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Allow me to introduce Mr Miller of Whitley Bay, Newcastle.

Mr Miller is the subject of a news article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7332462.stm

Mr Miller is a definitive example of the greed culture which disfigures Western civilization. He should appear in school textbooks for the next hundred years under the heading "what not to do when you discover your family's alive after all".

I'm sure they will offer him something just to shut him up.

CARLA;827799 wrote: I'm sure they will offer him something just to shut him up.


That's what he's counting on!

Perhaps Mr Miller will register at ForumGarden and explain his motive, both to us and to posterity. Why does it have all the appearance of selfish greed, Mr Miller?

This want compensation this admission of guilt from the other party is I believe the reason why so many companies/people refuse to apologise for anything.

They do not want people like Mr Miller using said apology as a basis for gaining monetary compensation. Cant really blame them after all was an apology and a free air ticket not enough?

Please think about this before you comment on any story published on a newspaper/tv media site:

Firstly can I start by saying that yes I am the person at the centre of the story. We had a perfect right to ask the airline for compensation based on the whole experience which you can see below. You should realise that going to the media will of course have ended any outside chance we had to get any compensation from the airline so we only went to the media because the attitude of Emirates was so appalling that we wanted to publicise how truly bad they were as a warning to other families.

We could only tell the full story to journalists, we cannot control how they present it and clearly they are putting their own spin on it. That is how the media works. The media like a straightforward story but this was not a straighforward story. Consequently they cherry picked the story we went to them with and presented two parts - one part about the phone call and one part that we had been offered no compensation. The rest of the story was ignored or referred to without detail to produce a clearer story. What you may have read is therefore not the full story and you cannot fully comprehend what happened without understanding the whole picture.

Emirates is a big multi national company that clearly thinks they can just do whatever it wants to its paying customers. We are an ordinary family that was thrust into exceptional events 1000's of miles from our home. We merely want people to be aware of what they did. We have no solicitor acting on our behalf, we are dealing with all the media ourselves in an attempt to show how any family could be treated by their incompetent staff. We have both travelled all over the world and used numerous airlines, we have never had cause to make a single complaint in all our years of travel. This was our first Emirates experience.

Just getting the story out to embarrass the airline is the start of us getting closure on all this.

The full facts are as follows:

On arrival at Mumbai after a passenger became ill the airline removed my family from the flight as my son had developed a rash during the flight. They then put the safety of my partner and two young children at risk by driving them around Mumbai in a dangerous, old taxi without seat belts or doors that closed properly in the full sweltering heat of the day with no air conditioning. After 5 hours of suffering with these unacceptable conditions my Daughter also became ill (later that day it was diagnosed as a viral infection). If your child contracts chicken pox you might get a local GP to confirm it but instead of calling a doctor to look at him in the airport they took my partner and two young children (and of course very young children don't have fully developed immune systems and are always prone to picking up bugs), none of whom had any inoculations/anti-malarial protection across Mumbai to two municipal third world hospitals, exposing them to all kinds of potential diseases. The airline attempted to get our children admitted into a filthy third world hospital for 5 days as an adequate response to their condition (which we refused to agree to). They then had another two hours in a dangerous vehicle until they got into a hotel. As a consequence this caused both my young children to get additional severe respiratory infections which meant they were not well enough to return home even after my son had been cleared to do so over the chicken pox, and requiring both to have antibiotic treatments before they could fly.

I am sure you can appreciate how stressful it was for my partner to be on her own with two young children unexpectedly thrown into India and then come against bullying tactics which meant she was forced to travel across the city with strangers who she did not trust.

Yes, they called me up from India to tell me that one of my family was dead, in error. Instead of explaining that there had been a mistake they just put the phone down on me. 10 seconds or 10 minutes, 10 days does the time make any difference? If you are a parent believe me it makes no difference. Of course I was relieved to find out that they were alive. Emirates called me back but never explained to me about the first call or apologised. They called again I believe to see if they had made a mistake but certainly not to explain it, I had to work that out myself - they have never provided an explanation to this day. And they did not even say sorry at that point. I finally received an apology from UK staff after 4PM, 9 hours after the original call.

Yes they did fly me out BUT THIS WAS NOT COMPENSATION. Had I fancied a week stuck in Mumbai for a holiday maybe it could be considered compensation. My insurance company had agreed immediately to fly me out to help get my family home. Emirates also offered to do so but this gesture of course does not compensate us in any way - it merely enabled me to fix all the problems that they had created and get my family home.

