mostly of upgrades, elites, and employees/non-revs (since most people are aware enough to book Qatar rather than AA). I would like to know though if AA makes any money on its’ Doha flight.
Going strictly by the numbers,worldwide us blonde hair blue eyed folk are the”exotic”population.LOL