Has anyone used Qantas through Dubai on their way to Europe yet?

Has anyone used Qantas through Dubai on their way to Europe yet? How have they found the lounges/EK connection times/treatment/convenience et cetera? Keen to know as have read all about it but would love to here personal experiences.

I have recently flown Manchester to Perth on Emirates with a QF flight number.. Sounds a good connection but plane I chose left at 2100 arriving 0430 ish UK time. Not good as the connection time was 3 hrs. Went to the new Emirates  lounge in the A concouse. Very busy, was not feeling too well so I didnt try the food and beverages. I had waiter ask if I wanted anything which was a nice touch. Lounge is huge however signposting fair. Wasn't sure which terminal for the flight to Perth as no one appeared to be around to ask which was frustrating.   The flight left from B concourse and you took a train- adding 30 mins for me to get there. I was one the last to board which was scary. When I entered longe in concourse A none told me how long and which terminal the flight left from. Disappointed with Emirates business class on the 777, not nearly as much room as Qantas and I will miss the Premiun Economy flying this route as well as entering a lounge at Manchester when gold card expires. All up a bit dissapintwd as it wa s a present to myself flying J class.  Options for next rind could be Emurates economy from Manchestwr to Dubal but leaving earlier in the day or going back to Qantas/BA via Singapore which has the better night times

Yes, I have. Very good, streamlined process. Did not experience any problems at all. The staff were great, lounge access was superb and was treated very well and overall an outstanding experience with Qantas and Emirates. The partnership is working very well from my point of view, its just great!!

Here is a story about the Qantas/Emirates Dubai layover that I hope will help someone avoid a lot of grief in future.  This incident occurred on the first week of Nov 2013.

My husband and I had flights booked from Barcelona to Sydney with a 9.5 hour layover in Dubai.  He was booked on a full economy Qantas and my flight was on award points.  When we initially booked the tickets we carefully checked – and were assured by Qantas -- that we would receive the ‘Dubai Connect’ (DC) service – free hotel and transfers - because the layover was more than 8 hours.  This an important detail for us as the flight landed in Dubai at 12.45am and didn’t depart until 10.15am next morning.

My husband then unexpectedly had to delay his return flight from Spain due to business thus I was scheduled to return alone.  The day prior flying, I completed an ‘online check in’ on the Emirates site but could not proceed with the DC confirmation.  The Qantas website also showed my ticket as ‘not eligible’.

We rang Qantas three times (totalling more than an hour of calls to Australia from Spain) because it was not clear whether the DC service had been confirmed.  Each time we emphasised that I was now flying on an award ticket, not full economy, thus we were uncertain about the DC service.  On each of the three calls, Qantas staff were adamant that I was entitled to the DC service.  One advised that I definitely was entitled to the hotel and transfer “because it was a commercial right for all QF passengers, no matter their ticket class or even if it was on points.”  Another staff member advised that “we would be given the passes on the plane because it would be known which passengers would be scheduled for the 9.5 hour layover, and Qantas would make the arrangements.”  Another staff member even tried contacting DC to confirm the details for us, but then came back and said the office for DC was shut due to the time difference but assured us the service would be provided.

Thus, the following day when I arrived at Barcelona airport I went to the Emirates desk to try confirming the DC details again.  Here is what I was told:

-        Not all economy passengers are entitled to DC – especially ‘cheaper’ tickets and definitely not ‘award’ point tickets.  It was incorrect for Qantas to advise that everyone is entitled to DC.

-        Even some Emirates (non-Qantas) passengers who have been ‘technically entitled’ to DC have missed out on the DC service due to booking problems.

-        DC needs to be booked AT LEAST 24 HOURS BEFORE FLYING BY QANTAS because places are limited and hotels have to make the arrangements.

The man at the Emirates desk was very nice but said that he could not help, because it had to be booked by/through Qantas – and at least 24 hours before departure. 

OK, so my flight was on points so maybe I shouldn’t complain about the $240 I ended up paying for the Dubai Airport Hotel that I then booked at the airport rather than face waiting nine hours after arriving at 1am in the morning.

But why can’t Qantas do the following:

-        Co-ordinate with Emirates and list the tickets classes that DO NOT QUALIFY for Dubai Connect.  Publish this on the website and advise all passengers that if they have a layover of 8hours or more, to check their ticket class as they may not automatically be entitled to hotel and transfer.

-        Implement a system where passengers with long layovers are AUTOMATICALLY booked into DC.

-        Or, if none of the above is possible – just have a standard paragraph issued on all tickets to Dubai that passengers should check their DC arrangements if they have a layover of more than 8 hours.

The Qantas-Emirates ‘partnership’ through Dubai has been running for more than 6 months now.  It is appalling that QF staff could still be so poorly advised on layover procedures for this standard route.

I hope this story will help someone avoid the situation I just went through.