Staff blatantly lied, were uncooperative, were unhelpful, failed to call me back when they said they would, provided no method of actually getting to speak to a senior member of staff to deal with the case and unbelievably initially told me that in what was an immediate emergency situation they hoped to get back to me with a response possibly within eight days - providing I put everything in writing by email to them.

Local staff in Mumbai stuffed up my families emergency visa status meaning we had to drag our children across Mumbai (a two hour journey each way) to spend a day in a government office to pay a £50 "fine" for them overstaying their emergency visas (because the kids had been made ill by Emirates actions they were unfit to fly for a further 5 days).

On the return flight home things directly in the control of the airline went from one problem to the next. They provided no food for our children for the whole day when they flew back to the UK, a flight which lasted 12 hours. The incompetent airline staff failed to re-book the original food we requested and paid for our children on the flights back from Mumbai. It was little surprise that both children arrived back in the UK totally stressed and in my daughters case physically ill once again. They then expected my three year old daughter to sit by herself on the flight from Dubai to Newcastle, putting us through the stress of having to argue and refusing to board the flight until the staff reluctantly sorted the problem out (after they once again lied to us, saying that the flight was full yet there were plenty of empty seats when we boarded) right upto the plane almost leaving. After all that had happened as a final insult the airline left our luggage behind in Dubai, so we had to wait and hour and a half in Newcastle Airport with two stressed kids only to find out our bags were not on the plane. The bags eventually arrived the next day, finally at our door after 5PM.

In addition Emirates cabin Staff subjected my partner to abuse. Cabin stuff vindictively harassed my partner and called her a bad mother as they mistakenly believed she had requested an upgrade to First Class for herself while flying to Australia in the first place!

When we got back to the UK I wrote to Emirates with a chronicle of all the events and appalling experiences they were responsible for. We pointed out that I had lost 8 days of work and we personally paid out over £900 in costs to keep my family in Mumbai and get them home - the delay in returning was after all the result of their local staff. We additionally asked for compensation for the stress, ill-health etc which all the family experienced. I can assure you there was no specific mention of the phone call in this request. The experiences of my partner and children in India were a lot worse. Our request for recompense was based on the whole of our experience on this journey, not one phone call.

The airline wrote back and apologised for any inconvenience caused but refused us any compensation for anything which had happened. The airline has suggested that the medical treatment provided when they were disembarked was more than adequate for the circumstances and in the context of cultural differences between India and the UK. How can dangerous transport and exposure to third world conditions be in any way adequate or acceptable? We had full medical cover via insurance but the airline insisted on taking them

- against their will and on the basis of lies from the local staff - and ended up having to sign waivers when we refused any further medical treatment in a filthy municipal hospital and requested a doctor attend once they had been housed in a quality safe local hotel.

Emirates website boasts how wonderful the experience of flying with young children will be from "booking to disembarking". I certainly would not trust the care of my family in the hands of this airline ever again. I would also warn any other family to be extremely wary about booking a flight through Emirates based on what happened to us and how we saw other families were treated on their flights. As experienced travellers we were shocked by the utterly unbelievable series of events and the staggering incompetence. We put our family's lives in these people's hands when you fly and I would just not trust Emirates again.

Airlines are a law unto themselves, they can treat people how they like with very little recourse if things go wrong.I don't think we were being at all unreasonable to expect that Emirates would compensate us accordingly for what was an extraordinary set of blunders. Instead Emirates dismissed us and the refusal to offer even a penny of compensation is an insult as it shows that they clearly don't value customers and don’t consider our experience acceptable. Some gesture of compensation would have represented closure for the whole episode, offering nothing has left us angry and we were left with no option but to try and get back at the airline with the one thing left to us - bad publicity via the media.

Perhaps none of you will understand what really went on in my head that night, nor in the weeks afterwards but the feelings I have expressed in the media were totally genuine, open and honest. I actually fully told my partner what really happened that night only a few days ago. I still feel anger at the fact my family were put in danger and that as a consequence my children were made ill by the airlines actions. Of course I have the utmost sympathy for the devastated family of the guy who actually died; it will have been utterly devastating. No dispute.

I repeat, the media will simplify stories, the Radio 5 interview was also subject to edit and the questioning was pointed to only one aspect of the whole story I was trying to tell.

Please don't jump to conclusions unless you have the facts.

