When you fork out the kind of money you need to in order to fly business class, you expect to get exactly what you pay for. But a New Zealand man says he and his wife did not – and was compensated for the subpar experience.
A Disputes Tribunal in New Zealand ordered Emirates (EK) to pay passenger Mark Morgan NZ$13,555 (around AU$12.5k) over EK advertising it deemed “misleading and deceptive”.
Morgan and his wife had travelled to England with Emirates, but because the airline operates older planes out of NZ than the B777-300 featured in adverts for the service, the pair did not receive the lie-flat beds they were expecting.
Not just that, but the couple found seats were less cushioned than those shown in the ads, the entertainment system was older and “due to its age, malfunctioned”, and there was no minibar or wifi.
Morgan told the tribunal the Dubai-based carrier had even sent a photo of the business class seats onboard the newer planes after he had bought his ticket.
Emirates’ stance
According to stuff.co.nz, Emirates argued that it had not broken the Fair Trading Act as its fine print allowed it to vary the service it advertises.
But the tribunal disagreed.
“Emirates advertised a business class service that consumers were very unlikely to receive,” Disputes Tribunal referee Laura Mueller stated.
“This was the result of advertising a service that they were rarely delivering, not due to an occasional or one-off change of aircraft due to operational requirements.”
Mueller said the seats and amenities it advertised were not provided in this instance.
“The promotional materials were based on an updated/new business class seat and service that is not in place in the older aircraft that Emirates flies to NZ,” she added.
Mueller also said EK argued its customer contracts enabled it to switch up aircraft on routes as required, and that newer jets were removed from NZ due to its losses there.
But she responded by saying, “The Fair Trading Act 1986 prohibits misleading and deceptive conduct in trade”.
“The advertising of a service that Emirates knew would unlikely be delivered is misleading and deceptive,” she remarked.
Morgan sought a partial refund on his business class tickets and a refund on the cost of upgrading himself and his wife to first class for one leg of the journey so they could sleep better.
And despite Emirates claiming the service they had received was only a five per cent reduction in service, the tribunal ordered the full amount to be paid.
Mueller said the payment fairly reflected the difference in service advertised and that which was paid for.
