Reserve your seats in advance. Review on Emirates

I had a very good impression of Emirates based on my own experiences where I had seen Punctuality, very clean aircraft and Courteous staff.

So I chose that My wife, 2 kids  (aged 5 and 8) and mother-in-law (you have to make sure :-) when she is involved) flew to US (Bangalore Newyork and back) by Emirates.

Un-fortunately  the story I have to tell is not a good one. I wanted to reserve by seats in advance but was told that I needed a frequent flyer number for that. (That never came up before my family went and was back- and I was not too pushy since I thought how important can that be)

When the family reached the airport they were all allocated separate seats - Yes - Wife in Row 19, Children in row 27 (across the aisle - middle seats) and MIL row 45.

The scenarion kept repeating itself in all the 4 connections and my wife had to request people to allow them to sit together.

So maybe I can blame myself that I needed to be more proactive and get the damned frequent flyer number for my wife and make sure I reserve seats.

But what happened on the last leg of the flight - Dubai-Bangalore - 27 May (11 AM) was the worst experience.

Without any prior information the gate of this flight was changed. And the gate changed to, was a good 1.5 KM walk and a bus-ride away.

Imagine my wife with 2 kids and Mother in law in tow trying to make this journey in the last 10 minutes before the doors close.

More than 70 people were in the same boat and the walking tunnel in Dubai airport was a mad rush of such people. When asked for help the Emirates ground staff declined even to ferry the old people using some of their own transport.

This is not done Emirates - not expected at all.

The staff also seem to have become rude and initially did not allow the stroller to be taken into the aircraft till -persuaded- They wanted it taken back and checked in.

It seems Emirates provides their own baby strollers so its better you checkin yours (make sure you have confirmed that you will get one from Emirates).

Not happy to write this but maybe it will help some families travelling.