If you still think we are unreasonable then that is your opinion, I won’t agree with you. I just hope none of you ever have to experience your family being put through anything like this

I'll read that in a while but before I do may I congratulate you on signing up and posting? I'm sure the thread will discuss what you've written but beyond that it's a brave place to come to add your perspective. Welcome to ForumGarden.

spot;831378 wrote: I'll read that in a while but before I do may I congratulate you on signing up and posting? I'm sure the thread will discuss what you've written but beyond that it's a brave place to come to add your perspective. Welcome to ForumGarden.
I am completely open and honest, unlike a certain multinational corp. I was brought up to be honest, open and willing to discuss any issue honestly. My working life has been dedicated to helping people but my family are the most important thing in the world to me, sorry if that makes me somehow too emotional. Emirtates hurt my family, I will never forget it.

I suppose the one positive thing about this thread is that what you originally wanted to be told is now out on the Internet in full.

And maybe it's an instructive lesson in how news outlets simplify and shift their focus to what they see as the story. The two local papers you presumably spoke to five days ago did a fair job at summarising what you've written in full here, the Journal was detailed and the Evening Chronicle at least retained the "failed in his attempts to be compensated by the firm for a series of failings he alleges by airline staff". The same day the Press Association stripped it down to 52 words and put out the single sentence that everyone subsequently latched onto. That's what the People had the next day and the Mirror the day after, and the BBC sometime over the weekend too. Did any of them ring you to try to understand things, out of interest, or did they just work from the spreading story?

I can quite see why you're furious with Emirates for the escalating mess in India. I'm glad you joined in and made sense of things. I hope having the thread here helps balance being chewed up by the press.

I originally approached the broadsheets about the story but without getting any replies I went down the media food chain. I had contacted the Journal as it is a reasonably good regional paper and Emirates has had a lot of positive media attention locally since flying from Newcastle last year. I originally talked only to the Journal, the Chronicle is the partner local paper from the same stable (as is the Sunday Sun), as they were the first to get back to me. I was then also interviewed for local BBC TV news and then Radio Five live, both on Saturday.

On all occassions I presented the full story, as I have said above emphasising everything which happened but particularily about the way my partner and children were treated in India, which did put them in danger and caused both children to get ill. The distilled and simplified story in The Journal that went out obviously got attention, the BBC interview as you say referred to the other complaints I had - but no details were given. I managed to get accross a lot more of the story on Five live, but even then all the questions brought the story round to one place and it was of course edited.

The Mirror had wanted to do the story, but pulled out on the Saturday when they found out it was in the Journal (which is part of the same media Group, so they could get the story from the news wire anyway).

After it was published on the Saturday morning I got a phone call from the Press Association asking if I wanted to clarify anything in the story before it was passed on. I spent 45 minutes on the phone once again explaining the whole story, clarifying things and giving a full picture. It was obviously a waste of time as the story went out as was.

The story has also had a lot of coverage in Australia. It has really been distilled down over there, but we have actually had a number of very supportive comments from people who twigged there was more to it than at first glance.

I was not contacted by anybody else, they just published the story based on the original angle - but often without any detail. This is how the media works, don't take any story put out at face value as they will put forward a black and white story which does not have any shades of gray. I don't regret doing it, not at all. I hope Emirates are kicking themselves over the bad publicity, they deserve it and I hope they have learnt a lesson that they may be a big multi-national company but they cannot get away with treating ordinary people badly and expect to get away with it.

I have also been contacted by Simon Calder from the Independent who was pretty shocked by the story and said they may be interested in doing a feature and also by a magazine to do a consumer angle - we would only do either if we could get the full story out and if we can we will do it and then call it a day. We really just want to get back to normality and our day to day lives, so it will be good to bring this to a close in due course.

Meanwhile if you see anything on the internet or elsewhere about this case which is not correct we would be very pleased if you could challenge it with the facts.

Welcome to FG Doh. :-6

Having read your ordeal in full, it would appear that you and your family were very badly treated. I would hope that by bringing this to attention of others, the company will be forced to re-think, and look again at the way they should deal with similar situations in the future. If it were my family, I would also insist on seeing a copy of their change in procedures to ensure that this fiasco was never repeated. I would push it beyond compensation. Compensation is forcing them to investigate the events in full, not however, to ensure new procedures are put in place. Hopefully, the fact that they have to part with some cash, and the negative publicity will force this to happen.

