Never, ever book through an intermediary! Sorry, OP. I learned that the hard way a few years ago.

Too late for OP but in cases like this I usually keep my original flight however late, ask for a hotel if I need one or just hang out at the airport (never asked for a lounge pass but maybe I should), and then ask for the new connecting flight. The bonus is that sometimes the original flight is half empty since everyone has already flown. Maybe it’s not like that anymore but I remember flying a nice delta red eye and sleeping on three seats in economy plus - the original one was 7 hrs late so it became a red eye.

Seems like Emirates EK231 took off from Dubai to Washington on 7/10/2023 at scheduled time 3am. It flew for 2hrs before making a U-Turn and returning back to Dubai at 7am. It again departed to Washington around 12pm. Not sure if it was Flight issues or Passenger Issues as no news from Emirates so far. This is a Airbus A388 which is best in business and there is very slight chance to be a flight technical issue.

Anonymous wrote:[/b]

beniceveryday wrote:Thank you so much for all your input!

I'm the OP. I called Emirates, they said that I should call my booking agent, XieCheng (Ctrip.com).

I'm on phone with CTrip.com now.
Will update you guys.

This is the platonic ideal example of why you should always book directly with the operating airline whenever possible. Good luck OP, you might be at this all night bouncing back and forth between the OTA (online travel agency) and Emirates.

I am not sure the agent was right, by the way. [b]You are within 24 hours of departure, at this point it's Emirates" obligation to get your to your destination. They "own" the itinerary now

[b]

It admittedly has been a while, but when last I checked, the standard conditions of contract for international air travel provided that “schedules and timetables are approximate and form no part of the contract of carriage.” The air carrier may be obliged to get OP to the destination at some point, but not on any particular schedule.

Anonymous wrote:Why is the flight delayed????

OP here, as a traveler, no way for me to know the reasons for the delays.
They say "operational issue" and that's it.

Anyhow, updates here:
I think it's unusual for the flight having a 10 hours delay followed by another 4 hours delay on consecutive day.
But that's what happened. And with a 3 hours layover for connecting flight, and
not willing to spend overnight at connecting city, I ended up delay my trip by two days.

Anyhow, not much I can do and I'm just not rich enough to have my own charter plane.

Thank you all for your ideas, you are very kind and knowledgeable people!

Happy Travel everyone!

Why is the flight delayed????