Good luck to you. Its good to hear that your family is now safe and well. :-6

i am sure gunuine sympaththy from yourself would of been apprecated by the family of the young packpacker. your grief was short lived, their's will last a life time, no amount of money will bring their child back. count your lucky stars and stop worrying about a few pounds.

boozer123;845262 wrote: i am sure gunuine sympaththy from yourself would of been apprecated by the family of the young packpacker. your grief was short lived, their's will last a life time, no amount of money will bring their child back. count your lucky stars and stop worrying about a few pounds.


Perhaps none of you will understand what really went on in my head that night, nor in the weeks afterwards but the feelings I have expressed in the media were totally genuine, open and honest. I actually fully told my partner what really happened that night only a few days ago. I still feel anger at the fact my family were put in danger and that as a consequence my children were made ill by the airlines actions. Of course I have the utmost sympathy for the devastated family of the guy who actually died; it will have been utterly devastating. No dispute.


That sounds genuine enough to me.

Mr Miller, you most definately have every right to persue this since your partner and family got such a raw deal from this incompetent airline.

I would not suggest for a nano second that anyone should just ignore this kind of treatment just because your family managed to survive it...

Good luck:-6

boozer123;845262 wrote: i am sure gunuine sympaththy from yourself would of been apprecated by the family of the young packpacker. your grief was short lived, their's will last a life time, no amount of money will bring their child back. count your lucky stars and stop worrying about a few pounds.


The problem is, boozer, as the thread makes clear, what a person says and what gets reported by the press have very little in common. The press appears to get its teeth into one "newsworthy" aspect and, regardless of the effect it has one anyone's life, that's the aspect they focus on. What was published, and what evoked so much criticism of Mr Miller, seems to me to have been an ephemeral side-issue in a nightmare story.

boozer123;845262 wrote: i am sure gunuine sympaththy from yourself would of been apprecated by the family of the young packpacker. your grief was short lived, their's will last a life time, no amount of money will bring their child back. count your lucky stars and stop worrying about a few pounds.


I am sorry if you have misunderstood what this is about. If you re-read the whole story in detail as I have written it you will clearly see this is entirely about how my family was treated by Emirates over the whole of the trip and it is not about the phone call or events of that one night. I repeat this was merely one incident in a long list of errors made by the airline. The media have merely chosen to select one aspect of what was a very complex story.

I have written above that we do have genuine sympathy for the family in what was a terrible tragedy, if that is not been clear then can I repeat it once again here.

Can I also say I am not actually worried about money. It is only relevent in terms of what it represents in reparations for the harm done to my children and the cost I incurred in getting them safely back home. As such I firmly believe we had every right to pursue the airline and publicise their many failures.

What the airline did to my young children and partner was truly awful. There was also a tragedy that happened that night. I don't see that because this tragedy happened we are being in any way disrespectful to him or his family by attacking Emirates for what they did to my family.

DohDohDoh;846401 wrote: I am sorry if you have misunderstood what this is about. If you re-read the whole story in detail as I have written it you will clearly see this is entirely about how my family was treated by Emirates over the whole of the trip and it is not about the phone call or events of that one night. I repeat this was merely one incident in a long list of errors made by the airline. The media have merely chosen to select one aspect of what was a very complex story.

I have written above that we do have genuine sympathy for the family in what was a terrible tragedy, if that is not been clear then can I repeat it once again here.

Can I also say I am not actually worried about money. It is only relevent in terms of what it represents in reparations for the harm done to my children and the cost I incurred in getting them safely back home. As such I firmly believe we had every right to pursue the airline and publicise their many failures.

What the airline did to my young children and partner was truly awful. There was also a tragedy that happened that night. I don't see that because this tragedy happened we are being in any way disrespectful to him or his family by attacking Emirates for what they did to my family.


Whilst the majority of your complaint against Emirates is perfectly valid I would like to point out that the squalid third world hospital they took you to was probably the best medical facility in the area.

Bryn Mawr;847713 wrote: Whilst the majority of your complaint against Emirates is perfectly valid I would like to point out that the squalid third world hospital they took you to was probably the best medical facility in the area.


Actually no, there are a number of excellent private hospitals in Mumbai, as there are numerous excellent doctors (including the one who eventually saw my children at the hotel). Unfortunately they were not taken to them nor was one of their doctors brought to the airport..

I was once treated in a third world hospital 11 years ago, it is no joke.

DohDohDoh;847803 wrote: Actually no, there are a number of excellent private hospitals in Mumbai, as there are numerous excellent doctors (including the one who eventually saw my children at the hotel). Unfortunately they were not taken to them nor was one of their doctors brought to the airport..

I was once treated in a third world hospital 11 years ago, it is no joke.


Fair enough